Australian Market Trying to Protect Players
It seems that everywhere in the world that is experiencing large growth rates in terms of gambling is also facing growth in illegal gambling. This was a definite concern of legislators who were writing laws. The anti-gambling activists believe that the rise in legal gaming means that crime and corruption will abound. They believe that if thieves realize how much money is to be had, they will try their own ways of taking advantage of that market. This will create a new cost—investigating, breaking up and persecuting those involved in the activities. They believe that the price is too big to pay. The Australian market is proving their suspicions may be right. The Federal Families Minister Jenny Macklin is voicing her concerns regarding gambling both land based and online. It is no secret that people want to wager—more and more Australian citizens are clamoring for gaming options. They want to be able to wager from the privacy of their own homes and at land based casinos. The issue though is that the legalities have to be regulated and those laws have to be written still. Right now the estimates are that the country’s citizens are spending over $1-billion a year on gambling. This growth rate has some concerned about how to adequately manage and still protect citizens.
As of right now there are no protections for citizens playing in online casinos and no recourse if they are scammed. This could pose huge problems for the market in the future. What if gamers start having issues? Are more companies going to move into the market? If so, how will they be regulated? There are a lot of questions the Australian market has to answer as they move closer and closer to gambling and as the market grows so quickly. Macklin stated that legislators are now trying to come up with laws that can sustain the added weight of a growth market. It may take time, but she is afraid that in that time more gamers may get into trouble with online casinos. They may have issues to deal with right off the bat and laws are not yet in place to protect the gamers involved.
