“Australia's Interactive Gambling Act versus Online Casino Advertising”

Australia ’s Interactive Gambling Act 2001 prohibits the advertising of websites where “it is likely that the majority of the site’s users are physically present in Australia.” Gambling services including online poker machines, roulette, craps and blackjack are all prohibited under the Act, and those contravening the law face stiff penalties. The maximum fine imposed on individuals is $220 thousand Australian dollars per day, while corporations can incur fines up to $1.1 million dollars per day.

One might think that such tough anti-gambling legislation would be enough to deter even the most tenacious of gambling operators. But online casinos continue to advertise through a variety of websites in the hope of attracting Australian customers. In an interview with ZDNet Australia, Justine Munsic of law firm Mallesons Stephen Jacques advised her firm had found numerous potential breaches of the Interactive Gambling Act. “If a web site targeting Australian users publishes an advert for a web site offering online gambling services…because the advert is published in Australia, the law is broken,” Munsic said.

In order to combat online companies suspected of failing to uphold the Act, Australian authorities regularly investigate search engine providers including Google and Melbourne-based firm Web Wombat. The search engines try to advertise advertisements for online casinos featuring purposefully misspelled words – deemed an illegal practice under the Act. Web Wombat’s managing director Michael Tancredi claims his company is “fire-fighting all the time” but admits that illegal links are used from time to time on the Web Wombat site.

While the Interactive Gambling Act is yet to lead to a court prosecution, Justine Munsic believes a precedent will soon be made due to the more severe natures of recent breaches of the Act. Five potential breaches have been reported with many more to follow if Munsic’s predictions are correct.