Call for tighter curbs on credit card use for gambling

for the Problem Gambling Foundation said it applauded the ANZ bank in Australia for taking steps and hoped it happened here too.

“It [the cap] will be a good harm minimisation tool. Providing the option to . . . ‘opt out’ of using a credit card for gambling is also a great tool and one [we hope to see here].

“It provides a level of consumer protection for people who do gamble online, particularly on websites based outside of New Zealand in jurisdictions where . . . consumers aren’t protected by New Zealand law.”

She said bank restrictions would be a step in the right direction to helping problem gamblers but wouldn’t be enough to prevent it.

“We still need to see effective host responsibility by the providers of gambling products in the form of spending limits, warnings on games that contain ‘in-app’ purchases and loot boxes, and age restrictions on games that contain those things.”

She said many New Zealanders did not realise that if they gambled on an overseas-based website, which they can do legally, they are not protected by New Zealand law which opens them up to the risks of gambling in an unregulated environment including difficulty claiming prize money and funds being taken from a credit card by the gambling operator.

Tom Hartmann, at the Commission for Financial Capability, said credit cards and gambling were a particularly toxic mix because people were borrowing to gamble and it could result in people paying more for the entertainment than they intended to.

“You think you are placing a $100 bet but . . . end up paying $150 for it.”

Hartmann said online gambling could be particularly risky, saying casinos often had signs over their ATMs saying “know when to stop”, but in the online environment when a credit card was hooked up automatically there were fewer barriers.

He said an 85 per cent limit was still high but could stop people going over their limit through gambling and incurring charges.

But someone with a cap could still get into trouble if they couldn’t afford to pay that amount back, he warned.

Hartmann said it was better people used cash and had a limit in mind. Losing cash meant people felt an immediate pain point while a credit card typically delayed that feeling.