Australian online punters could top up at convenience stores

Sports bettors may have a way to ‘top up’ their gambling accounts at local Australian convenience stores and supermarkets following talks between retailers and prepaid card company, Emerchants, according to Sydney Morning Herald.

Up to 4,500 stores across the country could be fitted with an “EachWay” top-up system, a cash load system that predominately caters to the gambling industry. William Hill, Bet365 and Ladbrokes have already signed up to the system.

However, retailers, including 7-eleven and Woolworths have denied they plan to use the system for gambling cards and provided no further confirmation.

Bookmakers have already begun to issue their own debit cards to punters, which allows them to access their online winnings via an ATM. Emerchants says almost 40 percent of money spent on reloadable cards goes back to the bookmakers in the form of new bets, and the amount of money flowing into online gambling accounts is growing.

According to Emerchants, $90 million was loaded onto its cards in the first half of this fiscal year, compared with $15 million in the same period in 2015.

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