Australia Gambling Jurisdiction
Overview Of OZ
Australia has its own gambling policies, though the number of online casino sites in Australia may seem lower compared to those in some of the other parts of the world. The position of gambling in Australia is an interesting one, to say the least. All gambling activities in Australia earlier came under the ambit of the Interactive Gambling Act (IGA), an act that was passed on June 28, 2001.
As per the IGA, it is illegal for a casino or online gambling operator to offer gambling activities to a person who was staying in Australia. That was not all; the law also banned operators from advertising services related to online gambling in Australia. However, there seemed to be some good news for online gambling operators in October 2009, when the Australian government received a recommendation from the Productivity Commission, an independent advisory organization, which favored lifting the ban instituted through the IGA.
Gambling Legislation in Australia
While the IGA, an act passed in Australia in the year 2001, made online gambling quite difficult in Australia, Australia today is considered to be more receptive to gambling than a lot of other countries in the world. The IGA approach to online gambling spared online sports betting. In fact, there are a number of sports betting outfits that have been licensed by the different by state governments, including Centrebet, Betfair, and also Sporting bet.
The IGA ensured that while a player from Australia could not be prosecuted for gambling online at a casino or a poker room, an online casino could not legally accept wagers from a player located in Australia.
There are other stipulations as well. For instance, while the law bans the opening of new online casinos or poker rooms inside Australia, it does not ask existing online casinos and poker rooms to shut shop, i.e. online casinos and poker rooms that had set up operations before the Act was passed.
There are strict laws in place to curb illegal or unlicensed gambling, though, i.e. organizing gambling activities without acquiring the required licenses from the government or its regulatory bodies.
Gambling Jurisdictions in Australia
There are multiple gambling jurisdictions within Australia, with different states and territories having their own regulatory bodies. It is not legal to place bets on a gambling activity after it has commenced. Also, games like Keno, instant lotteries, and scratch cards are not legal in Australia. Other games, like online lotteries, sportsbetting, and betting on races are legal, and the licensing and regulatory parameters are laid down, as mentioned earlier, by individual states and territories.
In New South Wales, gambling activities of the kind mentioned above are licensed and regulated by the New South Wales Casino Control Authority. In Queensland, the licensing and regulatory authority is the Queensland Office of Gaming Regulation or the Queensland Gaming Commission. In Victoria, the authority in question is the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation, while in South Australia it is the South Australia Independent Gambling Authority.