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Is Australia The Next Big iGaming Market?

Is Australia The Next Big iGaming Market?

Online gambling is a booming industry on course to start raking in around $153 billion annually, with Europe being its most developed market and the Asia-Pacific region acting as its fastest expanding one. Now with America legalizing sports betting left and right and many US states looking into allowing online casino gaming over the World Wide Web, many Aussies are wondering where the interactive gambling future of the Land Down Under stands.

It is a well-known fact that Australia has somewhat of an established gambling culture, with the country posting one of the highest lottery participation rates on the planet. Moreover, various reports and studies have shown that Australians do engage in gambling activities quite frequently, at higher instances than people from other territories, with slot machines, called pokies, sports betting, horse racing, and lotto games getting adored by most residents of the part of Earth famous for its swathes of tropical beaches, lush rainforests, and cute koalas.

However, it is vital to note that while gambling is widespread in Australia, with venues like the Crown Casino Melbourne, the Crown Perth, and Adelaide Casino drawing hordes of thousands each year, its online sphere is not yet regulated. What does that mean? Well, it signifies that platforms like Australia casino online can operate from outside the country’s borders, in lands that regulate companies providing interactive gaming over the Internet. Hence, Australia has no active iGaming market, so to speak, leaving it a potential playground for foreign online gambling operators and game providers, who are foaming at the mouth, hoping the country’s authorities will allow them to enter it.

What Is the Potential of the Australian Online Gambling Sector?

According to many, it is massive, with the AIHW, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, estimating that Aussies lose somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 billion on wagering activities every year. That figure does not factor in the money spent betting on offshore platforms that accept Australians, as no one has those numbers.

The AIHW equates to annual per capita losses of around $1,500 annually, projecting that one in every ten Australians now gambles online, representing an 8% increase from three years ago. Many contribute this boost to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns it induced; ones that made people seek alternative forms of entertainment.

Going by the stats above, it is easy to see that regulating this industry in Australia would mean big business and massive tax revenues for the government. While many remain pessimistic about this happening soon due to the perceived harm this activity can cause, in the eyes of most, it is an inevitable occurrence given global trends.

Who Licenses/Oversees Offshore Casinos?

That job gets done by regulators based in countries that permit businesses to offer casino gaming over the World Wide Web, not only to their residents, by internationally. Examples of such bodies include eGaming Curacao, the Malta Gaming Authority, and Panama’s Gaming Commission.

Most of these organizations have operated in this sector for decades, and they get considered credible by online gamblers and industry professionals alike. They implement many of the same licensing criteria as more famous bodies, such as the UKGC, looking to provide dispute resolution services and ask that licensees incorporate high-end data protection.
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