Member Article

Case of the UK's Betting Giants in Australia

Australia is one of the countries with a quite mixed-up set of gambling regulations. Unlike neighbouring New Zealand, it has a rather loose legislation when it comes to its citizens betting online but strictly regulates what betting services local companies can offer to Australian residents. Under the local legislation, the only form of real money remote gaming allowed in Australia is sports betting. All this in a country where over 80% of the adult population engages in gambling, including the 4% of the total that plays pokies every week (at least according to Wikipedia).

Unlike New Zealand pokies which are operated by charitable organisations, Australian pokies and gaming machines are owned and exploited by private companies that pay billions in taxed each year. Online pokies can’t be operated from within the country, leaving their fans with nothing but offshore operators to turn to - which is another interesting topic for another time.

Online expansion

Australia is a lucrative gambling market, which makes it an attractive target for international operators. Since the laws state that only local companies are allowed to offer players online betting services, international betting groups are left with no alternative but to take over local operators to grab a foothold in the country.

Major UK-based gambling groups have targeted the Australian betting market in the last decade. Giants like William Hill and Bet365, along with their Irish competitor Paddy Power have quickly made their choices, acquiring and often rebranding several local sports betting startups. Ladbrokes, one of the UK’s largest betting operators, was a late arrival on the Australian market, playing “catch-up” with its competitors. The deals that allowed operators to “invade” Australia were massive: William Hill, for example, has spent about $700 million on three Australian betting brands, Sportingbet, Centrebet and Tom Waterhouse, in September 2013.

In-game betting controversy

The Australian gambling laws are clearly against in-play betting - placing bets on sporting events while they are under way - over the internet. The only form of in-play betting allowed in the country is the one placed by telephone. Betting operators have tried to circumvent this ban a few years ago by implementing a system through which punters could initiate voice calls directly from their betting apps.

A number of high-profile Australian betting operators, including the above-mentioned UK-based groups, have been accused of offering their players illegal betting options. While all of them have denied these accusations, stating that their solutions were within the boundaries of the applicable laws, they have mostly withdrawn or reworked their betting apps to avoid further fallout. At the same time, the laws of the country seem to head toward a bit of a relaxation, with one proposal that would allow punters to bet in-play but only through ‘electronic devices’ (tablet computers) provided to them inside licensed betting locations. This means that punters still won’t be able to place in-play bets from home but only from places where they will be surrounded by “trained staff”, and will only be able to do so with cash. Which might protect them from making rushed decisions but takes all the “remote” out of “remote betting”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Gagan Chhatwal .