The Australian government approved the proposed amendments to the country’s Interactive Gambling Act 2001 that prohibit the unlicensed provision of online gaming options, poker included. In other words, offshore gaming and poker operators currently serving Australian players will no longer be able to do so legally.
It all started last fall with the introduction of the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 by Australian Minister for Human Services Alan Tudge. The idea for the creation of an online gambling-free environment was embraced by staunch gambling opponents, including South Australia Sen. Nick Xenophon and his party. And active lobbyism from influential parties culminated in the bill being approved by MPs during Monday and Tuesday meetings.
It is still unclear when exactly the ban will come into effect, but one thing is for sure – once the country’s gambling law is amended, this will result in a massive exodus of unlicensed gambling operators. 888poker and Vera&John were among the first to leave even shortly after first discussions about the possible market re-regulation began. PokerStars kept accepting local players, but said that it would leave at the very moment when its presence in the country becomes illegal.
And while top-tier operators are packing up to leave, less high profile businesses will not find it a problem to operate in a black market. Here it is important to note that under the Amendment Bill, it is illegal for operators to provide gaming options to Australian players, but it is not illegal for Australian players to play on unauthorized gambling websites.
Thus, although it was the Australian government’s intention to limit the proliferation of online gambling and to protect vulnerable people from gambling-related problems, it is now handing players to black market businesses. And the thing about those black market businesses is that often times they are very player-unfriendly and even dangerous, due to the fact that they operate in an absolutely unregulated environment.
Although PokerStars, 888poker, and their likes will certainly be interested to return to the local market, it will be quite challenging for them to do so. Under the new regulations, only licensed operators will be able to operate legally, and the application process for obtaining a license is some sort of a riddle, the solution of which is known to lawmakers only. In other words, applying for a license in the amended Australian gambling landscape is close to impossible at the moment.
The Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 also closed the loophole that allowed offshore sports betting operators to offer in-play betting options to Australian bettors. Under the country’s gambling law, in-play betting is only possible via phone calls. Some bookmakers have been featuring a click-to-call button on their websites to allow punters bet over the course of one sports betting event or another. Their way around the law has been heavily criticized and closing the loophole has long been on lawmakers’ agenda.
Australia’s new anti-online gambling regulations can easily be defined as draconian. The country’s online gambling market is one of great potential, but this potential is on its way of being wasted due to the lack of adequate measures. Prohibiting players from playing online in the era of the Internet and 4G equals to taking them back to the Dark Ages. And it has now become common knowledge that closing a given market to limited operations can mostly do harm by urging players to the black market and exposing them to predatory operations.
