Source : ABC NEWS
Some of Australia’s largest gambling companies would be forced to implement deposit caps for people aged 18 to 24 if a private member’s bill passes the Northern Territory parliament.
Fifty online bookmakers are licensed in the NT, including Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and Bet365, and independent MLA Justine Davis’s bill would see a string of new laws imposed upon them if passed, including the deposit caps.
The NT’s gambling regulator is Australia’s de facto watchdog for online bookmakers, due to the abundance of companies that choose to be licensed in the Territory because of its low taxes.
It means those companies and their national customers would be impacted by the proposed NT laws if they pass.
Justine Davis says the federal governments’s recent gambling reforms do not go far enough. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
Under the proposed changes, monthly deposits for punters aged 18 to 21 would be limited to $500, and to $1,000 for those aged 22 to 24.
Ms Davis’s bill also seeks to place an outright ban on inducements, such as bonus bets and VIP schemes, after the Albanese government legislated inducement restrictions in recent federal reforms.
If the bill passes, it would also place a “positive duty” on NT-licensed bookmarkers, requiring them to take “all reasonable steps to prevent harm to customers”.
The maximum disciplinary penalty that could be imposed on bookmakers by the NT regulator would also be increased from $194,000 to $10 million, or 10 per cent of annual revenue.
An NT body serves as the de facto regulator for Australia’s online gambling industry, with 50 bookmakers licensed in the Territory. (ABC News: Michael Donnelly)
Ms Davis said the federal government’s reforms did not go far enough and therefore the NT needed to act.
“So we now are in a real position where we can actually show some leadership in the Northern Territory and say, ‘Here’s some simple changes that we can make,'” she said.
“The changes are not going to stop gambling, but they are going to prevent harm being done to people, both here in the Territory and across Australia.“
A letter urging the NT government to support Ms Davis’s bill has been signed by 33 advocacy organisations and leaders, including several federal MPs including independent Andrew Wilkie.
Andrew Wilkie says the proposed reforms would make the NT a “national leader” in gambling policy. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)
Mr Wilkie said Ms Davis’s bill “attempted to do what the federal government has so far failed to do”.
“It genuinely will go some considerable way to doing the federal government’s job and it would put the Territory front and centre with reform that would trickle through the rest of the country,” he said.
“It would make the Territory a national leader in this space.“
Bill aims to reform de facto regulator
A 2023 online gambling inquiry led by late Labor MP Peta Murphy recommended the federal government ban inducements without delay and implement comprehensive bans on gambling advertising within three years.
Peta Murphy was a leading figure in a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling before her death at the age of 50. (ABC News)
The Albanese government’s reforms, passed in August this year, subsequently put an onus on bookmakers to stop sending inducements to customers who showed signs of problem gambling.
A national ban on advertising during sports broadcasts until 8:30pm, and throughout children’s programs, was also included in the federal changes.
Ms Davis’s bill seeks to ban advertisements that are “likely to be available to children”.
The 2023 inquiry also recommended a national gambling regulator be established, to take responsibility away from the Territory’s regulator, the part-time NT Wagering Commission (NTWC).
In lieu of a national regulator, Ms Davis’s bill would introduce more rigorous conflict-of-interest regulations for members of the NTWC, including the establishment of a public register of declared conflicts.
The building in Darwin where the NT Wagering Commission has its offices. (Four Corners: Ryan Sheridan)
It would also prohibit commission members from accepting gifts from bookmakers, after the regulator’s chair previously admitted he had accepted corporate hospitality.
The NT government passed its own laws earlier this year which prohibit NTWC commissioners from owning race horses or holding betting accounts with NT-licensed bookmakers.
An annual tax cap for NT-licensed gambling companies was also doubled by the government, from $1.5 million to $3 million.
‘How much misery are we going to allow?’
Gambler-in-recovery Shiva Panchalingam, 37, is another supporter of Ms Davis’s bill.
In addiction from age 18 to 24, Mr Panchalingam said he gambled in casinos and with online bookmakers until time in a Sydney rehabilitation centre “saved” him.
Shiva Panchalingam previously lost his whole life savings to gambling addiction. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
“I was going to put gambling before everything I loved — my family, my friends,” Mr Panchalingam said.
“I was doing a degree that I really enjoyed — I had a pretty good life, and very quickly I was willing to sacrifice that all, hurt people I love.
“The hard part is, people don’t understand what that’s like.“
Mr Panchalingam said he had since relapsed multiple times, with online betting “always triggering it off” because it was “so easy to access”.
During one relapse, after moving from Sydney to Darwin eight years ago, Mr Panchalingam said he lost his whole life savings at the time — $30,000 — in just two weeks, with no support network around him.
“People put on thousands of dollars in betting and there’s no duty of care to see if they’re actually able to do it,” he said.
Mr Panchalingam has since set up a support group run by people in recovery, and said he was now able to build his life rather than feeling “like he is just surviving”.
“One of the flip sides of going through what I did is I’m really grateful and appreciative of what I have,” he said.
Shiva Panchalingam says multiple people in Darwin in the midst of gambling addiction have died by suicide in the past few years. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
But he said others had not been so fortunate, and urged NT politicians to vote for Ms Davis’s bill.
“In two-and-a-half years, there’s been multiple people in Darwin who have died by suicide as a result of the gambling,” Mr Panchalingam said.
“How much misery are we going to allow?
“You’re allowing an Australian and Territorian to be miserable, so that someone else can make a lot of money off them.“
Ms Davis is scheduled to introduce her bill in parliament next Wednesday.
NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said the government would “consider all sensible proposals on their merits”.
“But let me be clear: while we encourage all people to gamble responsibly, you can’t legislate personal responsibility,” she said.
Ms Davis said she had been told by Shadow Racing Minister Chansey Paech that Labor would support the bill, and backbencher Dheran Young said in a social media post that Labor was “proud to support” it.
However, Deputy Opposition Leader Ed Smelt said Labor wanted the bill to be referred to the NT Legislative Scrutiny Committee.
