Australian online casino laws under review

Australia’s long held legal position with respect to online casinos may be set for an overhaul.

A parliamentary inquiry is currently reviewing the Interactive Gaming Act which has been in place for over a decade now and the inquiry’s Chairman, Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, has said that a move toward a regulated market is being considered. “We do need to decide do we need to tighten the controls or do we in fact need to liberalise,” Wilkie told the ABC news.

Pushing for a liberalised approach is the Tasmanian Gaming Commission’s Peter Hoult.  In a submission to the inquiry he said that, “we should set up a regulated Australian online environment and encourage people to use those safe and regulated operators.”

A question of safety or money?

I suspect the Tasmanian Gaming Commission’s preference for regulation is motivated more by the potential to earn gambling tax revenue, rather than out of concern for player safety.  Online casinos welcoming Australian players include the likes of William Hill, Unibet, Party Casino and Betsson – not exactly rogue operators, but certainly companies that do not currently pay any license fees or gaming tax to the Tasmanian Gaming Commission.

Until a couple of months ago, bet365 was also on this list but stopped accepting Australian players when they decided to apply for a sports betting license down under. I guess this highlights a glaring problem with the current Act…major operators only seem willing to comply with its provisions when they either have, or are considering having a corporate presence within Australia.

The inquiry is expected to report on its views late this year or early next year.

 

the Interactive Gaming Act