Victoria’s gambling regulator, the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission, has announced it will ban betting on all under 19 sports competitions, and any betting on the performance of individual players who are under 18 in junior and senior sport.
In letters sent Friday to Australian sports betting providers and the bodies controlling all major sports, the VGCCC said it has “determined that permitting betting on minors is contrary to the public interest and poses potential integrity and gambling related harm concerns.”
These concerns, it added, include the susceptibility of minors to approaches seeking to undermine the integrity of a sporting event, and of normalizing gambling on events involving children.
The ban prohibits offering bets on:
- sporting events where all participants are minors
- sporting events for under-19s
- open events where minors are playing, meaning a bet can be placed on the open event team but not on particular outcomes for players in the team who are under 18 years old.
It also includes offering bets on exotics – outcomes such as “first goal of the game”, “most disposals” or “first player to take a wicket’ where individual players are minors.
The VGCCC revealed it has now directed sporting organizations to vary their agreements with betting providers to ensure they prohibit the offering of markets involving minors.
Bodies controlling all major sports and betting providers will have 60 days to comply with the new requirements, after which it will be an offence to allow bets on games and outcomes relating to individual players in a team or participating in the sports betting event who are under 18.
“The idea that it is okay to bet on minors just doesn’t stand up,” said VGCCC chair Fran Thorn. “We think minors deserve to be protected. It also raises integrity issues, with the prospect of people attempting to influence how minors might behave playing sport.
“If sports controlling bodies and betting providers do not comply with this decision we will take action, which may include revoking our approval of sports controlling bodies and prosecuting betting providers.”
