Even though it is early in 2013, gambling has not been far from the headlines in the Australian press.
The integrity of Australian sport has been subjected to significant comment as a result of the release by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) of its paper "Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport". This report, and commentary relating to the report, have intimated that Australian athletes who use prohibited substances are at risk of being targeted by organised criminal groups involved in match fixing. Despite the strident headlines suggesting that match fixing may become endemic in Australian sport, there have been a number of other articles which have indicated that there exists a considerable number of safeguards already in place through the licensed sports betting sector to address these integrity concerns. These safeguards include measures which have the objective to detect match fixing attempts at the earliest possible stage. These integrity concerns were addressed at a Forum hosted by Addisons in late November 2012 attended by representatives of bookmakers, sports, and other relevant bodies.1
The publicity given to the ACC report has overshadowed a number of other interesting developments in connection with the regulation of gambling in Australia. Senator Xenophon has called for stricter regulation to be introduced in connection with social gaming and has announced his intention to introduce a bill to amend the Interactive Gambling Act (2001) (IGA) to extend the definition of gambling services to cover certain social games.2
Some of these developments were suggested in our preview relating to developments in online gambling regulation in Australian for 2013. This newsletter includes our article which was published in the January 2013 edition of World Online Gambling Report.
On the same day as the ACC report, the Australian Federal Senate referred to the Joint Select Committee of Gambling Reform (JSCOGR) issues relating to the links between sports and gambling, particularly in the context of gambling advertisements. Hearings of JSCOGR to consider these topics will be held in early March. The due date for the JSCOGR to report to the Senate is 16 May 2013. It will be interesting to see the extent to which new issues are covered by this report, as it covers much of the subject matter covered by each of the second inquiry conducted by JSCOGR which relates to interactive gambling3 and the Interim Report of DBCDE concerning the IGA that was released in July 2012.4
There are a number of other significant regulatory issues affecting the gambling industry which are likely to occur in 2013, including the expiration of the period of totalisator exclusivity conferred on Tabcorp in New South Wales, the ongoing review by the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) concerning the suitability of Crown and Genting as potential investors in Echo Entertainment and ongoing discussions between sports and gambling operators concerning integrity issues and the payment of product fees.
Also, it will be interesting to see how a number of the legal issues affecting the gambling sector at the end of 2012 develop. Many of these topics are covered in this newsletter. Articles cover topics such as the implementation of the national gaming machine reforms as contained in the Federal National Gambling Reform Act and the Betbox case. This latter article summarises the ramification of the decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court.
The policy issue covered by this newsletter relates to the interaction between the regulations of derivatives (often termed gambling) and gambling itself.
Finally, we consider the impact of recent amendments to the Privacy Act on the gambling sector. These are likely to require changes to the practices employed by many Australian gambling organisations in the manner in which they handle customer data.
Footnotes
1 Our media release about this Forum is set
out at Page 13 of the Newsletter
2 For our comments on the current Australian legal
position relating to social gaming, see our
Gambling Law & Regulation Newsletter of December
2011.
3 For further details, see our
Gambling Law and Regulation Newsletter of December 2011.
4 For further details, see Addisons Focus Paper
entitled
"DBCDE Inquiry into Interactive Gambling Act –
Interim Report – What Does it Mean for Wagering Operators in
Australia? – Potential for Change in Australian Online
Gambling Regulatory Landscape".
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
