Australian Government Bans Online Gambling
In shocking news today it has been announced that the Australian Government is enforcing law to ISP ban online gambling sites. This means that Australians will NOT be able to gamble online anymore. This has been done by the Australian Communications Authority (ACMA) who initially made the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (The IGA).
It can only be described as a desperate attempt by the Australian Labor Party to earn more revenue, this disastrous decision will be felt b y thousands of people across the country. No longer will Australian gamblers be able to log on and place a bet on sport, play at an online poker site or casino.
This law that is being enforced was originally made to protect Australians from paedophiles and sexually related, illegal material. Here are some of the issues that the ACMA was made to protect:
- depictions of child sexual abuse;
- depictions of bestiality;
- material containing excessive violence or sexual violence;
- material containing detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use;
- real depictions of actual sexual activity;
- depictions of simulated sexual activity which are not subject to a restricted access system
This law has subsequently placed Australian online gamblers in the same category as this filth. It is an outrage to say the least. It has been reported that the ACMA has made a blacklist of potential ‘harmful’ sites. On this list surprisingly were only online poker sites. These included PokerStars, Full Tilt, Pacific Poker, BetFair, PokerNews and many more.
What this means for Australians is that we can no longer play at these online poker sites. Not only that, Australian gambling websites that promote these rooms will be fined $11,000 for each site. This has serious legal and financial implications.
The exact nature of the GIA has never been fully understood because of the relaxed and broad nature of it. The rules were never enforced and there have been no real problems in being able to gamble online. What we can read though is what the ACMA says in its guidelines:
The IGA makes it an offence to provide, or advertise, certain interactive gambling services. ACMA is responsible for investigating formal complaints made under the IGA in relation to prohibited internet gambling content.
Prohibited internet gambling content is content that can be accessed, or is available for access, by customers of a prohibited internet gambling service.
A prohibited internet gambling service is a gambling service provided in the course of carrying on a business to customers using an internet carriage service, and an individual physically present in Australia is capable of becoming a customer of the service.
If ACMA receives a complaint about prohibited internet gambling content that is hosted in Australia, ACMA will refer the matter to the Australian Federal Police.
If prohibited internet gambling content is hosted outside Australia, ACMA will notify the content to makers of the approved Family Friendly Filters listed in Schedule 1 to the Interactive Gambling Act Industry Code.
We will be keeping a close eye on this and keep you up to date with any further developments. It seems as though we have travelled back to the dark ages and are losing our freedoms. This law is violating Australian’s rights.
Andy said,
March 23, 2009 @ 11:36 pmTHIS IS AN OUTRAGE!! I AM ANDY MCLEOD AND I DO NOT APPROVE THIS!!
Shane said,
March 29, 2009 @ 3:45 amChuck another shrimp on the barby will ya
James said,
April 4, 2009 @ 7:33 pmWell it seems that the government also realises that most people that play are losing there money doing this. This would explain part of it!
manicmanny said,
April 15, 2009 @ 6:17 pmi cant believe this shit. i sent an email to a kevin rudd site asking for explaination as to why they would do this when they could legalize online poker, charge for licenes and tax rake from players of australian and any sites that want to start up here would create more revenue and jobs as well as taxes from earning over hobby limits. possibly hundreds of millions of dollars . doesn’t seem smart when they are desperate more revenue ideas.
Russ said,
October 20, 2009 @ 7:31 pmI think they just want everyone to gamble more on their poker machines so they can make more money.
Admin said,
October 20, 2009 @ 7:52 pmI completely agree. That’s what it all boils down to. The Government hasn’t worked out how to make money from online gambling yet.
Michael Weedman said,
November 30, 2009 @ 4:38 amExcuse me; why do I detect surprise in those blogs? You people do realize this is the same government that banned firearms and sent a SQUAD of Police out to “collect” the ones belonging to Rodney William Ansell? Guns that were a major part of his livelyhood and way of life and absolutely no danger to anyone. And when he refused to give them up they murdered him! ! ! ! ! ! (google >>>
CROCODILE DUNDEE KILLED BY GUN-CONFISCATING POLICE)
Banning of internet gambling by a government is called “suppression of individual freedoms” and has NOTHING to do with money, either making it or losing it. and YES …. we have the exact same problem over here!!!!!!!! A government ‘for the government’!!! ‘For the people’ is not in their vocabulary. And now that you don’t have any guns anymore there ain’t a damn thing you can do about it; kinda makes you wonder WHY they took ‘em don’t it?
RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI
Poker Farce said,
March 20, 2009 @ 7:24 amPoker Farce feels your pain.