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Backdown allows Net bets
ONLINE sports betting will be allowed, but casino-style games prohibited, after the federal Government bowed to industry pressure yesterday and softened its hardline stance against Internet gambling.
The Government has also exempted Lotto and lotteries from the ban, as part of its attempt to win passage for its legislation through the Senate.
The exemptions, released yesterday by Communications Minister Richard Alston, follow sustained pressure from gambling lobby groups – notably the racing industry – which argued that online gambling would cost thousands of jobs and kill country racing.
"Casino-type activities is almost by definition mindless, highly repetitive, highly addictive, and that's the major area of problem gambling as identified by the productivity commission," Senator Alston told ABC radio.
The concessions mean the Government is now likely to win the Senate votes of the Greens' Bob Brown and as many as three Democrats in the next week.
The Government needs four Senate votes to succeed. Labor has said it will oppose the legislation, but Senator Alston's changes mean the package is now likely to be supported by Senator Brown and Democrats John Woodley, Lynn Allison and, possibly, Meg Lees.
But doubt remained last night after Independent senator Brian Harradine said he wanted tougher rules to protect Australian gamblers from offshore internet sites.
A spokesman said Senator Harradine would move amendments that would punish gamblers for using offshore sites, and financial institutions for processing any credit card payments to them.
Senator Brown said he wanted to fine gamblers $5500 for using an offshore casino, because punters needed to be penalised to protect them.
He accused the Howard Government of hypocrisy in failing to ban Australian operators – including Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, which has a Tasmanian gambling licence – from attracting overseas gamblers.
"How can you say that the social detriment of gambling is so bad in this country that you'll ban it, but you're prepared to export it to households in New Zealand or Papua New Guinea? It's a double standard." .
However, the Greens senator said he would now support the Coalition package, which would protect 100,000 jobs in the "time-honoured" racing industry.
A spokesman for Australia's only operating internet casino, Lasseters Online, said yesterday the ban would have "little financial impact" because most customers were overseas.
A spokesman for Senator Alston said the Government wanted to penalise overseas gaming websites, not Australian gamblers.
Under the Government's proposal, based on existing US legislation, offshore gambling providers would be arrested if they entered Australia.
The Government will exempt so-called "linked jackpots", where poker machines boost their returns with a telecommunications link, a structure that could have been caught in the rules. But it will ban all advertising of internet gambling.
The new rules will boost interest in the sale of licences for new digital-TV services, known as datacasting licences, after an earlier sale was abandoned.
The amendments make it clear that datacasting operators can offer gambling on interactive TV on sports such as cricket and football.
The concessions were welcomed yesterday by the racing and sports industries, which have lobbied the Government and Senator Brown over feared job losses in regional Australia.
SportsTAB spokesman Peter Fletcher said interactive wagering was very different to the "cyber casino industry".
"For our (online) customers, the internet is just an alternative device to the telephone." he said.
But the continued ban on casino-style internet games was attacked by the Australian Casino Association, which said casinos were being made a "scapegoat".
"If you have online gaming legislation, it has to be consistent across all forms," association executive director Chris Downey said.
ONLINE sports betting will be allowed, but casino-style games prohibited, after the federal Government bowed to industry pressure yesterday and softened its hardline stance against Internet gambling.
The Government has also exempted Lotto and lotteries from the ban, as part of its attempt to win passage for its legislation through the Senate.
The exemptions, released yesterday by Communications Minister Richard Alston, follow sustained pressure from gambling lobby groups – notably the racing industry – which argued that online gambling would cost thousands of jobs and kill country racing.
"Casino-type activities is almost by definition mindless, highly repetitive, highly addictive, and that's the major area of problem gambling as identified by the productivity commission," Senator Alston told ABC radio.
The concessions mean the Government is now likely to win the Senate votes of the Greens' Bob Brown and as many as three Democrats in the next week.
The Government needs four Senate votes to succeed. Labor has said it will oppose the legislation, but Senator Alston's changes mean the package is now likely to be supported by Senator Brown and Democrats John Woodley, Lynn Allison and, possibly, Meg Lees.
But doubt remained last night after Independent senator Brian Harradine said he wanted tougher rules to protect Australian gamblers from offshore internet sites.
A spokesman said Senator Harradine would move amendments that would punish gamblers for using offshore sites, and financial institutions for processing any credit card payments to them.
Senator Brown said he wanted to fine gamblers $5500 for using an offshore casino, because punters needed to be penalised to protect them.
He accused the Howard Government of hypocrisy in failing to ban Australian operators – including Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, which has a Tasmanian gambling licence – from attracting overseas gamblers.
"How can you say that the social detriment of gambling is so bad in this country that you'll ban it, but you're prepared to export it to households in New Zealand or Papua New Guinea? It's a double standard." .
However, the Greens senator said he would now support the Coalition package, which would protect 100,000 jobs in the "time-honoured" racing industry.
A spokesman for Australia's only operating internet casino, Lasseters Online, said yesterday the ban would have "little financial impact" because most customers were overseas.
A spokesman for Senator Alston said the Government wanted to penalise overseas gaming websites, not Australian gamblers.
Under the Government's proposal, based on existing US legislation, offshore gambling providers would be arrested if they entered Australia.
The Government will exempt so-called "linked jackpots", where poker machines boost their returns with a telecommunications link, a structure that could have been caught in the rules. But it will ban all advertising of internet gambling.
The new rules will boost interest in the sale of licences for new digital-TV services, known as datacasting licences, after an earlier sale was abandoned.
The amendments make it clear that datacasting operators can offer gambling on interactive TV on sports such as cricket and football.
The concessions were welcomed yesterday by the racing and sports industries, which have lobbied the Government and Senator Brown over feared job losses in regional Australia.
SportsTAB spokesman Peter Fletcher said interactive wagering was very different to the "cyber casino industry".
"For our (online) customers, the internet is just an alternative device to the telephone." he said.
But the continued ban on casino-style internet games was attacked by the Australian Casino Association, which said casinos were being made a "scapegoat".
"If you have online gaming legislation, it has to be consistent across all forms," association executive director Chris Downey said.