SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Australia’s Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has continued its fight against illegal gambling websites with yet another blocking order.
The latest website to be added on the regulator’s blacklist for breaching the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 is Casino Bello.
A notice has been put up by the ACMA reminding users to double check if a website is licenced to operate in Australia, which they can do through the regulator’s register of legal operators.
Furthermore, the authority also pointed out that illegal offerings are highly unlikely to have comprehensive player protection in place, significantly endangering the customer’s safety and their experience.
To avoid such threats infiltrating the Australian market, the ACMA began issuing blocking requests back in 2019 – ordering internet service providers to block access to illegal, and hence harmful, gambling websites.
Since then there have been around 1033 illegal gambling and affiliate websites chased out of the country, which also includes more than 220 illegal services blocked by the ACMA as a result of new illegal offshore gambling rules introduced in 2017.
There is currently an ongoing debate happening at the highest level of Australian politics, in regards to gambling advertisements targeting Australian consumers.
PM Anthony Albanese has come under fire from reformists who accuse him of shying away from honouring the late Labour MP Peta Murphy‘s proposed ban of TV, radio, newspaper and online gambling ads.
