Land-based Operators Suffer as Australians Take to Online Gambling

A gambling industry survey was recently conducted in Australia. The revealed results are hardly shocking: over 80 percent of Australian adult population is taking part in some form of gaming activities under Australian gambling laws. This rate is the highest in the world.

Australians generally enjoy their freedoms, the look at real-money gaming as a fun and recreational activity. After giving 110% at work they want to relax and play hard. However, certain restrictions make it hard for them to enjoy online gaming or online sportsbooks in Australia.

The Interactive Gaming Act (IGA) has been passed by the Australian Commonwealth Parliament on 18 June 2001 and went into effect on July 11 the same year. The IGA targets operators of online gambling businesses and makes it illegal for them to provide real-money online gaming opportunities to residents of Australia.

Not only are online gambling activities prohibited under the Act, but their advertisement is banned too including that of online poker and online casinos in Australia. However, nobody stops Australians from engaging in gaming activities at thousands of off-shore registered gambling destinations.

A recent report has revealed the Consumer and Business Services Department statistics for the gaming sector. South Australian gamers alone have lost $731 million on pokies during the course of last fiscal year. This figure represented a decline of $60 million from 2006-2007 numbers.

Although the decline is relatively small, land-based gaming providers of pikes, hotels and bars, blame the rapid growth of internet gaming activity for their loss of profits. But the proponents of online gaming say that this type of gambling is safer, offering more comfort and eliminating the need to drink and drive.

After the online gambling has become a real force in the industry, the Commonwealth has taken a much more serious role in regulating gambling as a whole. However, each individual State and Territory authority is also actively regulating the business, sometimes creating unnecessary confusion.