Aside from sleeping and eating it is hard to find an activity with a participation rate over 80 percent. But that is how many adult Australians gamble – the highest rate of any nation according to The Economist. With only the 53rd largest population in the world, Australia boasts more gaming machines than any other country. And land-based casinos were only made legal in Australia in 1973 when the Wrest Point Hotel opened its doors in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart. Video poker machines became so prevalent Aussies began calling all slot machines “pokies.” Today one out of every five pokies on the planet is spinning in the Land Down Under. So surely online gambling is legal in Australia, right?
Well yes, but…
There is a law hanging over Australia called the Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 (IGA) that carries an ominous-sounding $220,000 maximum fine per day that could scare off punters living or visiting Australia from venturing into a virtual casino. The action by the Australian Commonwealth Parliament was aimed, however, at online gambling operators and not players. Under the IGA accessing and using interactive gambling services is not illegal.
Like most gambling laws that are not outright prohibitions there are plenty of shadowy areas lurking inside the IGA. The main provision makes it a criminal offence for operators to advertise or offer “real-money” online interactive gambling to residents of Australia. Doesn’t sound like much fun, does it? Australia-based online gaming companies can, however, offer services outside of Australia provided another country’s government requests that they not do so.
So the good intentions of the IGA are to protect the Australian punters from the scourge of online gambling, a recognition of the nearly three percent of Australians with a significant gambling problem. It is this overriding concern that will continue to make online gaming a target of lawmakers going forward.
In the meantime Australian residents are free to do with their money what they will. Real money bets are still placed from Down Under with online casinos operating in foreign lands by proprietors either blissfully ignorant of the IGA or openly defiant of its prohibitions. This may or may not be a technical violation of IGA laws but enforcement by the Australian government to date has been lax. No operator has been charged with an offence so no challenge to the authority of the IGA has been necessary. Either way, an online gamer in Australia is not in danger of impending arrest; only a loss of gaming options is at peril.
Even then online lotteries and sports betting are exempt from regulation as long as they are associated with a land-based operation. It is not all open seas for Aussie punters here either, should they opt to risk real dollars with a native operation such as Sportsbet.com.au since in-game wagering, which has exploded on the Internet in recent years, is banned as being “interactive gambling.” All sports betting must be concluded before play begins. And Australia-licensed Internet lottery providers (OzLotteries.com being the largest) call sell tickets to all its lotteries but is forbidden from offering “scratchies,” the scratch cards that offer instant cash prizes.
Regardless of whether Australia dollars are won from overseas online casinos, land-based casinos or state-allowed wagering on lotteries and sports, no gamblers’ winnings in Australia are taxed. Gambling is looked on as a recreational activity or even a hobby. If leisure time fun happens to result in the occasional winning of money that is, the government believes, good luck and not income. Besides, the nature of the game means that there are also plenty of losing sessions to come as well.
This enlightened government attitude towards individual punters is the same ecosystem in which online gambling operates in Australia. If there is taxation to be done it will come from the hides of operators; if there are laws to be passed they will be targeted at operators.
That has been the current climate to date. Widespread restrictions of gambling, both online and land-based, across Australia have been deemed to be too expensive and a waste of resources in the planet’s most gambling-happy society. The better approach has been seen to persuade gaming venues to team up with counselling services in an attempt to break the bonds of problem gambling. Rather than banning or limiting gaming machines authorities have tested initiatives like smart-cards with loss limits set by the players to battle the pokies – the onus of responsible gambling is on the individual, not the state.
Those winds may shift in the future but for now online gamblers in Australia can bet on their favourite games on legitimate websites with impunity.
Please respect laws in your district.
For entertainment purposes only.