Illegal Gambling in Australia

"A new study has revealed that one in seven Australians who make online bets on sporting events also gamble illegal in internet casinos. 25% from the surveyed gamblers, said that sometimes they gambled more than they had planned, and about 5% admitted having a serious gambling problem. "
"The nation's only official online casino is Lasseters, which is open only to non-Australians, and which normally has 18 million bets a month, out of which 90 per cent are on poker machines. In the last 3 years, its customer base has grown more than 10 times."

"Professor McMillen said that according to three surveys, two concerning online sporting betting and the other on Lasseters customers, the online gambling interdiction had been ineffective and that the Federal Government ought to legalize it and start regulating the industry. In the report she wrote to the Government, about the Interactive Gambling Act, she alleged that allowing an Australian company to provide online gaming while interdicting Australians from playing was `ethically conflicting and hard to defend."

" In her study, professor McMillen also wrote that the surveys had shown there are two types of internet gamblers: the ones who had moved from placing bets on the telephone, to the internet; and the ones who were `betting nomads' - trialing the internet in search of better odds, or new games, and thus the latter using the resources available on the internet constructively."
"…Lasseters has also asked the Federal Government to normalize online gambling, arguing that the modern technology will allow problem gamblers to be limited…"