Australia’s Credit-Card Betting Ban Falls Flat as Player Spending Drops Only Slightly — from $130 to $99

Australia’s ban on using credit cards for online betting has had little impact on the country’s most active gamblers, according to new research from the economic think tank e61, cited by The Guardian.

The report found that once the ban came into force, most bettors simply switched payment methods and continued gambling using funds from their bank accounts.

Before the ban, these players spent roughly $130 over a two-week period across all payment methods. After the restriction took effect, credit-card spending dropped to zero — but gamblers kept wagering from their bank accounts, averaging about $99 over the same period.

The study notes that players still have ways to circumvent the rule, such as withdrawing cash with a credit card or topping up a PayPal account. However, e61 found that in practice, most gamblers didn’t need to resort to such workarounds because they had enough personal funds to continue betting uninterrupted. The ban also does not apply to lottery purchases.

The reduction in spending was more noticeable among a small group of occasional bettors who simply stopped gambling due to the added inconvenience created by the rule.

The e61 research further points to the limited effectiveness of other government measures aimed at curbing problem gambling. For example, the national self-exclusion register BetStop currently lists around 30,000 people who have opted out of betting — while government estimates suggest that about 400,000 Australians are considered high-risk gamblers.