Understanding public awareness of BetStop in Australia

Key messages

BetStop is one of the Australian Government's key policy responses to mitigate online gambling harms. However, this study has found that awareness of the initiative, which has been in place for around 2 years, is low relative to the rise in online gambling participation and harm:

• About 1 in 4 Australian adults (26.5%) were aware of BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion RegisterTM for licensed online and phone wagering services.
• Younger adults (aged 18-35) were less likely to be aware of BetStop compared to those aged 55 and older, which is concerning given the higher proportion of at-risk gamblers within this younger age group.
• Among those who placed bets in the past 12 months, 1 in 3 (33.5%) were aware of BetStop.
• People who were born outside Australia were 8 percentage points less likely to be aware of BetStop compared to those born in Australia.
• People in Tasmania showed significantly higher awareness than those in other states and territories.

There are approximately 5 million wagerers in Australia, including 400,000 who are high-risk gamblers. However, there are only around 30,000 individuals with active exclusions with BetStop. Even if all 30,000 of these were high-risk gamblers, this still only represents a small fraction of those experiencing severe gambling harms with a safeguard in place.

• Our findings suggest targeted public awareness campaigns are needed to improve awareness of BetStop among specific population groups.
• Our environmental scan has identified a number of wagering service providers that are not complying with Register rules 25(1) and 25(2) regarding the use of hyperlinks and the clarity and legibility of information on their websites and apps.
• Regulators could address compliance gaps, by implementing clearer design guidelines and mandatory accessibility checks for digital platforms. These could mandate standardised hyperlink formatting and placement to ensure visibility and usability.

Background

Australia's gambling prevalence is globally significant, reflecting high levels of participation and per capita spending. In the last 12 months, 65% of Australian adults gambled while 15% of adults, or 3.1 million people, experienced gambling-related harms, up 4 percentage points from the previous national estimate (Hing et al., 2021; Tillman et al., 2025). The latest statistics suggest that Australians lose $32 billion on legal forms of gambling annually (Queensland Government Statistician's Office, 2025), and these are the largest per capita losses of any country in the world (H2 Gambling Capital, 2025).

Online gambling has become increasingly popular in Australia (Suomi et al., 2024). Its 24/7 availability makes it easier to engage frequently without in-person contact, increasing the risk of experiencing gambling harms. BetStop,¹ the National Self-Exclusion RegisterTM (NSER), is one of the Australian Government's key policy responses to mitigate online gambling harms. It was implemented as one of the last measures of the National Consumer Protection Framework (NCPF) for Online Wagering and is regulated under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. BetStop is a free, government-backed initiative designed to help individuals voluntarily exclude themselves from all licensed online and phone-based gambling providers nationwide.

Once registered, individuals are prohibited from placing bets, opening new betting accounts or receiving marketing communications from any licensed Australian wagering provider. Consumers can choose to self-exclude for a minimum of 3 months or opt for permanent exclusion. They may also nominate a support person and access additional resources such as counselling and financial assistance (e.g. Gambling Help Online and the National Gambling Helpline²) (Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts, 2025).

According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA, 2025a), since it was launched on 21 August 2023, as of 30 September 2025:

• 49,382 individuals have registered with BetStop
• 31,838 of these have active exclusions in place
• 17,544 have either completed their exclusion period or cancelled it early.

While these figures indicate growing public engagement, there is currently no formal survey or public opinion data measuring awareness of BetStop across Australia. It is important that this awareness is not limited to individuals who gamble but extends to families, friends and health professionals, who play a critical role in identifying risky behaviour and supporting individuals to seek help. Understanding awareness levels is crucial for the government to develop effective communication strategies that promote the register within the community.

Furthermore, the success of BetStop relies on active support from wagering service providers (WSPs). The NCPF mandates that WSPs prominently display the BetStop trademark and provide a direct link to the registration portal.

This report presents evidence on community awareness of BetStop and findings from an environmental scan assessing how WSPs have implemented promotional requirements in accordance with register guidelines.

Analysis of awareness

National Gambling Prevalence Study Pilot (NGPS)

Between August and October 2024, the Australian Gambling Research Centre (AGRC) conducted a probability-based study using a mixed-mode data collection approach. A nationally representative sample of 3,881 Australian adults was recruited through a combination of random digit dialling (RDD), address-based sampling and a probability-based online panel. Participants completed the survey either online or via computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).

In partnership with the Social Research Centre (SRC), the AGRC collected data on gambling participation, experiences of harm, general health and wellbeing, mental health, help-seeking behaviours, financial stress and intimate partner violence.

To assess awareness of BetStop, the survey included the following question:

Before today, were you aware of BetStop (the National Self-Exclusion Register™), which is a free Australian Government initiative that allows people to block (self-exclude) themselves from all licensed Australian online and phone betting (wagering) providers? (Tillman et al., 2025)

Using responses to this question item, key statistics on BetStop awareness were derived, along with findings from regression analysis. Prevalence estimates were calculated using the same reliability standards and weighting procedures outlined in Tillman et al. (2025).

Descriptive analysis

The NGPS estimates suggest that around 1 in 4 Australian adults (26.5%) were aware of BetStop. Among those who had placed bets on a range of relevant events³ in the past 12 months, only 1 in 3 (33.5%) were aware of BetStop. Awareness was only slightly higher among frequent wagerers, with 36% of adults who wager monthly reporting familiarity with the service.

Figure 1: Before today, were you aware of BetStop? Yes (%)

Notes: Unweighted n = 3,881 for all, 915 for wagerers and 317 for monthly wagerers. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.
Source: NGPS 2024, weighted

Regression analysis

To estimate the likelihood of BetStop awareness while accounting for demographic differences, we conducted a probit regression analysis (see Appendix 1 for the descriptive statistics and Appendix 2 for the full estimated results of the probit regression analysis).

This approach allowed us to isolate the effect of each characteristic - such as age, jurisdiction, country of birth and wagering frequency - while controlling for the influence of others. The results indicate that with:

• wagering frequency: Wagerers were generally more aware of BetStop than non-wagerers. However, the difference was modest - 6 percentage points for those who wager less than monthly and 9 percentage points for monthly wagerers.
• age differences: Individuals aged 18-35 were 7 percentage points less likely to be aware of BetStop than those aged 55 and older.
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status: There was no statistically significant difference in BetStop awareness between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander individuals and non-Indigenous individuals.
• country of birth: People who were born outside Australia were 8 percentage points less likely to be aware of BetStop than those born in Australia.
• jurisdictional variation: Tasmania showed significantly higher awareness than other states. For example, Tasmanians were 17 percentage points more likely to be aware of BetStop than residents of New South Wales.

The findings from the probit analysis suggest that a targeted public awareness campaign is essential to improve awareness of BetStop among specific population groups.

Lower awareness among younger adults (18-35) is particularly concerning as younger adults were disproportionately represented in higher-risk gambling categories compared to older adults (Tillman et al., 2025). Lower awareness among younger adults and individuals born outside Australia highlights the need for culturally and age-appropriate communication strategies, such as multilingual campaigns and digital engagement through platforms commonly used by those in younger demographics.

It is important to consider the disproportionate impact of gambling harm on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities. While our probit analysis found no statistically significant difference in BetStop awareness between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous groups, previous research (Tillman et al., 2025) highlights that gambling harm is substantially more prevalent among Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander populations.

Specifically, 27.1% of Australian adults who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander were found to be at risk of gambling harm, compared to 14.6% among those who do not identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. These findings highlight the need for stronger, culturally sensitive outreach and support strategies to ensure that BetStop and other harm minimisation tools are accessible and effective for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities.

Although there is some level of awareness of BetStop within the Australian community, uptake remains relatively low. Based on NGPS estimates, there are approximately 5 million wagerers in Australia, including 400,000 who are high-risk gamblers. Given that around 30,000 individuals have active exclusions in place with BetStop, it appears only a small proportion of high-risk gamblers have used BetStop.

The modest difference in awareness between frequent and infrequent wagerers further suggests that more robust promotional efforts are needed - not only among active bettors but also among those at risk of escalating gambling behaviour. Additionally, family, friends and health professionals of wagerers should be targeted, given their ability to support earlier intervention. These insights can inform future regulatory, marketing and harm minimisation strategies to ensure BetStop reaches those most at risk and supports responsible gambling across diverse communities.

Environmental scan

Wagering service providers (WSPs) play a key role in building awareness of BetStop among wagerers. The AGRC conducted an environmental scan to examine how well WSPs implemented the BetStop promotion measures on their websites and apps. WSPs must actively promote BetStop to their customers, as specified in the Register rules 25(1) and 25(2) (see Box 2). ACMA made the Register rules,⁴ which set the operational and administration requirements for BetStop, under the Interactive Gambling Act.⁵

The environmental scan examined licensed Australian online betting websites and mobile apps over a 5-week period, from 3 December 2024 to 7 January 2025. The sample consisted of 40 Australian online betting platforms (n = 20 websites; n = 20 apps), with a sampling approach designed to be representative of the Australian online betting environment at the time of the environmental scan (see the definition of 'platform' in Box 3).

Example 1: Entain

Example 2: TAB and UBET

Sampling

A list of all licensed interactive Australian WSPs was retrieved from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on 8 November 2024. A total of 112 brands operated by 108 licensed WSPs were found to be offering online betting at the time of the scan.⁶   From these, 40 brands were selected, while ensuring that the characteristics of the sample were representative of all 112 brands (see Appendix 3: Environmental Scan Sample).

Where possible, no brand from the same WSP was included more than once to maximise coverage across different types of WSPs. Twenty websites and 20 apps were selected for scanning, with no brand having both its website and app version scanned.

Scanning and evaluation procedure

The scan of the 20 websites and 20 apps involved recording each 'Home' page, 'Responsible gambling' page (linked from the home page) and 'Self-exclusion' page where applicable/accessible. One app was excluded from the analysis as it required a user to sign up to fully access the gambling environment. In total, 39 digital platforms were examined.

Screenshots were taken for each website and app. Where possible, screenshots included the home page (landing page), a carousel (rotating banner) on the home page, a bet slip page or frame, a responsible gambling page and a self-exclusion page. The presence of a BetStop message was examined and coded for each of these locations.

When testing Register rule 25(1), the presence of the BetStop logo was counted as a pass for meeting both (a) and (b) of the rule (see Box 2). To test Register rule 25(2), the following elements were examined:

• the message at a minimum was separated from other messaging with 'white space' above and below
• the font and background colour had sufficient contrast when checked against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA⁷
• the font size was the same as the surrounding body font
• the material immediately surrounding the text was related to responsible gambling or consumer protection information/measures (e.g. tagline, responsible gambling link, responsible gambling code of conduct, etc.).

Further details, accompanied by examples illustrating how the above criteria were assessed, is provided in Appendix 4: Methodology used for assessing Register rule 25(2).

Results

Table 1 highlights several compliance issues with Register rules 25(1) and 25(2) across different digital platforms. Under rule 25(1), failures were most common in the use of hyperlinks, particularly on responsible gambling pages, where 4 websites and 2 apps did not meet requirements. Landing pages also showed some non-compliance, with 3 websites failing due to hyperlink issues. Notably, statements were consistently compliant across all page types.

For rule 25(2), the most frequent failures related to the clarity and legibility of information, especially on landing pages, where 4 websites and 7 apps were non-compliant. Issues with prominent display and consistent font size were also observed, though to a lesser extent. Positioning of information was uniformly compliant across all categories. Some platforms were non-compliant with more than one rule. This is why the column total for apps in Table 1 adds up to 21, even though there were only 19 apps in the sample. After consolidating these multiple non-compliance instances it was found that 2 out of 3 platforms scanned were non-compliant. Further apps were found to be less likely to be compliant than websites (73.7% vs 60.0%).

Discussion

The findings in Table 1 reveal compliance gaps with Register rules 25(1) and 25(2) across both websites and apps. Failures under rule 25(1) were most common in the use of hyperlinks, suggesting that users may struggle to locate or access critical information. Under rule 25(2), the most frequent issues related to clarity and legibility, with apps showing higher rates of non-compliance than websites.

This indicates that apps may require more rigorous design standards to ensure regulatory adherence. The consistent compliance in areas such as statements and positioning suggests that while some aspects of the rules are well understood and implemented, others, especially those involving user interface and accessibility, need targeted improvement.

It is important to emphasise that the guideline for Register rule 25(2) lacks clarity. The environmental scan applied specific criteria to assess whether the platforms met the requirements. However, these criteria are somewhat arbitrary, and the outcome may vary depending on the criteria used. As a result, WSPs may find it difficult to interpret and comply with the requirements of Register rule 25(2).

To address these compliance gaps, regulators should consider implementing clearer design guidelines and mandatory accessibility checks for digital platforms. Policies could mandate standardised hyperlink formatting and placement to ensure visibility and usability, particularly on responsible gambling pages.

Additionally, mobile app interfaces should be subject to stricter legibility and display requirements, potentially through WCAG-aligned audits. Regular compliance reviews and penalties for repeated violations may incentivise better adherence.

Finally, training and resources for WSPs on best practices for presenting self-exclusion and responsible gambling information could help bridge the gap between policy intent and implementation. A detailed tabulation of the number of cases that failed specific register rules and where is provided in Table 1.

Notes: Self-exclusion pages that were not present were excluded from the analysis.

Instances of non-compliance with regulations were identified and reported to ACMA, who then followed these instances up with the WSPs. In one case involving a technology provider, the NSER hyperlink was removed around the time of the audit, and this matter was resolved after ACMA notified the provider. Based on our information, in September 2025, ACMA took further action and published an update regarding the requirement for WSPs to promote BetStop (see Appendix 5).

Looking ahead

Those who join the register significantly reduce their wagering and report positive experiences (ACMA 2025b). However, there are only about 30,000 registrants. Even if all were high-risk wagerers, that represents just 7.5% of the estimated 400,000 high-risk wagerers. Moreover, awareness of BetStop among wagerers is currently 33.5%. Taken together, BetStop works on a case-by-case basis but because of low uptake and awareness the impacts at a population level are minimal. In particular, certain demographic groups, such as younger adults, people born outside Australia, and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, require targeted public awareness campaigns to improve engagement. Awareness levels among younger adults and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities remain inadequate, despite younger adults being overrepresented in higher-risk gambling categories and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities experiencing significantly greater gambling-related harm compared to the broader Australian population.

Moreover, the environmental scan identified gaps in compliance with Register rules 25(1) and 25(2) across both websites and mobile applications. There are 4 recommendations:

1. Boost awareness: The Australian Government supported by industry should launch targeted campaigns for younger adults and overseas-born Australians.
2. Cultural outreach: The Australian Government should work with trusted community organisations to enhance support for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities.
3. Improve design: In consultation with stakeholders, ACMA should always set and update clear guidelines for digital platforms to ensure accessibility.
4. Regular reviews: ACMA should maintain frequent compliance checks and train wagering service providers in compliance.

References

Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). (2025a). BetStop - the National Self-Exclusion Register statistics: Q1 2025-2026. ACMA. www.acma.gov.au/publications/2025-10/report/betstop-national-self-exclusion-register-statistics-q1-2025-2026

ACMA. (2025b). National Self-exclusion Register research Comprehensive Report. Canberra: ACMA.

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sports and Art (DITRDCSA). (2025). BetStop - the National Self-Exclusion Register. DITRDCSA. www.infrastructure.gov.au/media-communications/gambling/betstop-national-self-exclusion-register

Ferris, J., & Wynne, H. (2001). The Canadian Problem Gambling Index: Final report. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

H2 Gambling Capital. (2025). H2 Global All Product Summary. H2 Gambling Capital. h2gc.com

Hing, N., Russell, A. M. T., Browne, M., Rockloff, M., Greer, N., Rawat, V. et al. (2021). The second national study of interactive gambling in Australia (2019-20). Gambling Research Australia.

Queensland Government Statistician's Office, Queensland Treasury. (2025). Australian Gambling Statistics, 40th edition, 1997-98 to 2023-24. Queensland Treasury.

Suomi, A., Hahn, M., & Biddle, N. (2024). Gambling participation in Australia 2024: Trends over time, and profiles associated with online gambling. ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences. polis.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/gambling-participation-australia-2024-trends-over-time-and-profiles

Tillman, G., Irving, R., Wickramasinghe, S., Pappu, T., Budinski, M., Greer, N. et al. (2025). National Gambling Prevalence Study Pilot 2024: Key findings. Melbourne: Australian Gambling Research Centre, Australian Institute of Family Studies.

1 You can register directly at betstop.gov.au

2 Gambling Help Online at www.gamblinghelponline.org.au and the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858.

3 These include sports, racing (horse or greyhound), fantasy sports, virtual sports or novelty events such as reality TV outcomes.

4 www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2022L00953

5 www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A00851/latest

6 The ACMA provides a resource list of licensed operators via www.acma.gov.au/check-if-gambling-operator-legal. The initial ACMA list comprised 166 trading names, 155 unique brands (with companies such as TAB having different trading names but the same brand name) and 148 unique licence holders. WSPs were excluded from the analysis if they only advertised a telephone number for placing bets.

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