Don’t push play offshore
As the Australian government considers legalizing in-play sports bets, the gaming minister of the Northern Territory warns that resisting the change will only push more gaming revenues offshore.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Minister Peter Styles agrees with Australian bookmakers who say the ban on in-play betting has done nothing to stop the bets, and only pushed the action, along with the revenues, offshore, to illegal bookies.
A federal review led by former New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell is now under way, with a response expected “in the coming days or weeks,” reported SMH.
“If we don’t keep up with the times and technology, people will simply go overseas,” Styles told Fairfax Media. “And you lose the ability to tax them, you lose the ability of that tax money for amelioration and harm minimization programs.”
