To give you some perspective on just how popular online gambling is in Australia, here are two facts. To begin with, about 80% of adult Australians have reported that they have placed a real money wager at least once a year. Secondly, surveys indicate that Australians gamble more than people from any other country in the world.
In fact, the popularity and demand for online casinos and sportsbooks in Australia is precisely what has driven the boom in the number of online casinos targeting Australian consumers with their preferred games, themes, and support exclusively for Australian Dollars and e – wallets, etc.
The Interactive Gambling Act And Its Recent Amendment
The Interactive Gambling Act was passed in August of 2017, but an amendment to the act passed just a few days ago has essentially banned in-play betting in Australia. Just to make it clear – online lotteries are still legal and online sportsbooks are also still legal. However, online poker and online casinos have been outlawed.
Some of the main reasons such blanket bans are passed are premised around problem gambling and gambling addiction. However, objectively speaking, any ban on online gambling is not going to help in that front at all. Banning something simply does not stop people from doing it. Instead, the whole market just goes underground where it is unregulated and much worse for the consumer and the state as well.
Furthermore, since Australian laws only have prowess over the Australian jurisdiction, offshore gaming sites with servers located anywhere but in Australia will be able to offer their services to Australian players without any issues. It is not illegal since these services aren’t Australian. Therefore, you can continue to lawfully keep on playing using overseas online casinos, of which there are several hundreds.
When online gambling is legal and regulated, online casinos will actually offer deaddiction help and resources to those who may have problems with habitual gambling. In fact, many casinos even incorporate certain features such as self – exclusion, time outs, deposit limits, session limits and more to help people that struggle with gambling problems.
However, when you criminalize online gambling the online casinos that go underground and continue operations will almost certainly not bother to include such helpful features and considerations for addicted gamblers. Therefore, by banning online casinos and poker, ironically, the legislators have actually worsened the problem that they set out to solve.
However, it is only a matter of time before law makers realize that the ban has only made problems worse and has even eradicated the millions of dollars of revenue that was generated through taxing of such online casinos and back pedal on their decision.
With Australian online casinos being outlawed, here are some trustworthy offshore online casinos that you can play on in the meanwhile.
There’s plenty to learn from the UK market where the UK Gambling Commission decided to make changes to the gaming laws in order to address issues such as problem gambling. This includes stringent advertising regulations and the imposition of huge fines on operators who do not fully comply with the regulations. Making note of these and the fact that many US states are slowly opening up to online gambling, ought to be just what the authorities in Australia should be doing.
Offshore Online Casinos For Australian Players
When it comes to picking online casinos that cater to an international consumer base, it is best to go with the most widely used and renowned names. This way, you know the casino is licensed, legitimate and fair.
A couple of such options are:
- Bet365 – Probably the biggest brand name when it comes to online casinos. They accept and support players from many parts of the world. It is one of the most well – established online gambling companies and is based in the UK.
- Betfair – Offers an online casino, a sportsbook, online poker and online Bingo. A reputed online gambling service provider located in London, UK.
