Leading gambling harm advocate, Wesley Mission, has today welcomed the launch of BetStop, the national self-exclusion register for all licensed interactive wagering services.
Wesley Mission CEO, Rev Stu Cameron, says BetStop is a long-overdue means by which people can take control of their online gambling, a wagering sector that until now has run rogue and left a swathe of untold misery in its wake.
“Being able to exclude yourself for anywhere from three months or a lifetime gives a level of control back to the individual. BetStop, along with the customer pre-verification is an important step in reducing gambling harm.”
Wesley Mission will continue to advocate for a similar independent, state-wide self-exclusion register for poker machine venues in New South Wales.
Cameron says, “We have seen public sentiment shift and reform is no longer an industry-led discussion about ‘problem gamblers’. There is now a community-led discussion about a ‘problem industry’.
“Our hope, here in New South Wales, is that we will have a single point platform, like BetStop, where people can exclude themselves from poker machine venues. We all know the current self-exclusion register is broken and poorly, if at all, enforced.
Australians lose more than $25 billion per year on gambling, and Australia has the highest per capita losses from online gambling in the world.
Wesley Mission provides practical care and support for more than 130,000 people annually in NSW and across Australia, including help for people experiencing homelessness, local community action groups preventing suicide, and gambling and financial counselling among more than 120 programs. www.wesleymission.org.au
Rev Stu Cameron is available for interview.
Media contacts:
Anne Holt on 0418 628 342 or anne.holt@wesleymission.org.au
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