Only one in three wagerers aware of key harm reduction measure

BetStop, Australia’s National Self-Exclusion Register™, is designed to protect people from gambling harm, yet only one in three (33.5%) wagerers know it exists, according to a new report from the Australian Gambling Research Centre (AGRC) at the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

BetStop is one of the Australian Government’s key policy responses to mitigate online gambling harms. Launched in August 2023 as part of the National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering in Australia (NCPF), it enables individuals to voluntarily exclude themselves from all licensed online and phone-based wagering services nationwide.

The report, Understanding Public Awareness of BetStop in Australia, examined community awareness of BetStop and assessed levels of compliance by wagering service providers (WSP). In the report ‘wagerers or bettors’ are defined as people who have gambled on betting products such as sports and horse racing in the past year.

Around one in four Australian adults (26.5%) know about BetStop, with younger adults (18–35) less likely to know about BetStop compared to those aged 55 and older – a concern given the higher proportion of at-risk gamblers in this younger age group. Migrant Australians were also less likely to be aware of BetStop than those born in Australia.

Although awareness of BetStop between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians is similar, 27.1% of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders are at risk of gambling harm, compared to 14.6% of non-Indigenous Australians. This highlights the need to further increase BetStop awareness within Indigenous communities to help reduce gambling-related harm.

Dr Kei Sakata, Executive Manager at the AGRC, said the findings indicate that BetStop is not reaching those most at risk.

“Despite an estimated five million wagerers nationwide, including 400,000 high-risk gamblers, just 30,000 individuals currently have active exclusions through BetStop,” Dr Sakata said.

“Even if all 30,000 of these were high-risk gamblers, this still only represents a small fraction (7.5%) of those experiencing severe gambling harms with a safeguard in place.”

Dr Sakata said the report findings suggest the need for targeted public awareness campaigns to improve understanding of BetStop among specific population groups – including younger adults and Australians born overseas – and to strengthen support for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities.

“Promotional efforts should go beyond wagerers. Family members, friends and health professionals must also be engaged, equipping them with the tools and knowledge to support early intervention and help prevent gambling harm before it takes hold,” Dr Sakata said.

The report also identified compliance failures, with some wagering service providers not meeting mandatory promotional requirements and, in some cases, breaching Register rules. All licensed interactive wagering service providers must promote BetStop on their websites and apps, and in any messages that advertise or encourage wagering services.

Many providers failed to meet these standards, omitting hyperlinks, displaying information in small or obscure fonts, and burying references in terms and conditions.

“Regulators can address these areas of non-compliance by implementing clearer design guidelines and mandatory accessibility checks for digital platforms, ensuring that self-exclusion tools like BetStop are easy to find and use,” said Dr Sakata.

Gambling participation and harm are rising in Australia, with impacts that go beyond financial loss. Recent AGRC research highlights the prevalence of risky gambling and links gambling to serious issues such as suicidal thoughts, intimate partner violence and financial stress. The 24/7 accessibility of online platforms makes it easy to gamble frequently and in isolation, increasing the risk of harm.