According to various studies over the years, you can hardly find more gambling people than the population of the Commonwealth of Australia. Even when the mainland was inhabited by criminals from the UK, various types of gambling took root in this country. Over time, when the state began to show the best economic indicators on the planet, and the income of the population increased significantly, the passion for gambling in the Australian nation only increased. Every eighth Australian citizen periodically becomes a client of casino Australia. People consider this to be innocent fun and visit gambling establishments quite often. With the development of online gambling, the availability of such entertainment has increased. Therefore, opening an online casino in Australia can be considered a promising and highly profitable business. But the country has a rather interesting system of regulation of gambling, which is worth familiarizing yourself with.
Development of the gambling business in Australia
Official casinos have existed in Australia for 40 years and the sector began to flourish in the 1980s when the government moved from moderate British restrictions to American-style policies and viewed large casino projects as a driving force for domestic tourism.
The largest of these, including Star City in Sydney, Conrad’s Treasury in Brisbane, and the Crown Entertainment Complex in Melbourne, receive 12 million visitors a year.
We should also dwell on the work of online casinos. The value of the online gambling market last year was over 700 million euros. As in the land sector, half of this amount came from slot machines. In addition to slot machines, online sports betting, table games, and poker are also allowed.
There are only foreign service providers in the country, no domestic company has an online license, although land-based bookmakers and lottery service providers are allowed to provide their services online.
Nuances of online casinos in Australia
It is worth considering the most significant factors when opening a new online casino:
- Taxation. Different types of games are taxed differently on turnover taxes, player losses and net income taxes, and license fees.
- Slot machines. In Australia, 60 percent of gambling expenses go-to gaming equipment, which are machines that operate in pubs, clubs, and casinos.
- 25-30% of the population plays at least occasionally on such a machine. Regular players who play at least once a week spend an average of 4900 to 5600 euros per year on this entertainment.
- About 200,000 of these machines operate in Australia, most of them are five-reel video games.
- In 2012, the revenue from slot machines was 7.1 billion euros, slightly less than in the previous year (7.8 billion euros).
- Most of the machines operate in New South Wales, where about half of all machines in the country are concentrated. A quarter of the machines operate in Queensland and 15 percent in Victoria.
- Maximum rates vary. In pubs and clubs in Queensland and New South Wales, the maximum bet is €7, but Victoria lowered it a couple of years ago, so no more than €3.50 can be used in one round. You can also play at higher stakes in the casino. The rate of return also varies but is usually around 90%.
- The states listed are in stark contrast to Western Australia, where slot machines cannot operate anywhere other than Crown Perth Casino.
The already retired government has planned to introduce several new measures to address the problem with gambling addiction. These include the ability to play with a smart card only, self-limitation, or a reduction in the maximum bet to €0.70. But so far, no such measures have been taken.
Online casino regulation
In Australia, gambling is not regulated at the federal level, but at the state/province level (6 states and 2 provinces in total). About 10 percent of the state/province’s revenue comes from the gambling tax, most of which belongs to slot machines. The federal government plays a more active role in regulating online gambling than in the land-based sector.
It is likely that the national gambling regulator, created late last year, will be replaced by an advisory body. This would mean that regulation would remain largely the responsibility of individual states and provinces.
Several years ago, significant amendments were made to the main law of the country, which regulated the operation of online casinos. Before starting a gambling business, an entrepreneur must have a foreign license for this type of business. Additionally, it is necessary to obtain a local license form from the Australian permitting authorities. Now casino users have received new advanced rights and capabilities.
You should pay attention to the main prohibitions in online gambling:
- it is prohibited to use platforms that do not have a permissive license;
- on the other hand, local casinos are denied the right to enter international markets.
In fact, the traditional form of online casinos in Australia has been banned. It became impossible to use online slots or play poker. Official permission was left solely to betting on auto racing and competition in sports. At the same time, the time of the bets was strictly limited. This means that it is not allowed to place a bet during a match, making it impossible to bet live, which is preferred by many clients.
There is still a way to play online casinos on the Green Mainland. The ban does not apply to the activities of foreign providers on the Internet, subject to obtaining Australian permits. So Australians can still entertain themselves on various platforms, where they place bets in slot machines, fight in card battles or catch their luck at roulette.
To obtain a license, you must contact the regulator of a specific administrative unit of the country.
In this case, the owner of the gaming platform is obliged to fulfill a number of conditions:
- ensure full communication with law enforcement agencies;
- comply with the rules of financial transparency;
- adhere to state-specific rate limits;
- to hire professionals with proven qualifications;
- do not distribute confidential user data;
- fight the spread of gambling addiction.
The regulatory process for online casinos is quite tough. But making a good profit is possible if you strictly adhere to the rules of the law.
