Australia crackdowns on illegal iGaming

Players who bet on illegal racing betting sites would face harder penalties.

Australia.- As online gaming platforms keep growing worldwide, Australian authorities have hardened current laws against illegal gaming. Under new regulations, players that participate in illegal racing betting sites would face hard penalties as having their phone and computer seized by local authorities.

The regulation has been set after the Racing Australia, the lawmaking body for the country’s thoroughbred racing industry, argued that illegal gaming platforms could be leaking hundreds of millions of Australian dollars.

“This is simply about prohibiting participants betting with non-approved offshore wagering operators because it’s a significant risk for the industry,” commented Racing Australia Chief executive Barry O’Farrell to the local press after the organisation released the statement about the measure.

“The stewards have no visibility as to who is betting with them and therefore have no powers to acquire the production of a customer’s betting records. That obviously limits the ability of the racing integrity agencies to enquire and investigate relating to those matters,” he added.

Meanwhile, a study commissioned by Australian research company Roy Morgan has revealed that online wagering is on the rise, despite the fact that fewer players are actually placing bets. While the number of wagers placed was down, the number of bets placed on the internet was up.