Australian Communications and Media Authority to Block 11 Gambling Sites

[MissExposé]

By the order of ACMA, 11 gambling sites in Australia are about to be blocked by internet service providers.
The regulator discovered that the sites were operating in breach of the 2001 Interactive Gambling Law. Customers are advised to withdraw money from their accounts.

Source: https://www.igamingbusiness.com/news/australian-media-watchdog-block-11-more-gambling-sites

 

[AussieDave]

Interesting read BUT again it proves the AU Gov., like so many other Governments world wide, are totally clueless.

Three letters: VPN

A few years ago, not many regular internet users had a VPN, much less, knew what one was. However in 2020 that's all changed. ISP blocking is only effective IF said user's data is not encrypted.

Blocked sites on that list, are still accessible by me in AU, using a VPN.

The logical solution (because history proves prohibition does NOT work), is for the AU Gov., to understand it's far better to license casinos et al, than it is to try and ban them. And, more comical is the irony of trying to "block" progress. Because the ONLY success the ACMA has been able to achieve with the IGA Bill, is to kick out all the decent paying casinos, and in their place, allow a high % of clip joints to fill that market.

All the decent casinos left AU shore en masse in August 2017 when the IGA Bill was passed. However, in their place, came a mass influx of clip-joints and other nefarious operators, all too willing to scam AU players.

Retail online shopping has massively increased in AU over the last few years, but we don't see the AU Gov., trying to ban that, why? Because they get their consumption/GST TAX paid. I'm sure that hurts bricks and mortar shops. But I'm sure the introduction of cars, hurt cart-n-horses. Again, progress waits for no one.

Seems the only reason the AU Gov., has a beef with off-shore gambling is because they're don't receive TAX, and or can't seem to figure out how to TAX it. That, and the noise from gambling lobbies (AU land based casinos and hoteliers: venue with pokies).

Instead of wasting tax payers money on all these stupid band aids, which really don't do jack to curb the issue, the AU Gov., needs to stop listening to University boffins (no industry experience), and instead, look at how the EU is running the show, now.

https://www.igamingbusiness.com/news/australian-isps-begin-blocking-illegal-gambling-websites

“The ability to have ISPs block illegal websites will be a valuable additional weapon in the ACMA’s arsenal in the fight against illegal online gambling,” ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin commented. “In many cases these sites refuse to pay significant winnings, or only a small portion," O'Loughlin explained. “There is little to no recourse for consumers engaging with these unscrupulous operators.”

Reiterating... The AU Gov., in it's clueless wisdom are the reason why clip joints have flooded the market, since, the 2017 IGA Bill passed. The decent casinos left en masse, and were replaced largely by dodgy shit holes

 

[CL-Ed]

From the article:

The sites affected are Happy Hugo, Mucho Vegas Casino, Kahuna Casino, Rich Casino, Box 24 Casino, Bondi Bet, JokaRoom, Omni Slots, Fruits 4 Real, XPokies and Slottica.

...

The first blocking orders saw Emu Casino and Fair Go Casino become the first domains targeted.

The most recent round came in May this year. That saw 10 sites - Grand Fortune Casino, Raging Bull Casino, True Blue Casino, Free Spin, Two Up Casino, BoVegas, Cherry Gold Casino, Slots Empire, Red Dog Casino and Wild Joker - blocked.

Spot on Dave. Looking at those list of blocked casinos I'd estimate a large proportion (if not the majority) are sites that were launched after the ACMA crackdown started. Lots of them are known to be rogues that don't pay and/or run pirated games. Player complaints about being slow paid or ripped off have since sky-rocketed. All ACMA are doing at this point in time is playing whack-a-mole with a problem of their own creation.

 

[Heater]

The Aus gov would be a lot better off regulating online gaming.

Right now, I think a lot people that just gamble for entertainment have all but stopped or moved to the massive sportsbet and racing industry. Unless someone really wanted to play or were already using a VPN, I don't think they would. The very people the government is trying to help, problem gamblers, probably do spend the time to figure out how to use a VPN. They are just being pushed deeper and deeper underground where know one knows what they're doing: using vpns, transacting in cryptocurrency etc.

Gambling licences could issued with strong mandatory player protections like registering and baring players once they reach an annual loss threshold. E.g. Loss $30k in a year and you're restricted and someone reaches out to you to see if things are ok. They could use tax revenues to create stronger problem gambling problem help programs. Players would be protected. Recreational players would come back.

 

[Jesper Ostergaard]

A few years ago, not many regular internet users had a VPN, much less, knew what one was. However in 2020 that's all changed. ISP blocking is only effective IF said user's data is not encrypted.

 

[AussieDave]

Having safe-guards in place, to try and prevent a country's citizens from being scammed and what not, is a good thing. However, trying totally control (dictate) what happens on the internet, is akin to trying to control the weather or the sea. Besides, history tells us prohibition does not work.

I became an affiliate not long after the 1999 AU online gambling moratorium was in motion. At the time, Integrity Group (later purchased by Casino Rewards) and Lasseters (who ran Lasseters online casino) were the only two Australian companies who held AU interactive gaming licenses. Both were issued by the Northern Territory Government.

Hence, why a moratorium was announced. Those findings were released in 2001. The Bills and subsequent laws which were passed back in 2001, had no teeth. It was a BIG grey area of AU federal law.

What got all this fired up again, was the in-gaming betting (circa 2015), which, there were laws-with-teeth to prevent these bets. I can't recall which AU licensed online sportsbook started the ball rolling, but soon, they were all at it. Including, Crown Casino in Melbourne. Then the TV ads started promoting the in-gaming betting, and subsequently, that's when shit hit the proverbial fan!

Andrew Wilkie, an independent poli from Tasmania, along with his buddy, Nick Xenophon (independent federal poli from South Australia - no longer in politics), were not shy is saying they wanted to have pokies banned. It seemed, according to both these politicians, the "pokies" were the Devil's tool.

With the in-game betting being illegal, this gave both these poli's a platform to dig up the 2001 IGA. Tim Costello, quickly jumped on that band wagon, he too is an avid supporter of gambling reform. I believe he spearheads: pokiesplayyou.org.au

About Tim Costello:
Timothy Ewen "Tim" Costello AO is an Australian Baptist minister and the current Chief Advocate of World Vision Australia. Costello is the brother of Peter Costello, the former treasurer of Australia and Federal Member for Higgins.

The pointy end for all of this was, the updated/revised 2017 IGA Bill. Which ironically didn't see any changes (that I'm aware of to land based pokies here in AU). But instead, the main focus was unlicensed AU online gaming, and the marketing of it.

The day the IGA bill passed into law, I closed all my AU facing portals, and implemented GEO IP blocking on my other non AU face sites. Obviously, I didn't fair to well from that as a result. And, I suppose one could think, I only upset over this because of the loss of business.

However, those that know me, know I've never prayed to the 'money gods', and have always placed ethics and my own moral compass above making a buck. I like what money can buy... BUT, money is not my 'god'.

Instead of trying to find a safe and practically way to license online casinos and such, the AU Gov., bans it.

All ACMA are doing at this point in time is playing whack-a-mole with a problem of their own creation.

This is and will continue to be, the IGA 2017's downfall.

 

[RyanWeb]

At this point even web browsers are starting to implement built in VPNs.. Opera has a built in VPN and while limited, you can chose from three countries to browse from, US, EU or Asia. Brave is another browser with an included VPN.

But they are so cheap, (and country blocking is so common now) everyone I know uses them. I started using a VPN for torrents (you know... to get better... speeds....) But use them almost daily when researching or writing reviews.

Then as far as blocking with banking regulations, well.. Thats why most US friendly casinos now accept Bitcoin..