The axe appears to have fallen on the neck of online gambling in Australia.
Communications Minister Richard Alston on Tuesday announced that the Australian federal government will be introducing legislation to ban Internet gaming.
The ban is not exactly what experts have been expecting, however. Rather than banning Internet gambling outright, it will instead prohibit Australian gambling sites from serving customers who reside in Australia.
This decision comes on the heels of a year-long moratorium on online gambling that was due to end on May 19, 2001. The legislation is designed to deal with Australia's near-epidemic gambling problem, which affects as much as 10% of the population.
In his statement, Alston noted, "Australia's status as one of the world's leading problem gambling nations demands that we take decisive action to protect the most vulnerable in our community."
The prohibition will "apply to all gaming and wagering services, including poker machines, casino games sports betting and lotteries that are offered on a commercial basis over the Internet or through online delivery systems such as interactive television and advanced mobile technologies."
One of the more peculiar aspects of the proposed legislation is that people living outside Australia will be able to gamble at Australian casinos and sports betting sites.
What's more, Australians themselves will still be able to gamble at online casinos based in offshore destinations. But in a somewhat naïve statement, Alston noted that he does not expect Australians will turn to any of the hundreds of Internet casinos located in the Caribbean.
Casino operators don't buy that argument, however, and are upset with the government decision.
Lasseters Online managing director Peter Bridge was quoted as saying it was hypocritical for the Australian government to deny Australian players the protection of regulated sites offered at home, and force them to play at unregulated offshore sites.
Lasseters Online is the only casino to survived the retroactive moratorium, and it isn't expecting the ban to have much of an effect - if any at all - on its business. The new legislation will, however, allow other casinos to re-launch sites that were shut down last year by the moratorium.
Interestingly, the Australian government will not force Internet service providers to filter or block Australian users, but will instead leave this task to online gambling providers. It has also stopped short of banning offshore casino operations, and will instead rely on ISPs to provide filtering software for customers who request it.
Unfortunately, the Australian government's new legislation will likely fail in its attempt to alleviate problem gambling. The reason why is obvious: it doesn't target the real source of the problem - conventional gambling.
The overwhelming majority of Australia's gambling takes place at brick-and-mortar operations throughout the country, including pubs that house poker slot machines, casinos, and entertainment complexes. And until the Australian government addresses the real problem, nothing is going to change.
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