Australian Government Could Relax Online Gambling Rules - In 2000, the Australian Government blazed a trail and led the world to be the first country to enact online gambling specific legislation. The Interactive Gambling Act 2000 (The Act) was designed to protect local operators from offshore operators, and also to curtail 'problem gambling' by limiting exposure to online bet options.
The Act rendered it illegal for operators not licensed in Australia to advertise or offer their product to Australian Residents - supposedly protecting local operators. Another key provision of the Act was a ban on all "in-play" bets - supposedly limiting problem gambling opportunities.
An in-play bet is basically a bet on an event occurring within a game, placed after the game has commenced. It offers an enormous range of bet possibilities on any Agen Judi Taruhan Casino Bola Online given game. In football, in-plays may include bets on who will score the next goal, what the winning margin will be, or who will win the game?all placed after the starting whistle has blown. For longer games like cricket, in-plays extend per game bet options enormously.
In-plays are an extremely popular bet. An estimated 75% of all Premier League best are in-plays.
Since 2000, it has become patently clear that The Act has done little to stop Australian punters signing up with offshore operators. And as in many other parts of the world, local operators are complaining that they are having difficulty competing, particularly when offshore operators can offer in-plays and they can't.
Betfair, which has an Australian operating Agen Bola Online Indonesia license and is therefore subject to the provisions of The Act, estimates they lose around $200 million a year from an inability to offer in-plays to Aussie punters. But this could all change soon.
The AFL has penned a submission to the Government asking for the in-play provision of The Act to be amended so Aussie punters can place these bets with local operators on AFL games. Of course the big upside for the AFL is an estimated doubling of licensing revenue from the likes of Betfair and Tabcorp. And the Government is said to be quite receptive to the submission. With increased wagering tax revenue why wouldn't they be?
It seems clear now that the Agen Judi Bola Tangkas initial hope that a piece of legislation could prevent Australians betting with offshore operators has waned. And concerns about limiting bet options for problem gamblers has given way to a rush to offer competing bet options in order to maximize local operator earnings and tax revenue.
