New Review On Whether Australia Should Legalise Online Gambling

At a time when Australia is currently stuck in a heated debate over the countries poker machines, a new review has added fuel to the fire, by speculating on whether or not the country should legalize interactive online gaming in Australia or not. According to Australia gambling news, the discussion paper focuses primarily on the 2001 Interactive Gambling Act.

One of the key sticking points, highlighted in the discussion paper, is that despite the original Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 prohibiting online gambling, many Australians are still flouting Australian gambling laws by visiting a wealth of overseas gambling sites, and utilizing their services.

The Department of Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy are the ones who authorized the review of the current situation, and plan to take the results all the way to the Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform. The final report of the findings is due before the first half of 2012.

With internet gambling in Australia growing with the addition of a new platform accessible to gamers, being mobile gaming, and growing debate in Australian politics over whether or not poker machines or “pokies” should be banned in the country, the discussion paper has come at a critical time.

The review mainly focus on what the it was that the Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 was issued for. How the situation has changed, and how many of those hypothetical problem gamers the the act was primarily designed to protect against, are in fact a reality in the country.

A great many Australians love to play poker machines, and so the debate over the possibility of legalizing online gambling would be something very much in their interests, as it would permit them to play online poker, as well as other gambling games from the comfort of their homes.

But with Australian Prime Minister, Julia Goddard already slated for offering a “weak” reforms package on the poker machines this week, the likelihood of this becoming a reality at the moment, seem very far away indeed.