Many suspected it—and it’s finally happening. Australia has targeted the overseas, illegal gambling market, but its strict legislative impositions may be hindering the country’s legitimate gaming industry.
The Illegal Offshore Wagering Working Group
The illegal gambling industry in question is worth approximately $1.5 billion, and new measures directed towards its removal will take form in an Illegal Offshore Wagering Working Group. The group, created beneath the country’s Gambling Industry Advisory Council, will feature professional decision makers from sports, horseracing, and wagering organizations.
Additionally, the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports, representing the AFL, will focus on code reformations pertaining to football, netball, tennis, and cricket. While these sectors aren’t directly correlated with overseas gaming, modern rulesets may be facilitating unnecessary, illegal betting.
Re-Focus of Australia-Based Gaming Providers
Such legislative overlap has impacted Australia’s legal gaming industry, and lobbying individuals from Australia’s bookmaking industry have incidentally hedged funds procured via horse racing and other sports to combat the new initiative.
Such action has reduced overseas gambling, but other industries may be suffering. Measures taken to discourage Australian-based providers from overseas relocation have reduced the industry’s capacity for tax sustainment, and both sporting and racing markets may fall considerably. Currently, Australia’s online wagering market carries an estimated $10 million in weight.
The Association of Corporate Counsel and the Industry’s Future
The Association of Corporate Counsel has compiled an Australian licensure analysis—and its results reveal significant legislative overlap. According to https://www.arabcomp.net, the Rights Party of Australia has fought against restrictive regulations spawned from the industry’s “regulatory creep”, and several statutory organizations may require additional laws—furthering the process. What will the future hold? Only time will tell.