Sports betting integrity body critical of Aussie gambling laws

The non-profit sports integrity body ESSA has responded to the news that the Australian government is planning to make online in-play betting illegal (see previous reports) with a factual list showing up the inconsistencies in Australian gambling laws.

In a series of hard-hitting bullet points, the body notes:

* Whilst the Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 bans the provision of interactive gambling to Aussie punters, it allows online sports betting if states within the federal Commonwealth allow it;

* Although there are restrictions on in-play sports betting over the Internet, it is allowed over telephone lines or in retail shops by the laws, and is allowed via the Internet when it comes to horse and greyhound racing;

* Aussie punters are not currently precluded from placing in-play bets with online betting operators based outside of Australia;

* Historically, a review in the Victoria province back in 2011 illustrated that all interested parties were in agreement that the IGA ban on in-play betting served no useful purpose. In some cases, the review found, there were betting markets that were better off from a sports integrity perspective if in-play betting was allowed, as it worked against pre-game collusion;

* The concept of online in-play betting is supported by Australian national sports bodies fearful that the current bans may drive the action offshore, where neither administrators or regulators have access to suspicious betting information or can track illegal activity;

* A 2013 review of the Interactive Gambling Act concluded that most in-play betting is based on the final outcome of an event, rather than incidents within the game, and that there was no case for banning the practice, particularly if such a prohibition drove Australian gamblers to offshore sites;

* There is little evidence to support moves to prohibit regulated in-play betting; such initiatives are open to question in terms of sports integrity efficacy, and there are limitations to even national level enforcement in a global industry with widely diverse regulatory models.

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