Ever since Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced earlier this week his intention to seek a permanent ban on interactive gambling services, a hue and cry of protest has broken out across the Australian continent. The proposed law would make it illegal for Australian operators to take bets from Australian residents, but it would enable them to continue operating using a customer base of players located outside Australia.
Many opponents volubly denounce the move because it's nearly impossible to prevent Aussie residents from accessing online gambling sites, regardless of where the sites are located--a key issue raised in the National Office of Information Economy's "Report of the investigation into the feasibility and onsequences of banning interactive gambling." The report is the centerpiece of the federal government's efforts to extend the current moratorium, yet even the NOIE admits in the report that despite there being a number of technical methods available to implement a ban, "none would be 100 percent effective in preventing Australians' access to interactive gambling services."
A spokesman for Communications Minister Richard Alston, who has spearheaded the federal government's moratorium efforts, defended the idea to implement filtering methods as an enforcement method. "I'm not going to accept the argument that there is some way to get around it," he told the AAP. "And even if this is the case, then people will always find a way to get around it."
He continued, "Just because of a few technical concerns that a few people might bypass your legislation is not an argument for not proceeding with what is obviously supported by the majority of the population."
Government officials from the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria oppose the ban, as does the federal opposition. Australian Democratic Senators Lyn Allison and John Woodley joined Greens Senator Bob Brown in saying that there would need to be major changes in the legislation before they would back the ban. Brown denounced the federal government for letting Net gambling sites
offer their services to people outside of Australia, but not to residents of Australia, something Allison likened to "shipping out your toxic waste."
"This is legislation which does not stop Australians using the Internet to gamble, but puts them into the hands of unscrupulous operators who would prey on an out-of-control habit, while protecting foreigners who choose to gamble in Australia on the Internet with an appropriately structured regulatory regime," opposition leader Kim Beazley said in an interview with the AAP.
He added that the ban would "organize the rules so they are most unsafe for Australians but safest for foreigners."
"I want to discourage Australians gambling in Mafia-controlled Internet operations located in other countries. But far from discouraging, the Australian Government is encouraging them to do that. I think that's daft," Beazley concluded.
The Prime Minister swiftly rebutted the oppositions' arguments, telling at least one group, "I say to the Labor Party 'Be it on your head if you oppose something that will prevent the spread of more misery for families whose mothers or fathers or both are addicted to gambling.'"
Because few industry members like the idea of a permanent ban, the national government has developed a plan to force their cooperation. Those companies that continue to accept bets from Australians could get hit with up to $1.1 million in fines daily, while their top executives would be targeted with $220,000 in fines each day, it was announced today.
Between the moratorium and the fines, some Internet bookmakers are looking offshore to more liberal locales like Vanuatu and the Caribbean. Others, like Centrebet and the Federal Hotels group, are exploring legal recourse, such as some sort of financial restitution from the government.
"There is no obligation to pay compensation, I can assure you," responded Alston. "There is no basis for paying compensation because the mere fact someone wants to start up in business in not a reason to let them do that."
Many operators, however, would probably beg to differ with Alston, considering the millions of dollars they spent in creating, building and launching their betting and gambling sites quickly tossed away.
And the moratorium's effect would not be limited to just a handful of betting sites. Centrebet chief Gerald Daffy suggested that a ban on interactive gambling services could adversely affect Australia's racing industry. "It's more than just a couple dozen jobs that are on the line; it might well bring the racing industry to its knees in this country," he told the Herald Sun.
Peter Fletcher from the New South Wales TAB expressed anger over the ban. Fletcher told ABC News that news of the planned ban had outraged his counterparts at other TABs. "I've spoken to my colleagues in the Victorian TAB yesterday. They're surprised that their Internet wagering business is under attack."
"This is totally ill-conceived from a government that should have been concentrating on the policy issues surrounding cyber-casinos in the Caribbean and unscrupulous unregulated operations elsewhere," he added.
Few dispute the need to protect problem gamblers, but whether the moratorium is the right way to achieve this laudable goal is debatable. "We are not sure it serves much purpose," commented Patrick Fair of the Internet Industry Association in an interview with the BBC. "You will still be able to go to the newsagents and buy a lottery ticket or pick up the phone, but you can't use the Internet."
The winners would be major international casinos, suggested Lasseters Online head Peter Bridge. "It will not be long before we see the major casino operators from the U.S. taking a high profile in the global online gaming market," he said.
Instead, Bridge said, "The best way to protect Australians is to support the global efforts to regulate the industry and to educate players on safe online gaming practices."
He added, "Australia has already played a lead role by establishing the benchmark for online gaming regulation worldwide."