Age verification in Australia should also cover betting apps

Australia continues to take steps to regulate the betting and gambling sector and protect consumers. In recent years, the country has tried various approaches, including reducing the number of slot machines, shrinking the size of outdoor signage, and addressing cashless payments.

Sunita Bose, chief executive of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, and advocate Mark Kempster spoke before the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee. The committee met on Tuesday, 10 November. The subject of the hearing was the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026, which was introduced to Parliament on 15 October 2026. The bill places a legal duty of care on platforms, games and artificial intelligence services to protect users under 18 from harmful content.

Bose and Kempster argued that age control requirements should also be extended to betting services and applications. The Alliance had raised this proposal in its evidence submitted on 30 October 2026. According to the organization, the problem is not the lack of an age limit for registering with betting services. The real concern is who uses the account after registration. The organization wants a child to be prevented from borrowing and using an adult's account. In Bose's view, there should be effective barriers that block children's access to betting services.

A second proposed amendment aims to explicitly classify content or behavior that steers children towards prohibited betting as harmful to children, and to place gambling within child protection requirements. The organization also points out that the Northern Territory has required betting service providers not to allow people under 18 to access their platforms. The Alliance now wants these state rules to be carried into the federal framework.