Australia To Impose New Restrictions on Internet Gambling

The Australian Government has continued on its merry “lets regulate more of the internet” way with a new proposal to impose new restrictions on internet gambling in Australia.

Responding to a Productivity Commission report recommending the introduction of “pre-commitment” restrictions, Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin stated that the Government had “important work to be done to develop pre-commitment” and that “the community wants us to address this issue.”

The proposed “pre-commitment” restrictions would force gambling sites operating in Australia, and other offline gambling establishments, to allow customers to nominate a maximum amount they could spend, and would provide the option of nominated “self-exclusion” periods.

Ironically, a recommendation to ease restrictions on the types on online gambling legally available in Australia in the Productivity Commission report has been rejected by the Government. Gambling on horse racing, poker and lotteries are legal online in Australia, however “games of chance” and other casino style games are illegal, despite reports that hundreds of thousands of Australians use them anyway.

The imposition of these new regulations, while making some sense, would remain all but unworkable online because much of the industry remains underground or does not operate out of Australia due to the legal restrictions. Likewise, imposing such restrictions on Australian firms may simply drive more users to unregulated and/ or illegal overseas sites.

The move comes on top of proposals from the Australian Government to censor the internet, monitor the emails and web browsing history of all Australian internet users, and a proposal yesterday to make virus scanners a compulsory requirement for internet access.