ACMA Authority Member Carolyn Lidgerwood joined Rory McClaren on ABC Adelaide Mornings on 13 November 2025 to discuss new research showing that 77% of individuals who registered for self-exclusion through BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register (NSER) – reported an overall improvement in their quality of life.
Interview audio
Interview transcript
Rory:
Let's now turn to online gambling, an issue we've discussed very regularly here across the course of the year on the program. Problem gambling might be an issue you are dealing with or a loved one. But there are programs out there to help, including BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register. Now, since its inception two years ago, around 50,000 Australians have registered for the platform. The Australian Communications and Media Authority, they've just released research which shows significant benefits for those who have accessed the service. Now, if you or someone you know has used BetStop, let me know. 1300 222 891 is the number to call. A little earlier, I spoke with Carolyn Lidgerwood, who is the gambling lead at ACMA about the research. Carolyn, welcome.
Carolyn:
Good morning, Rory.
Rory:
Carolyn, explain what was uncovered as a part of this research.
Carolyn:
Well, the research delivered some really terrific results. What it found was that almost all of the people who have registered on BetStop, who were surveyed by us as part of this research, said that they had either completely stopped betting on sports or racing events, or had decreased their betting. So that was the first finding. There was also an excellent finding that around four in five people, or 77%, who had registered for self-exclusion from online and phone wagering services, reported experiencing a better quality of life as a result of self-excluding. And 79% of registrants experienced improved mental health and 69% experienced better personal relationships with family, with their friends, with their partners. So there was just a lot of very positive feedback which we were really delighted to receive.
Rory:
Can you explain to people what BetStop actually is, Carolyn?
Carolyn:
Yeah, certainly. BetStop allows people to self-exclude from all Australian licenced interactive wagering. So that's your online and telephone-based betting gambling services. So it's very much because it's a Commonwealth scheme, our regulatory responsibility is in that online and telephone betting space. So what you can do is self-register on BetStop. It takes all of five minutes. And if you do that, then the around 190 licenced wagering service providers in Australia are not allowed to accept bets from you. They've got to close your accounts. They've got to refund any credits you've got in your accounts. Not advertise to you. But most importantly, not accept bets from you. So this is how you can take a very active step to self-exclude and stop your online wagering.
Rory:
Are these companies still allowed to contact people who have been on or have chosen to use the BetStop service?
Carolyn:
Not while they're registered. If the registration ends, because you can choose – it's really, you've got a lot of flexibility if you go onto BetStop. You can choose a minimum self-exclusion period of three months. But it goes right up to lifetime. So people sometimes come onto the register for a shorter time to see how it is for them. And then that might end and then they might extend their exclusion. Or they may decide, look that was enough of a circuit breaker for me, I'm okay not being on the register anymore. But while you're on the register you can't be marketed to by Australian licenced wagering providers.
Rory:
But I guess that's also the potential workaround, Carolyn. If you are not an Australian-based organisation, you might still be bombarded with material from overseas providers and there's nothing to stop you.
Carolyn:
And that issue is an that the overseas illegal services can still market to people. They're not allowed to market to people in Australia, but they still do. So that's another part of the ACMA's work in this area, in that we are very active in investigating and trying to have access to those illegal sites taken down by ISPs in Australia, but that's an entirely different area of our work. But at least BetStop means – if you register on BetStop – it means that the companies that you're used to gambling with in Australia, they can no longer provide you with betting services. So you might still see ads for betting services online. But if you do, you can report that to us and we can look into that and see if there are illegal services we can have blocked.
Rory:
You spoke a little bit, Carolyn, about registration. Is it purely limited to the individual or can there be circumstances, say, if you were a parent or a grandparent of someone who was in their late teens, could you potentially register them on BetStop? Or is it purely down to the individual?
Carolyn:
No, at present it is purely down to the individual, that has choice to decide to self-exclude even though we have heard from people who would like to, for example, register their partners, register their child, their adult child etc. But it is around, you know, individual choice. And similarly, you know, we talk to financial counsellors a lot who do terrific work in the whole area of trying to minimise gambling harm and working with their clients. Sometimes financial counsellors have said, yeah, I wish we could register our clients. But no, that's, you know, that was sort of, you know, a passing observation. But they too recognise, that no, people need to have that individual choice.
Rory:
Carolyn, what do we know about the number of Australians who have chosen to register on BetStop? And how has this changed in recent years?
Carolyn:
Well, BetStop has only been operating for a bit over two years. It started on the 21st of August 2023, as part of the National Consumer Protection Framework for online wagering. So it hasn't been operating that long. We've recently just passed 50,000 registrations. Of those, there's around 30,000 that are active. So that shows some people have come on and off the register. Some people have decided to stay on the register. But really, as we now are moving into the third year of operation of the register, our focus is trying to promote and raise awareness of it, as much as possible.
Rory:
That's what I was going to say. Do enough people know about it, Carolyn?
Carolyn:
And look, I think that is something that's come through from our recent research. It's something that is raised with us – what more can be done to raise awareness of the register? So we do try to work with frontline groups who are dealing, you know, working with people experiencing gambling harm. But, you know, a lot of our promotion to date has been through social media because, of course, people who are doing online gambling, you know, they're the type of demographic who are going to be using social media as well. But going forward, obviously, yeah, we're wanting to do as much as we can to try to raise more awareness. So that's why it's great you've invited me on the program this morning to talk about it, to help raise awareness of BetStop.
Rory:
Do you have data when it comes to the – you talk about demographics. Do you have data when it comes to the age profiles and genders of people who are choosing to use BetStop?
Carolyn:
Look, that's a fantastic question. We don't have gender data because that's not something you have to provide when you register. Because obviously, when we set up the register, it was about how do you make it effective, but not over-collect personal information about people, because obviously, you know, that's a very sensitive area. But what we have found, we do collect age data, and almost half the registrants are 30 or under. So it's very, that's pitching young, and 48% of registrants are aged 30 and under. 79% of registrants are aged 40 and under. So it really is something that is being used by younger people to take control of their gambling. But we don't know if we're not reaching older people, you know, or whether older people are doing less online gambling and perhaps more in areas we don't regulate and which BetStop doesn't cover. Like going down to your local pubs and clubs to gamble in physical spaces.
Rory:
Which might be where that older cohort, that's where they're engaging with wagering.
Carolyn:
That's right. Or actually on the track rather than betting online. So, but it is interesting that 79% are aged 40 and under.
Rory:
And for many people who are listening to this, Carolyn, that might be, again, a family member, a son, a daughter, a granddaughter, who fit in that cohort.
Carolyn:
Yes, exactly, exactly.
Rory:
Now, you talk about personal information. You do need quite a bit of personal information to register on BetStop, though, don't you?
Carolyn:
You do need some – not a huge amount – but you certainly need to register your phone number or phone numbers, if there's a few you use. Your email address. And you do need an identity document, like a government identity document. So a passport, driver's licence – that type of thing to verify you are who you say are. And, of course, some of that is to make sure that the person registering is actually the person who wants to self-exclude. And then that, you know, similarly, to open a wagering account with one of the licence providers, you also have to verify your identity as well. So you do need some. But in setting up the process, we have tried to make registration straightforward and easy. And we've had good feedback on that as part of the research too, that people found that it was a quick process and an effective process for them.
Rory:
And Carolyn, before you leave, how important is research like this going to be going forward?
Carolyn:
Look, it's very important, I think, just to understand how, you know – you need to understand the human stories behind, you know, our, we've got a registration process that's designed to meet certain objectives, but you really want to hear from the people who are using the register, to find out if it's working for them and if it is helping to improve their lives. So really, we've been very pleased that so many people say that life is better, because they're on the register, with improved mental health and better relationships. Because that's all part of the purpose for why BetStop was established.
Rory:
Carolyn Lidgerwood, thank you.