TLDR
- Australia’s Digital Duty of Care Bill requires age checks for porn sites but not betting sites.
- The Alliance for Gambling Reform raised the gap at a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday.
- Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young noted there is no website block for people under 18.
- Advocate Mark Kempster said 75% of 120 schoolboys had bet on sport or searched for odds.
- Advocates want limits on website access, not just checks at account sign-up.
Teenagers in Australia can open betting websites and view sports odds without passing any age check. Gambling reform advocates have now raised this gap in the Senate.
They want the issue fixed before the Digital Duty of Care Bill becomes law. The bill would place greater duties on digital platforms to prevent harm to users.
The bill requires age verification for people visiting pornographic websites. It does not mention online betting sites at all.
Account Checks Versus Website Access
Betting companies already run some checks when a person opens an account to place wagers. Advocates say this step comes too late, because minors can still browse the sites before that point.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young raised this point during the committee hearing. She accepted that creating a betting account may involve specific checks on the user. However, she noted there is no website block for people under 18.
Hanson-Young also said it is well known that young people take part in online betting. She asked why pornography sites face access limits while betting sites do not, given that both are built for adults.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform brought the matter to the committee on Tuesday as senators reviewed the bill. The group’s petition focuses on teenagers being able to reach betting sites and sports odds, even with extra checks at sign-up.
Alliance chief executive Sunita Bose said online betting carries risks much like those linked to pornography. She said both are adult services that need similar steps to keep children out.
Bose said the latest technology should be used to stop children from using online gambling services. The Alliance wants betting services named in the bill so they fall under the planned age check rules.
What a School Visit Revealed
Advocate Mark Kempster, a former problem gambler, told the hearing about a visit to a high school. He asked a group of 120 teenage boys whether they had ever bet on a sporting event or looked up sports odds.
About 75% of the boys raised their hands. Kempster’s question covered both betting and searching for odds.
He did not separate students who had placed real money bets from those who had only checked odds. The figure reflects both groups together.
Kempster said he has spoken with close to 30 people under 18 this year who show signs of gambling problems. He also pointed out that betting websites lack the kind of age limits planned for pornography sites.
Under the current draft, online betting websites are not covered by the age verification rules. The rules focus only on websites that provide adult material such as pornography.
The Alliance wants betting added so that child protection rules apply to online wagering. It says online betting should sit under the same umbrella of protection.
Advocates are now asking senators to look closely at how age checks should apply to all services meant for adults. Their main request is for limits on website access, rather than relying only on checks made when an account is created.
