Fiction instead of struggle: the ban on paying bets with credit cards in Australia did not stop players

In Australia, a legislative restriction has come into force prohibiting the use of credit cards to replenish accounts in bookmakers. However, a recent study by the Institute of Economics demonstrates that this innovation has gone almost unnoticed for the active stratum of bettors.

Statistics show interesting dynamics.

Before the ban was introduced, the average active bettor spent about $130 on bets for two weeks, using a mix of credit and own funds. After the "tap" with credit cards was turned off, spending on them, of course, fell to zero. But here is the paradox: the volume of bets has not decreased. Players simply switched to debit cards and direct bank transfers, spending an average of $99 over the same reporting period. In fact, only the financial gateway has changed, and not the very fact of the game.

It is noteworthy that those who want to play on credit still have loopholes. The most obvious are cash withdrawals from a credit card at an ATM or transit transfers via PayPal. However, analysts note that most players did not even have to resort to gray schemes: the stock of personal funds in debit accounts was enough to maintain the usual rhythm of the game without pauses.

The only category that was really affected by the ban was "random" players who bet rarely and spontaneously. Faced with the need to change their payment method, they simply refused to bet due to the inconvenience.

Against this background, the state strategy to combat gambling addiction looks, to put it mildly, ineffective. The gap between the real problem and the authorities' measures is colossal: only about 30 thousand people are registered in the national self-exclusion system BetStop, while the number of Australians at high risk of gambling addiction is estimated at 400 thousand.