Age Verification Checks Must Cover Betting Apps, Responsible Gambling Advocates Say

Australia continues to introduce changes to its sports betting and gambling industry, with the country taking several decisive steps regarding regulation and consumer protection in recent years. From reducing the number of slot machines to scaling down exterior signage, and floating cashless payments to better track consumer spending and create a technological curb to excessive spending, Australian lawmakers have been experimenting with various ways to prevent gambling-related harm, or ensure early intervention. Advocates Push to Close Post-Registration Loopholes Now, responsible gambling advocates from the Alliance for Gambling Reform and chief executive Sunita Bose and advocate Mark Kempster have recently appeared before the Senate Environment and Communication Legislation Committee. The committee convened on Tuesday, November 10. The committee was brought together to further assess and examine the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026, which overhauls broader online safety rules by imposing a statutory duty of care on platforms, games, and AI services to mitigate online harms for under-18s, with Bose and Kempster arguing before lawmakers that age-check requirements ought to be expanded to betting services and apps. The proposal comes following evidence presented by the Alliance for Gambling Reform on October 30, 2026, which proposed to add specific age-assurance requirements for wagering services. According to the organization, the wider bill already introduced to Parliament on October 15, 2026, would establish minimum safety standards for online services as well as require them to protect those U-18 from harmful material, conduct and features, Australian Gamblers noted, detailing recent events. Two Key Amendments Proposed for Federal Law The issue, argues the Alliance for Gambling Reform, does not necessarily stem from the fact that there are no age restrictions when it comes to joining a wagering service. Rather, the alliance is concerned with who ends up using a betting service after registration, and wants to ensure that an underage individual has not borrowed and accessed the betting account of an adult. According to Bose, there should be effective barriers that prevent children from accessing wagering services, with these services listed in the age-assurance , which is the first proposal pitched by the organization. The second amendment seeks to outright recognize material or conduct encouraging a child into prohibited betting as harmful to children, and essentially enshrining gambling in the bill’s child protection requirement. The Alliance for Gambling Reform also argues that the proposals are already working at the state level, with the Northern Territory obligating wagering service providers to ensure that they do not allow U-18 individuals to access their platforms. The key difference is that the alliance now seeks to enshrine those state prerequisites in the federal framework.