No losing bets for Australian online gamblers

Now this sounds like a pretty good deal to me…from the players perspective anyway.

Draft legislation is to be tabled next month in the Australian Parliament that will make it legal for Aussie gamblers to void any lost deposits made by credit card at online poker or casino sites based offshore. If you win, you win.  If you lose…you get your money back.

The proposed law is the brainchild of anti-gambling independent senator Nick Xenophon.

“With voided credit card bets, I have to say there’s something appealing to me about online casinos losing their shirts rather than the punters. It would certainly make online casinos think twice about accepting Australian cards.” said Xenophon of his masterstroke.

Of course like most government attempts to curb forms of gambling that they can’t tax, I can see this one being a complete failure.

The solution from the operators perspective is simple…Australian players must use alternative deposit methods to play for real money. And lets face it, the list of alternate deposit options is long and growing constantly.  Taking one out of the picture isn’t exactly going to force operators to pull out of the Australian market.

Australia passed the Interactive Gambling Act “the Act” back in 2001.  The Act takes a prohibitive approach to online gambling and provides that it is illegal for an ‘interactive gambling service provider ‘ (ie online casino, online poker room etc) to provide its services to Australian residents in the absence of an interactive gambling license.

Trouble is, not too many operators seem to take much notice of the Act, and as it isn’t directed toward players it doesn’t discourage them in any way from playing online.  PokerStars, who were recently indicted by the DOJ and FBI actually have a 200 strong office in Sydney where they manage their Australian operations from.

No attempt has been made by Australian authorities to prosecute any operator in breach of the Act.