The Federal Government’s proposed ban on the use of credit cards for online gambling is excellent news. Obviously gamblers should only be allowed to gamble with money they actually possess, and the fact that online gamblers have been allowed to use borrowed money at exorbitant interest rates is unfathomable.
This reform will have strong public support and needs to be implemented as quickly as possible. Further consultations with stakeholders, already flagged by the Government, are hardly necessary and must not slow down the process of legislating and implementing the ban.
The importance of this reform should not be underestimated. Although the proportion of online gamblers using credit cards is in the minority, they include a disproportionate number of gambling addicts and are the people most in need of harm minimisation measures like this.