Fed: Packer says online gambling freeze would hurt Australia

AAP General News (Australia)
08-25-2000
Fed: Packer says online gambling freeze would hurt Australia

By Krista Hughes and Elizabeth Gosch

CANBERRA, Aug 25 AAP - A planned freeze on online gambling would destroy Australia's
competitive advantage in the global market, Kerry Packer's Internet gaming company said
today.

The federal government wants to introduce a 12-month moratorium on new interactive
gaming ventures so a total ban can be considered.

But the Packer company's Internet gaming arm, PBLG, said blocking foreigners' access
to Australian gaming sites would not benefit either Australians or overseas players.

"Australia's competitive advantage will be lost if domestic companies were forced to
shelve their global plans in this industry until next year," PBLG's Nick Falloon told
a Senate committee inquiry.

PBLG said the Interactive Gaming (Moratorium) Bill 2000 should be amended to allow
the operation of Australian gaming sites overseas.

"If the government and parliament want to put Australians' access to Australian online
gambling services on hold, PBLG submits that the moratorium should be targeted to that
end," Mr Falloon said.

But Australian Institute for Gambling Research executive director Jan McMillan said
the moratorium was about three years too late as both Internet access and the number of
gambling sites had multiplied since then.

"The horse has bolted, we've had a proliferation of on-line interactive gambling licenses,
both gaming and wagering," Professor McMillan said.

Interchurch Gambling Taskforce member Marilyn Webster said it wasn't too late and that
the moratorium was urgently needed to prevent vulnerable groups being sucked into the
gambling spiral.

"Internet gambling represents an expansion of the industry and we know that with every
expansion of the gambling industry there's an expansion both of the group of problem gamblers
and the total number of problem gamblers," she said.

New South Wales-based TAB Ltd said its Internet business was driven by existing customers,
with 10 to 15 per cent of phone betting calls going unanswered at busy times.

Northern Territory Department of Industries and Business spokesman Tony Clark said
it was not realistic to try to ban internet gambling.

"The states and territories formed the view some five years ago that it was not realistically
possible to block access to offshore sites," he said.

"At this stage I would suggest I've seen no new evidence that challenges that conclusion."

The only option that remained was to develop globally competitive sites that delivered
gaming products to the most socially responsible standard, Mr Clark said.

AAP eg/daw/hu/mo

KEYWORD: GAMBLING

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