Dodgy bookmakers: Crackdown on online betting schemes
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DODGY bookmakers plying their trade from overseas tax havens will be banned and lines of credit for all online betting in Australia scrapped under a gambling crackdown.
Click-to-call betting apps on mobile phones will also be banned under tough new federal laws to be unveiled today.
Company directors of illegal gambling websites will be placed on movement alert lists, meaning they risk being detained by border police if they attempt to fly into Australia.
A major shake-up of dodgy online bookmaking sites is on the way. Picture: Getty ImagesThe Turnbull Government will also consider the practicality of asking internet service providers to block illegal websites or payment blocking. In negotiation with the states, they will also establish a self-exclusion register for online gambling, a ban on lines of credit and a voluntary precommitment scheme to limit bets.
Human Services Minister Alan Tudge said that while most Australians enjoyed a punt, they were “sick of having it rammed down their throat’’.
“Australians are the biggest gamblers in the world. It’s been part of our culture for a long time,’’ Mr Tudge said. “But the problem with online gambling is you can literally bet your house away without leaving your living room.”
Australians lose $1.4 billion a year to online gambling — a quarter of which goes overseas.
The AFL and NRL had urged the Turnbull Government to make in-play internet betting legal.
They argued that live betting would provide better standards of integrity and allow sporting bodies to better monitor potential match fixing.
The AFL and NRL have urged the Turnbull Government to make in-play internet betting legal.Mr Tudge said his concern was that live in-play wagering was much easier to manipulate than the outcome of a match.
“The AFL does have a financial interest in seeing more gambling,’’ he said.
“I think we have enough sporting integrity issues and problem gambling already without needing to bet on every single moment of every game 24-7.
“Thousands of Australians love a punt and we don’t want to interfere with that. But we are worried about the integrity of the game and about problem gambling.” Mr Tudge said he was determined to ban lines of credit in Australia ever since a voter in his electorate nearly lost his house when he was given an $80,000 line of credit from Sportsbet.
Senate powerbroker Nick Xenophon has been calling for a prohibition on lines of credit for years, last year introducing legislation which would have also included a national self-exclusion register.
“More and more people, particularly young men, are struggling with online gambling and this is an opportunity to tackle it head on,’’ he said.
* An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated it was TattsBet that provided a man with an $80,000 line of credit. It was actually Sportsbet.
Replies
And your point is?
If they give you a line of credit you dont have to use it.
Same as credit cards and seeing the population in thousands of dollars in debt repaying it at insane interest rates.
You can't ban all betting. But you can make it harder for people to lose their livelihoods in a matter of seconds on a 5" device.
While it's all good and well to say if you can't handle it don't do it, I personally think we owe a duty of care to australian families to stop this sort of catastrophe from happening in its roots.
Got it. And our games are in their timezone making it much more valuable and corruptible.
Stay out of gambling on principle when it's obvious that others are making large sums of money from it.
Be involved in gambling to reap the financial rewards but risk the integrity of your sport.
My opinion is we need to stick with the full time score / winner , first try scorer , last try scorer type betting and do away with the stuff that ropes people in during the game . What I've seen happens numerous times at the local is that if a blokes bombed a decent amount on a game pre game and it's obvious he's gunna lose his dough hell then bomb another big drop during the game trying to break even or in typical mug fashion , still come out on top .
So in the end a bloke that might've whacked 2 or 3 hundred ends up dropping double .
Not to mention the temptation to players in over their head to drop a ball or give away a penalty for a quick 10K .
I really hate the fact we live in a nanny country , but this is one I'd support the government taking the choice away from The NRL and legislating it out of their control . Maybe then clubs and The NRL would have to get off their arses and actually do something for their revenue . At the end of the day it's a business built on misery just like when they banned Ciggy companies and now people are starting to wake up to it .
It really is the height of hypocrisy to accept huge money from gambling companies and allow massive gambling advertising in and around the game, the get all pious when something as ugly as match fixing occurs. You reap what you sow.
Everywhere the players go , everywhere they train and play and everything they wear is bambozzled with betting.com and now people are shocked that they're placing bets and getting wrapped up with the wrong side of betting . Lol , yup was always gunna happen .
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