The credibility of the government's gambling self-exclusion scheme 'Betstop' has been called into question. Easily exploited loopholes in the system are enabling problem gamblers to keep making bets. One Sydney man lost nearly 70- thousand dollars after signing up to a lifetime ban.
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00:00It's really easy to do, watch this.
00:04Ravi, who wants to hide his identity, is showing us how to get around the government's self-exclusion
00:10register, by removing one letter from his first name as he opens a new account.
00:17It says I am verified.
00:19That means they have verified my ID.
00:21That they could not do because the name and the date of birth I put does not exist.
00:26BetStop was launched last year to much fanfare.
00:30What BetStop means is that with a single touch, an individual will be able to self-exclude
00:36themselves from all forms of online wagering.
00:39And the Prime Minister has continued to talk up the scheme.
00:43My government has done more in two years to restrict gambling than any previous government
00:50has done.
00:51More than the previous government did in its ten years through measures like BetStop.
00:56But within a week of signing up to a lifetime gambling ban, BetStop failed Ravi.
01:02Since February 2024, I was able to open accounts, make bets with about eight different betting
01:08companies and I've lost over nearly $70,000 since the last six months.
01:15Kate Cheney was part of the parliamentary committee that called for a gambling advertising
01:19ban and further guardrails on BetStop.
01:23One of the recommendations in the report, recommendation 13, said that if someone self-registers
01:28with BetStop, then the banks should stop their card from being used for gambling transactions.
01:34The government has yet to respond to those recommendations.
01:38In a statement, the Minister said...
01:40The government will shortly commence a statutory review of BetStop to consider whether the
01:44regulatory framework is fit for purpose.
01:48Ravi wants the loopholes closed and the betting agencies fined.
01:52The legislation is clear, the betting companies are not supposed to open accounts for people
01:57whose ID they cannot verify.
01:59The regulator has confirmed it's investigating betting agencies of a potential non-compliance.