Overhaul of Australian online gambling regime to begin this year

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison will lead a review of the 2001 Interactive Gambling Act, with reports suggesting that Tony Abbott’s government will tighten regulations on offshore operators in parallel with previous pledges from the Prime Minister.

“The government will be writing the terms of reference to the review and there will be ample opportunity for people to engage in the review. The government has no preconceived ideas in this area. We undertook to look at it, and we will engage in good faith,” Morrison said.

The review will look at international regulatory regimes and the economic impact of offshore betting.

The newspaper said that one likely outcome is the establishment of a “national self-exclusion register” through which problem gamblers will be blocked from opening accounts with bookmakers.

South Australian senator and anti-gambling campaigner Nick Xenophon has started drafting amendments to the current act, with proposed changes including a ban on in-play betting and on online bookmakers from offering inducements, plus a total ban on gambling advertising during sporting events.

“This review gives us an opportunity to take stock of the explosion of online gambling, including illegal overseas gambling, and the pernicious impact that online betting has had on sporting culture,” Xenophon said.

Former New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell has been put forward as a candidate to chair the review.