Plans to ban Internet gambling rejected

[Jeff]

Plans to ban Internet gambling rejected

The Internet industry has rejected the Government's plan to ban Internet gambling in Australia.

The Prime Minister's warned the Senate it has a responsibility to pass the bill.

"In the end a government has got to put its hand up and say 'this is where we stand'," he said.

"I ask the Labor Party and the Democrats and others in the Senate to back our measure.

"If they don't, well be it on their heads for allowing the further extension of gambling and the further damaging social consequences."

Labor will not vote for the bill, arguing its unworkable and might boost other types of gambling like poker machines.

Other key Senators are angry the bill lets Australian companies operate online betting overseas, something Democrats Senator John Woodley calls immoral.

The Internet industry has ridiculed the bill, saying it is illogical to try to ban people betting on sports on the Internet, when they could still do so by phone.

The industry says online wagering on sport should be treated differently from Internet operations which have casino type gambling games.

[Kevin]

Just regulate it and tax it. Save us years of agony. Its going to happen one day and we'll all live happily ever after

[Hartley]

It still comes back to the same old question - whether it be Australia, the U.S., Canada or ?

Why do the governments feel a need to tell us what is moral or immoral? Personally I find smoking to be a lot more immoral than gambling but I don't see any attempts to try and ban cigarette sales. And in the U.S., I think if you polled the population and asked whether Americans found guns or gambling more immoral, you'd have about a 10-1 ratio saying guns. But gambling doesn't have an NRA type lobby group. Maybe it's time to set one up. And also why is internet gambling wrong but telephone or live betting ok?

All governments are hypocrites trying to fulfill a self serving agenda at the expense of its citizens who for some reason just accept it.

[OZ]

It is dead, federal government need support of 4 Independents in the senate, green senator Bob Brown said he would not support a ban on racing and sportsbetting

[OZ]

Communications Minister Richard Alston says Labor is in bed with the gambling industry, because it has rejected plans for a ban on Internet gambling.

The proposal for a ban was unveiled by the Federal Government yesterday, with the moratorium on Internet gambling due to end in May.



Senator Alston told the Senate, Labor's preference for regulations was not workable.

"I mean it's an absolute nonsense," he said.

"Why are they in bed with the gambling industry?

Why aren't they putting Australian families first?

"Why aren't they prepared to do something about a very serious social problem? Basically because the only policy they have is a casino in every home."


Millions lost

Meanwhile, it is claimed Tasmania has lost millions of dollars in investment because of the Government moratorium on online gambling.

The Federal Hotels group had invested $20 million in its Internet gambling site.

The managing director of the group, Greg Farrell, says the proposed laws are consistent with the way the site was operating before it was closed down.

"The Federal Government's decision during this moratorium bill period, which has turned into a farce, has also cost the Tasmanian economy millions of dollars of investment," he said.

"There was a number of companies prepared to invest substantial millions of dollars in establishing Internet gaming services in Tasmania, which would have brought with it not only investment but a number of skilled jobs."


Compensation

Senator Alston, says there would be no legal basis to pay compensation to online gambling operators who claim they have been unfairly treated by the Government's ban on Internet gaming.

Dozens of providers of online wagering and casino style betting sites will be unable to sell their services to Australians if the Government's proposed ban is passed in its present form.

Several have already threatened to seek compensation if their business shuts down.

Senator Alston says the Government would not be liable to pay.

"There is no obligation to pay compensation, I can assure you," he said.

"There is no basis for paying compensation because the mere fact someone wants to start up in business, is not a reason to let them do that."

The Opposition leader, Kim Beazley, says the legislation is full of contradictions.

"This is legislation which does not stop Australians using the Internet to gamble, but puts them in the hands of unscrupulous operators," he said.

Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja opposes the bill, but others in her party, including John Woodley are key supporters.


Victoria

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks wants the Federal Government to sit down with the states to devise a "more workable" approach to a ban on Internet gambling.

He says the Government's proposed laws banning online gaming are impractical, and the states should be asked for their ideas on how to better regulate the industry.

"I think the problem with the federal legislation is not so much its intent, if it could work we'd back it, but frankly it won't work," he said.

"It won't stop overseas companies beaming into Australia and people in Australia using Internet gaming services, so they need to think again."


ACT

ACT Chief Minister Gary Humphries says he is uncertain whether the Federal Government is serious about its bid to ban Internet gaming in Australia.

Federal Communications Minister Senator Richard Alston says he has taken action because the states and territories have been too slow to regulate the sector.

But Mr Humphries says the Minister has no understanding of how the Internet works.

"We've already seen what happened when the Federal Government attempted to regulate access to pornographic sites, it has regulated a tiny fraction about a tenth of 1 per cent or less of the total offensive sites," he said.

"Why [are] they likely to be any more successful with respect to gambling sites?"


NT

The Northern Territory's Chief Minister says banning online gambling is constitutionally wrong.

Denis Burke says the influx of poker machines in southern jurisdictions is what is causing the high number of problem gamblers, not online gambling.

Mr Burke says the legislation will not be passed because it is constitutionally wrong.

"I don't believe the post and telecommunications acts gives the authority to determine through an electronic medium what people see or do in their own homes," he said.

He says if it is passed there is a strong case to seek a ruling from the High Court and the Territory has already told federal politicians that will happen.


Bob Brown

Greens Senator Bob Brown says he will consider how to amend the Government's planned ban on Internet gambling to protect the racing industry.

Senator Brown's vote was crucial in the Government's securing of the moratorium in the Senate last year.

He says he is completely opposed to some forms of Internet gambling, but would be concerned if the racing industry was adversely affected.

"I'm really very much against online gambling on such things as poker machines," he said.

"They are creating a huge amount of social problems in Australia, so I think we have to separate them from the racing industry which is a big employer regionally and has got a long history in the country otherwise we would be setting up plenty of heroin farms to create new jobs