Top Sports Bookmakers Threatened With In-Play Shutdown In Australia
Published on by Becky Mosley
If you’re a fan of sports betting and you live in Australia, brace yourself for some potentially bad news. It’s expected that the Australian government will close the live betting loophole, albeit only temporarily. This is because the administration of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is busy reviewing the country’s legislation on online gambling and hasn’t yet made any formal announcements about any changes it’s going to make. This temporary closure could cost major operators dearly, with top names such as bet365, Ladbrokes and William Hill all looking to lose business because of it.
Banning ‘Loopholes’
The administration is unlikely to make an announcement on in-play betting before the next election, which has to be announced before 14 January 2017. What’s more is that until an announcement is made, the government will be banning any loopholes that allow players to access in-play betting. It’s thought that the government aren’t legalise in-play betting any time soon so that it can be an issue for discussion during the election. It’s expected that the government will introduce new measure to protect customers and will make clearer the restrictions that are placed on unlicensed betting operators who accept bets from customers based in Australia; the government also plans on introducing tougher penalties on those who illegally accept bets from Australians.
Forbiding Real-Time Bets
Australia’s Interactive Gambling Act 2001 forbids betting operators from accepting real-time bets that are placed during live sporting events. They’re only allowed to accept in-play wagers and these can only be placed over the phone or in person. To get around this, a number of online sportsbooks have launched live betting services that let customers place their bets online. The only requirement is that customers have their computer, tablet, laptop or phone’s microphone activated while they do this.
So if you’re in Australia and you’re a fan of betting during live sporting events, it might be a while before you can legally do this again.