New campaign set to tackle online gambling problems in Australia

A new online campaign has been planned to reach out to the latest generation of gamblers.

Racing and Gaming Minister Paul Papalia says the number of people gambling online is increasing.

“This program is targeting this latest generation of gamblers and potentially reach out to a lot more who have any problems, and notify them of the services available,” he said.

“The design of the campaign is not to be too confrontational – it’s to be encouraging and allow people to come to the decision that they should seek help and not be in their face too much.”

He says Western Australia’s problem is not as big as the other states in the country.

“Fortunately we are far better off than every other jurisdiction because we don’t have the proliferation of pokies that they have and we essentially have one responsible casino,” he said.

“Because we are going into the social media field and those platforms, it enables us to gather a lot of data and to specifically focus on potential demographics who have the highest problem.”

Regulations for online gambling is also being looked at.

“We are perusing legislation to address synthetic gambling which has had an impact on some of our traditional agencies like Lotterywest” Mr Paplia said.

Source: 9news.com.au