Give families the opportunity to build $500 billion of wealth by cutting gambling losses by 50% over the next six years.
To protect and improve the financial well-being of kids and their families, we are working to implement reforms that:
- Prohibit the predatory practice of allowing commercialized gambling on credit, whether by credit card or “markers,” (interest-free loans issued by gambling operators.) It’s inconceivable that states encourage citizens to take on debt for gambling purposes.
- Require weekly ‘soft cap’ thresholds on net deposits – i.e. a ‘soft cap’ on gambling expenditure through which a customer can only pass to place higher deposits after an enhanced affordability check has been made. We recommend that a ‘soft cap’ limit of $100 per month (or $23 per week) on net deposits should be applied to all customer spending. Expenditure of up to $23 per week is more than what the majority of gamblers spend, while also being a threshold that ensures that gambling activities do not amount to serious financial harm.
- Cap staking levels on all forms of rapid-play gambling, including online gambling and electronic gambling machine-style games to $2.00 or less. There is no justification for staking levels above $2.00.
- Restrict the practice of marketing high dollar lottery tickets in low income areas (i.e. ending the practice of selling tickets greater than $5.00)
- Restrict the sale of lottery products in check-cashing outlets, which serve unbanked, low-income people.
- Place the new Office of the Public Advocate to Stop Abusive Gambling Operator Practices (see “Our Plan- Step Three”) in charge of overseeing affordability. A working model of gambling affordability depends on access to operator data. We recommend that the most suitable third-party depository for remote operator affordability data should be the new Public Advocate.