Australia continues to be one of those countries that doesn’t know whether it’s coming or going when it comes to online gambling. Asking ISPs to help them out with the fight against this element of the dark side of the Internet has been sought in the recent past but earlier this week we saw Julie Gillard allegedly accept money from Betfair for favourable tax conditions. So we’d be right to wonder wtf is going on.
Land-based is where they’re really trying to go all crazy with people’s minds though. You get the feeling that if you still want to play pokies in about three years time, you will actually have a personal minder following you around at all times.
Unsurprisingly someone has now told them what will happen should they try and drive everyone away from land-based pokies and it’s something we could have told them long ago.
The parliamentary inquiry, chaired by Tasmanian federal independent MP Andrew Wilkie, has been set up to look at the idea of a pre-commitment scheme using smart card or other technology to force limits on pokie players.
Clubs Australia, representing registered clubs in the country, told the inquiry of their reservations with the proposal in its current form.
Executive director Anthony Ball said, “There is very little good research out there about whether this proposal or any others are going to work.
“There are a multitude of gambling opportunities.
“The strategy must not be to drive problem gamblers online … The strategy must be to find these people, get them the right treatment and turn their lives around.”
News that gamblers are being driven online is good news for the online gambling industry at large but with such a negative attitude towards the industry in Australia, it’s not likely to be a good thing for long.
