Australian Parliament Seeks to Curb Gambling

The lawmakers at the Australian Parliament are seeking to change the Australian gambling laws and impose tougher regulations. The attempt at passing the new set of laws will start in the upcoming parliamentary session.

The anti-gambling lawmakers are seeking to have all Australian poker rooms, and the poker machines, equipped with pre-commitment technology to reduce problem gambling. If the law passes, the technology will need to be applied to the poker equipment as of 2013, leaving the operators little time and making the cost of operating more expensive.

The other proposed law seeks to impose $250 daily limit on withdrawals at casinos and other gambling outfits. Moreover, the poker machines will need to display the cost of play and give electronic warnings. This is supposed to happen by 2016.

Furthermore, the online sportsbooks in Australia, are expected to be impacted as well by the new regulations as the legislative proposal seeks to ban displaying and advertising of live betting odds during sports coverage via media.

The new gambling regulations in Australia seek to control wagering by the public in expectations of reducing problem gambling. Although the casino and sports betting industry in Australia may not be happy, it is way better to have more regulations than simply closing down wagering businesses as it happened in many other countries before.

One recent example is Russia where the most casinos were shot down, only to experience proliferation of illegal betting dens. Now, the Russian Duma seeks to re-license some of the casinos, especially those located near Moscow and Saint-Petersburg in order to curb illegal gambling while seeking to gain additional revenues for the state from gambling taxation. All while protecting the players.