Australia to Ban Illegal Offshore Sportsbook Sites

The Australian Communications and Media Authority will ask internet service providers to block illegal offshore sportsbook sites and other gambling sites. The decision followed former New South Wales premier Barry O’Farrell’s conclusion of his Interactive Gambling Act review.

O’Farrell called for the ban of offshore sportsbook sites unlicensed in the country. His review looked at the dangers of unregistered offshore sites. He was concerned that the sites didn’t give consumers the same protection as legitimate sites licensed in the country.

In 2017, the federal government blocked illegal offshore sites. Also, it banned online advertising promoting illegal gambling sites. The government perceived overseas gambling websites as problematic because they don’t follow Australian standards. Also, they don’t pay taxes in the country. According to the best bookie pay per head, Australia loses around A$100 million in taxes annually from unregulated gambling sites.

Illegal Offshore Sportsbook Sites

The Interactive Gambling Act doesn’t allow online gambling providers to provide any form of gambling aside from lottery and sports betting. However, online gambling sites offer slot machines, poker, and other casino games.

However, the government might have exaggerated the estimated losses due to illegal online gambling. When O’Farrell did his review, A$400 million is the total amount of wagers made by Australians at offshore websites. In 2015, Australians lost around A$22 billion to gambling. Bets made on offshore sites represented less than two percent of the total market.

Australians lost most of their gambling money from poker machines. From 2016 to 2017, they lost more than A$12 billion on poker machines, which was more than half of the total losses. People lost A$1 billion on white label sports betting. Also, they lost A$3.3 billion on race betting.

According to a recent pay per head sportsbook software survey, 0.5 percent of Australian bet on online casino games. Also, around 0.3 percent wagered on online poker.