A permanent ban on Internet gambling appears more and more likely to be passed by the Australian Parliament. Nearly a week after a one-year moratorium on the expansion of online gambling expired, an ongoing Senate inquiry into whether a federal ban would be desirable and/or conceivable has concluded with Democrats failing to come to a consensus on their views.
The result was the filing of two separate reports by the Democrats for the final Report of the Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Legislation Committee, which was tabled yesterday.
Coalition committee members support the ban, while Labor members oppose it.
The legislation, if passed, would make it illegal for any Australian company to offer online gambling services to Australians, although these firms could offer such services to players outside the country. Australians would still be allowed to gamble with overseas sites under the bill's language.
Those who oppose the bill say it's unenforceable. "Contrary to popular perception, the bill does not and cannot prohibit online gambling," Senator Brian Grieg, a Democrat, told the committee during hearings on the moratorium. "The Internet is without international borders and straddles countless and conflicting legal jurisdictions."
For many operators and state governments, the big question is whether sports and race wagering will be exempted from the law, an issue that has yet to be resolved.
Horse racing officials, for example, are concerned that banning interactive wagering on races could sound a death knell for the industry. They met this week with Communications Minister Richard Alston, and left the meeting feeling somewhat encouraged by Senator Alston's remarks.
"We took some heart from the meeting," Australian Racing Board Chairman Bob Charley told the AAP. "At least the door isn't closed in our face.
He added, "Senator Alston also indicated that it was not the intention to curtail services currently offered but we won't be satisfied until we get an undertaking that wagering will be excluded from the bill."
Now that the committee has released its report on the Interactive Gambling Bill 2001, the next step is for the Senate to debate the legislation and vote on it. The Senate is scheduled to sit again June 18. No date has been set to consider the prohibition bill.
Supplemental documents:
Details on the Committee's May 4 Hearing
The Committee's Final Report.