The Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 was enforced to protect Australian citizens from what the government felt would be undue influence from advertisers that would then lead to the activity getting out of hand.

Over time, and with the introduction of online gambling by other providers outside the country, loopholes in the IGA were challenged to allow for the Australians to play online from real money casinos outside the country and even for local gangling houses to provide this service. The catch was and still remains that Australia cannot be seen as the “designated country” of these activities. At least 80% of adults in the country are gamblers, which is higher than any developed country in the world. Gambling is currently regarded as a national problem by Aussies.

Revenue From Gambling In Australia

The most recent data on revenue from betting is for the fiscal year 2015-2016, where about 7.7% of all federal and state income came from gambling. In 2008-09, a little over $19 billion of total taxes collected came from gaming, and so the government sees the need to regulate this habit without fully discouraging it since it makes up a reasonable size of its taxes.

Gambling In New South Wales

In New South Wales, rules on gaming are relaxed since even tax rates are much lower here compared to other parts of the country. Players also have access to a wider array of games, and so naturally more are quite hooked to the habit — 1 in 2 adults is a gambler in NSW. Over 50% of the adult population is involved in one gaming activity or other.

Some areas of NSW are more affected than others as follows;

Though on average 53% of the adult population gambles, only 7.2% is classified as moderate-risk/ problem gamblers. They are aged between 18 and 24 and are mostly male, single, and unemployed. The popularity of games in Australian online casinos in NSW is as follows;

• Lotteries: 37%

• Gaming machines: 16%

• Instant scratchies: 13%

• Race Betting: 13%

• Keno: 9%

• Sports Betting: 6%

• Gambling Regulatory Authorities in Australia

Laws are made federally while they are enforced by local authorities. The ACT Racing and Gambling Commission regulates and controls all gaming activities in the country.

Regulation by States and Territory is as follows;

The main jurisdiction as far as tax and revenue collection go are Victoria and NSW.