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Date: 26/05/2000
By DAMIEN MURPHY
A new Sydney company, Go Bet, plans to offer Australians access to Internet casinos in the United States, the Caribbean and Asia despite the Prime Minister's year-long moratorium on local online betting.
Go Bet's chairman, Mr John Kennerley, said the company would not advertise locally but Australians could use credit cards to gamble on overseas-based sites offered by the company.
"As things stand, I don't see how any government would want to censor what use people made of the Internet," he said.
"If gambling is regarded so badly in Canberra, there is a lot of it about and Mr Howard and his friends would have their hands full trying to stamp it out if they think there is a way of doing it."
The Federal Government's year-long freeze on Internet gambling within Australia came into effect on Friday and it is now examining ways of stopping Australians tapping into overseas gaming houses.
"We have asked the CSIRO to look into ways of blocking access to overseas-based Internet casinos," a spokesman for the Minister for Communications, Senator Alston, said yesterday.
"That is why the 12-month moratorium was put in place - to stop the spread of gambling in Australia while the Government looked into ways it may be contained."
Go Bet's float has been approved by the Australian Stock Exchange and is expected to go ahead on June 2.
"If Go Bet meets listing requirements and has not been operating illegally, the company will be allowed to be listed," the ASX public affairs manager, Mr Gervase Greene, said.
While the Premier, Mr Carr, has endorsed the Commonwealth's stand on Internet gambling, other State and Territory governments are strongly opposed, citing States' rights to license operators.
Tasmania and the ACT have issued eight online gaming licences despite the Federal moratorium.
Mr Howard - who believes Australia is already "awash with gambling" and has branded Internet gambling "fool's gold" - insists that communications, including the Internet, is a Federal responsibility.
"I don't actually believe in States' rights as such," he told Tasmanian ABC Radio.
"We're all Australians ... I never saw myself as a New South Welshman. I don't even barrack for New South Wales in the State of Origin."
By DAMIEN MURPHY
A new Sydney company, Go Bet, plans to offer Australians access to Internet casinos in the United States, the Caribbean and Asia despite the Prime Minister's year-long moratorium on local online betting.
Go Bet's chairman, Mr John Kennerley, said the company would not advertise locally but Australians could use credit cards to gamble on overseas-based sites offered by the company.
"As things stand, I don't see how any government would want to censor what use people made of the Internet," he said.
"If gambling is regarded so badly in Canberra, there is a lot of it about and Mr Howard and his friends would have their hands full trying to stamp it out if they think there is a way of doing it."
The Federal Government's year-long freeze on Internet gambling within Australia came into effect on Friday and it is now examining ways of stopping Australians tapping into overseas gaming houses.
"We have asked the CSIRO to look into ways of blocking access to overseas-based Internet casinos," a spokesman for the Minister for Communications, Senator Alston, said yesterday.
"That is why the 12-month moratorium was put in place - to stop the spread of gambling in Australia while the Government looked into ways it may be contained."
Go Bet's float has been approved by the Australian Stock Exchange and is expected to go ahead on June 2.
"If Go Bet meets listing requirements and has not been operating illegally, the company will be allowed to be listed," the ASX public affairs manager, Mr Gervase Greene, said.
While the Premier, Mr Carr, has endorsed the Commonwealth's stand on Internet gambling, other State and Territory governments are strongly opposed, citing States' rights to license operators.
Tasmania and the ACT have issued eight online gaming licences despite the Federal moratorium.
Mr Howard - who believes Australia is already "awash with gambling" and has branded Internet gambling "fool's gold" - insists that communications, including the Internet, is a Federal responsibility.
"I don't actually believe in States' rights as such," he told Tasmanian ABC Radio.
"We're all Australians ... I never saw myself as a New South Welshman. I don't even barrack for New South Wales in the State of Origin."