Out of many countries in the world, Australia is considered as one of the most gambler-friendly country. Poker machines in clubs and pubs all over and casinos are a very famous destination. But when it comes to Online gambling, it’s a different story altogether.

History of Gambling Policy In Australia

The commonwealth – the Federal Government were not responsible for the Gambling policy in Australia, it was the responsibility of the states.

When the public began to raise concerns of the impact of gambling on the Australian society, the Commonwealth began to take more active intrest in the gambling policy. Later, an inquiry was held by the Productivity Commission for  the Commonwealth and further led to more concerns.

To target most of Australian clientele, the best Australian casinos offer various bonuses and promotions to attract them.

As time went by, Commonwealth found that as the online gambling was growing its impacts are reaching much further than community welfare. There were serious implications caused for regulatory procedures and revenue collection due to online gambling. This raised concerns all over the Federal Government, due to which they passed legislation in the hope of preventing the negative effects of online gambling.

 The Interactive Gambling Act (2001)

The Interactive Gambling Act (IGA) was established in the year 2001, this act prohibits the provision of the interaction between the customers and the gaming services in Australia. The advertising of interactive gambling services were banned due to this act. This ban was imposed on all the interactive gaming service providers, irrespective of the owner is an Australian based  or foreign based or they are situated in Australia or offshore.

The implications of the Interactive Gambling Act

The online gambling operators can’t provide an interactive gambling service even to the physically present customers in Australia as it has been termed illegal by the Interactive Gambling Act. But, however the residents of Australia are legalized to play casino games online. It can also be stated that the laws does not target the individuals but the operators.

Also, opening any new Australian online casinos is prohibited by the law, but it did not state any signs of shutting down the previous online casinos which are already licensed and running before the Interactive Gambling Act was passed in 2001.

Apart from the online casinos in Australia, there are plenty of casinos all over which also accept players from Australia.

Sports Betting in Australia

Unlike online casino play, there are online sports betting in Australia, which is completely legal. You can find various sportsbooks currently in operation which are licensed by the state government. The books include CentreBet, Sportingbet and Betfair.

The Productivity Commission Report 2010

According to the 2010 Productivity Commission Report, they have requested the Australian government to make changes in the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 so that it could allow them to liberalize online gaming.

As stated by the Productivity Commission gambling is an important sector in terms of economy and that the problems which are related to gambling can be tackled over successfully.