Senator Alston has performed an Olympic-class back flip on Interactive gambling by seeking to remove wagering from their proposed ban on Internet gambling in order to pass the Coalition’s controversial legislation.
Interactive gambling involves the placing of bets on sports or casino-type games over the Internet. It also may involve telephone sports betting via the Internet and the nature of this betting can range from sports bets to casino-style games, lotteries, bingo and keno.
In October, Senator Alston was unsuccessful in gaining the necessary support in the Senate for the Interactive Gambling (Moratorium) Bill 2000, which sought to make all forms of Internet gambling illegal in Australia.
Under obvious riding instructions from the Prime Minister, Senator Alston has now re-introduced this Bill in the Senate. However, Senator Alston is now forced to directly contradicted his previous position – that all forms of online and interactive gambling should be banned.
Here’s what Minister Alston told the Senate said when he first presenting the bill on 9 October:
As I understood it, it is being suggested that there is somehow some valid distinction between gaming and wagering. Each of them involves putting money on an outcome or, if you like, having a bet. One is a mechanically determined outcome; the other is a real-life event. Beyond that, they each involve the outlay of money based on some element of chance, and in that sense they both constitute interactive gambling.
The government’s view is that, to the extent that through the Internet, the television set or otherwise it is possible to generate a new industry that caters for either or both of those streams of chance, they should all be put on hold for the period of the moratorium in order to make a judgment about what is a sensible approach.
Clearly the deal struck with members of the cross-benches is a desperate attempt by the Coalition to pass some form of legislation, regardless of the original arguments put forward by the Coalition.
It’s no wonder Australia’s reputation as a global village idiot persists under the Howard Government.
103/00. Media contact: Simon Tatz on 02 6277 3334 or 0418 488295
