40 years of legal sports betting in Australia highlights risks for US gamblers and tips for regulators

Alex Russell has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the NSW Office of Responsible Gambling, the South Australian Government, the Queensland Attorney General, Gambling Research Australia, the New Zealand Ministry of Health, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the National Gambling Research Association and the Alberta Gambling Institute. He has also received travel funding for presenting research from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, PsychMed and the Hawthorn Hawks Football Club Players' Association.

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CQUniversity Australia is a member and funder of The Conversation AU.

Australians love to gamble. It's often said that if they could, they'd rather bet on two flies climbing up the wall. The Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge are partly funded by government lotteries.

It's only been five years since the Supreme Court overturned a federal law that effectively banned sports betting in most states, but the novelty of legal sports betting has long since worn off in Australia: it's been legal since the 1980s.

I've been researching gambling in Australia since 2011 and have been a team member of a major study on online gambling. I've also led research on risk factors for problematic sports betting and the harms associated with some types of sports betting.

Americans just getting familiar with sports betting can take some lessons from research on Australia's approach to sports betting and its effects.

Gambling Culture

Australia has a long history of state-sanctioned gambling, dating back to the first organized horse racing event in 1810.

Initially, bettors had to travel to a racetrack to place a bet. This was a hassle for many bettors, so illegal bookies started taking bets in places like bars. Their prices tended to be more favorable because they didn't pay taxes like the official racetrack bookmakers.

This prompted state governments to open off-course betting companies, beginning with Victoria's Totalisator Agency Board in 1961. Other states soon followed suit.

While betting on horses has long been legal in Australia, sports betting was not until 1983, when the Totalisator Agency Boards began taking bets on sports (typically football, cricket, and boxing). Non-government sportsbooks emerged in 1993, when Sportsbet became the first privately licensed company. Online sports betting was later launched in 1996 by the online gambling website Centrebet. com. au.

Today, many online operators offer betting on sports, races, and even the color of the tie the Prime Minister will wear.

An employee of the Australian Totalisator Agency Board places a bet over the phone in 1985. Fairfax Media Archives/Getty Images

Slowing down the pace of betting

Gambling's foothold in Australian culture has had a variety of effects.

Australians are the biggest losers in the world, losing more than twice as much per capita from gambling than almost any other country. This is mainly due to the ubiquity of slot machines in hotels and bars. However, Australians also lose more per capita on sports betting and horse racing betting.

Sports betting in Australia existed before online gambling, so the government had to consider what types of betting to allow online. In Australia, regulations are in place to restrict some bets, such as fast-paced betting.

For example, slot machines are fast-paced and each spin is a bet, so a person can easily "get in the zone" and lose track of their spending. For this reason, online slots are banned.

Online sports betting has similar restrictions. Most people will place their bet before the game starts, betting on who will win and sometimes how much they will win.

But over time, betting options have increased. You can now bet on who will score first, who will score next, or whether a certain number of points will be scored at quarter or half-time. Since 2002, Australians have also been able to place bets "live" or "in play," i. e., during the game.

A Sportsbet employee holds a sign advertising odds on a cricket match, 2010. William West/AFP via Getty Images

In Australia, live sports betting is possible, but not online. You need to bet on the phone, bars, casinos, betting shops and other venues. This is also to make the staff intervene when someone shows a sign of a problem, just as bartender cuts out too much. Whether these interventions are performed regularly is another matter.

There is also a specially fas t-paced sports betting, known as a microbet. Think about betting on a baseball ball or strike.

A survey I conducted with other gambling researchers revealed that only gamblers, which are almost risky, are doing microbetting. In Australia, telephone microbets are prohibited, but consumers can access the markets of other countries and are strongly banned.

Flooding of advertising

Australia has a lot of online betting sites and fierce competition, so Australians are full of gambling ads and promotions.

In fact, gambling television ads are five times that of alcohol ads.

These gambling ads are effective. According to a series of studies that I worked on, led by Professor Nerilee Hing of CQUNIVERSITY, Professor Nerile Hing, as a focus on advertising and promotions, as I bet when I intended it. It turned out that they tended to bet on the amount of money and to bet on more likely to happen.

Former sprinter Ben Johnson, who was discovered by doping and was stripped of the Olympic medal, appeared on a sports bed advertisement.

We also compared public advertisements such as television ads and direct messages such as email and text messages. As a result, it was found that direct messages were more effective, personalized, and there was no publicity, so regulation could be difficult.

Australians can also bet with credit cards. Such transactions are treated as cashing, not as normal online shopping, so there is no interes t-free period, and interest rates and cashing fees are high. Many consumers will not notice this and will be forced to spend more than expected. Some gambling operators have called for prohibiting the use of credit cards in online gambling.

Regulation movements

Earlier, we pointed out that some of the key ideas around regulating online gambling are to reduce harm. However, online gambling can be enjoyed at any time, as long as you have a mobile phone or tablet. So imagine someone with a strong urge to gamble, especially one with poor self-control. It is easier than ever to place bets at any time, including when you are drunk, and with multiple payment methods, including credit cards.

Luckily, further regulation is on the way.

The federal government has ultimate responsibility for legislating online gambling in Australia. The National Consumer Protection Framework is a government initiative aimed at implementing changes to online sports and racing betting, such as restrictions on gambling promotions and a national self-exclusion program.

Heavy bettors typically have accounts with multiple gambling operators, and if they wanted to opt out, they previously had to do so with each operator. Soon, they will be able to self-exclude in one place through a government-run program called "BetStop," which applies to all online operators.

Consumers can also set limits and monitor how much they spend. As of 2019, all online game providers are required to offer deposit limits, but consumers are not required to take advantage of them. However, our research team believes that voluntary limits (many of which are very high) make little sense, and that mandatory limits with reasonable upper limits would make a bigger difference.

Unlike Australia, where sports betting was legal even before online betting was invented, US states are introducing legalized sports betting now that technology has enabled many types of betting products, including some that are particularly risky. It is important for US legislators and regulators to consider not only whether sports betting should be legalized, but also what betting products should be allowed and what harm reduction regulations can be implemented.

Different US states have different regulations on sports betting, with some not allowing it at all, others only allowing it in person, and others allowing almost everything, including online betting. Some also have restrictions on certain bet types.

Some argue that it is up to bettors to stay safe, but we must remember that no one wants to become a gambling addict. And gambling products are inherently addictive.

• Gambling
• Australia
• Addiction
• Gambling Reform
• Advertising
• Gambling in Australia
• Sports Betting
• Gambling in the USA
• Sports Betting