Gambling as a cultural preference
The fact that gambling is a cultural preference in Australia makes this country one of the world leaders in this sphere. Gambling is often associated with national identity in Australia. There is one more explanation of the fact, why this country became one of the biggest gamblers in the 1990s. This happened because gambling was defined as deliberate government policy choice then. Currently the situation is the following:
- People in Australia perceive gambling as part of their life
- A lot of citizens of the country are professionally engaged in the sphere of gambling
- There are a lot of families, which suffer from gambling addiction
- There are two sides of application of the “balanced” approached towards the industry of gambling in regard to policy regulations.
The pros and cons of gambling
Initially the problem of gambling in Australia was associated with reallocation of wealth, which was made deliberately, when one party gained financial resources and the other party lost them without involvement of productive work. Such position regarding gambling leads to reconsideration of pros and cons of this process.
Australia has the highest gambling rate in the world – there are 82% of adult people engaged in gambling activities. One of the important factors, which could be held responsible for such high ratio, is the social and business environment, since a lot of citizens of the country are employed in gambling.
Government and gambling
More and more people acknowledge the negative aspects of gambling in Australia. However, the government of the country is to consider the revenue, which is received from this industry, before taking any concrete decisions. The Federal government has the powers to regulate and to govern the sphere of telecommunications according to the Australian Constitution. The Federal government enacted legislation for regulation of online gambling.
The situation with interactive gambling
Australia has introduced a number of interactive gambling laws, which prohibit a number of activities:
- Online slot machines, poker and casinos
- Online wagering services, which operate on the basis of betting on sport events
- Online wagering services, which worked without obtaining the License, issues by an Australian State
- Online instant lotteries
- Provision of credits for customers by interactive wagering service companies
Source: CasinoGuardian
Statistically around 200.000 Australians face problems with gambling at higher level, whereas twice more of them have the problems at lower level. The fact is that millions of Australians are dependant upon gambling and the situation continues to worsen. Australians spend about $1,300 per capita a year on gambling, the worse situation in only in Singapore. There is a plenty of gambling opportunities and this is also one of the reasons, why the number of addicted gamblers continues to grow in Australia.
Changes in statistics of online betting
The increase of the popularity of mobile devices has impacted the sphere of gambling as well. Currently around 22% of Australians use their mobile phones for making bets. In 2012 they constituted only 5.6 % of all local residents of the country. The form of mobile phone betting led to the general increase in online gambling procedures within this country.
Policy and legislation
On 19th May 2000 the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and the Minister for Family and Community Services declared that they planned to introduce legislation for imposing a one year moratorium upon introduction of new interactive gambling services in Australia. The same year the Interactive Gambling Bill was issued. With this Bill all the interactive gambling services, which were not established before May 2000, were prohibited.
A year later the Interactive Gambling Bill was introduced, which:
- Prohibited provision of interactive gambling services to customers in Australia
- Prohibited provision of interactive gambling services to customers in designated countries.
- Established a compliance –based system for management of the online gambling services
- Prohibited advertising of interactive gambling services.
The Interactive Gambling Act
Interactive gambling includes all the activities, which are performed with the help of online platforms.
Such online gambling activities as online casinos, online roulette, craps, blackjack, poker are prohibited in Australia by the law, namely by the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. This act prohibits the following activities:
- Interactive gamble services provision to people in Australia
- Provision of Australian-based interactive gambling services to people, situated outside Australia.
- Provision of unlicensed regulated interactive gambling services to people in Australia.
This Act was issued with the aim to deal with the negative effects of interactive gambling upon citizens of Australia.
People in Australia gamble regularly
Research data proves that up to 80% of Australian citizens gamble on a regular basis. Australia collects billions in taxes and revenue from gambling activities. A lot of gamblers start using online casinos, they choose the most suitable sites for them and participate in online table games, use virtual slot machines or play poker.
Types of gambling in Australia
Since the history of gambling in Australia is relatively long, it embraces most of the categories of gambling from casino games to betting and online poker. Nowadays most of these types still remain popular by the citizens of the country, but they become even more available thanks to introduction of new technologies.
Online gambling is rapidly growing in Australia, statistically around 15% annually. Specialists comment that this trend is going to continue. It is illegal for the operators, lacking the relevant license, to offer online gambling services to residents of Australia.
Online betting services
Statistically around 35 % of Australian citizens use online services for placing their bets, correspondingly there is an evident increase of online services, which offer such opportunities. One of the examples if Tablecorp Holdings’ online betting website, it is used by around 20% of clients in Australia. The company manages a number of websites, where a variety of gambling opportunities are provided. One more popular gambling company is called Sportsbet.com.au, around 13% of Australians use this service.