Australian self-exclusion register passes 30,000 users but quarterly sign-ups slip
Number of registrants decreases for third consecutive quarter despite reaching landmark figure, with young people being the most common users
Australia’s national self-exclusion register, BetStop, has surpassed 30,000 users after just over a year of being live in the country.
First launched on 21 August 2023 by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), BetStop allows people to self-exclude from all licensed online and phone gambling providers in Australia.
BetStop reached 30,493 users by the end of the first quarter for full-year 2024-2025, or the three months to 30 September.
The number of active exclusions dropped to 23,182 by 30 September, meaning 7,311 people either completed their self-exclusion period or cancelled it prematurely.
New South Wales had the largest number of self-exclusions for Q1 with 1,482, followed by Victoria (1,173) and Queensland (904).
People aged 30 and under accounted for the lion’s share of service users, representing 49% of self-exclusions, equivalent to 15,007 registrants.
Those aged 31 to 40 were the next highest demographic with 30%, followed by 41- to 50-year-olds (12%), then 51- to 60-year-olds (6%) and finally people aged 60 or over (3%).
The joint most common self-exclusion period for BetStop users was three months to two years as well as lifetime, with 39% of people taking up each option.
Additionally, 17% of users opted to self-exclude for three months only, 4% chose two to five years, and 1% opted for a five-year period.
Figures showed that the number of new registrations for the service has slowly decreased across consecutive quarters.
In the first quarter after launching (Q1 2023-2024) there were 7,496 new users, with that figure increasing to 7,944 for Q2.
Since then, BetStop recorded 5,445 new users for Q3 2023-24, which decreased to 5,087 for Q4, before falling to 4,521 for Q1 2024-25.
In August, ACMA said the number of sign-ups for the BetStop service had been “encouraging” as a means to prevent gambling-related harm.
In September, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claimed poker machines and lottery products were the biggest driving factors behind gambling-related harm in the country.
Albanese was defending the government’s decision to introduce limits on gambling ads in favour of a blanket ban.