Ladbrokes Australia CEO: Credit card ban would affect “30% plus of turnover”

Ladbrokes Australia CEO Dean Shannon has called a potential credit card ban in the country “short sighted” following the release of a discussion paper proposing the idea.

As reported by Western Australia Today, Shannon was speaking on findings released by the Australian Banking Association (ABA) that focused on credit card use in gambling.

In response to the paper, Shannon claimed the outright banning of credit cards would have a demonstrable negative impact on the gambling industry.

He said: “Racing is driven by turnover and if you take away the credit cards, I would say, at a guess, it would affect 30% plus of turnover.

“I think a ban on credit cards would be quite short sighted and the flow-on effects that would spin the racing industry into decline,” he added.

Shannon was not the only senior industry figure to speak out on the discussion paper, with Tabcorp also taking issue with the ABA report.

Tabcorp argued the racing industry could lose out on some A$10m each year if the ban comes into effect.

Shannon added: “A ban would primarily affect social punters because those people are used to buying online with a credit card for convenience in Australia.”

In England, the use of credit cards across the gambling industry will be stopped in April 2020.

Elsewhere, the NAB recently became the first Australian bank to offer an option to customers to block gambling transactions via its mobile app.