Australia Bans Responsible Gambling Tag in Ads


The online casino industry has seen a lot of changes and development in the past few years. Particularly in terms of legislation and efforts to increase Responsible Gambling.

New behavioural research leads to even more changes in online gambling advertisements in Australia.

A New Era of Advertising Taglines

Australian gaming operators and advertisers are in for more changes after the latest research leads to new mandatory advertising taglines. This comes after a rise in the rates of problem gambling among online casino players.

Australia is taking a rather strict approach, with gaming companies being forced to say, ‘chances are you’re going to lose’ instead of ‘gambling responsibly’ in their ads. The new set of rules is put in place in the National Consumer Protection Framework.

These latest changes were announced by social services minister, Amanda Rishworth in the first week of November 2022. The federal government is mandating a set of nationally consistent messages around the potential harms of online gambling.

Until now, most companies have been urging players to ‘gamble responsibly,’ a tagline that has been used consistently in gambling ads worldwide. From the start of next year, this is set to change as online gambling companies will be required to run a variety of new messages on any TV, radio, apps, and digital or print advertising.

New Gaming Taglines

In order to be more hard-hitting, there will be a variety of taglines advertisers can use, such as:

  • Chances are you’re about to lose.
  • Think. Is this a bet you really want to place?
  • What’s gambling really costing you?
  • What are you prepared to lose today? Set a deposit limit.
  • Imagine what you could be buying instead.
  • You win some. You lose more.
  • What are you really gambling with?

In most cases, it will be expected that ads are accompanied by the advisory “For free and confidential support, call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au”.

Other Updates in the Works

Aside from fresh and more realistic taglines, the updated version of the consumer protection framework will also expect gambling companies to rotate all the taglines across 12 months. The reason for this is to avoid users being subject to message fatigue.

According to Rishworth, online wagering is quickly becoming a source of gambling and, even more so, the reason behind big losses. After a broad consultation, they have come up with these taglines, which evidence shows will be more effective.

This is based on extensive behavioural research. On top of that, the government has also opened a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling and gambling harm.

The latter is expected to examine the existing player protections, along with the support and counselling services, education programs, and more.

They will also be looking into whether the laws should be applied to other activities believed to be similar to gambling, including video games with loot boxes and social casino games.



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