Earlier this year Australia announced it will be reviewing and making changes to its gambling regulations. Last week the country resolved to look into the international casino operators that are offering their services to Aussie citizens.
Investigations will be led by former New South Wales premier Barry O’Farrell and aim to scrutinize all online betting sites actively offering casino services to the nation. Apparently Australia has a lot of clean-up work to do with 605 of the revenue due to the government actually being directed straight to the unregulated gambling sites.
Scott Morrison, Social Services Minister, related that only 40% of the $1.6 billion in revenue collected from the casino gaming industry is coming from the operators that are conducting regulated activities. The money that is sliding away are actually going into the pockets of the over 2000 international gambling sites.
December 18 has been set as the deadline for the investigation to conclude on and for a commendation to be submitted to the government by O’Farrell’s team of investigators. The former premier will begin by revising the 2001 Interactive Gambling Act with the scope of assessing and updating it with relevant regulations.
Another big goal is to make sure the public is safe from illegitimate wagering sites, Morrison stated. The outcome of these revising efforts is expected to reflect tighter rules for the gambling industry, specifically for the off-shore operators which are currently taking advantage of the lack of regulation in this sector.
One gray-area issue still remains: in-game betting, to be or not to be?