Sports betting operators in Australia will now be facing new promotional restrictions and taxes as the federal government continues to create more online gambling laws and regulations.
Australian Sports Betting Operators Face New Tax Charges.

Australian Sports Betting Operators – Tax Charged

Late last week, the West Australian government unveiled its most recent budget. The budget included a 15% POCT (point of consumption tax) for sports betting sites that generate income from players in West Australia. This new law is said to be effective from January 1, 2019.

The first Australian state to face the POCT was South Australia, basing on the notion that sports bookmakers from the North of Australia were not paying their fair share. This was supported by Australian online casinos Tatts and Tabcorp. These two online casinos are some of the largest casino operators in Aussie and face a higher tax burden.

The RWA (Responsible Wagering Australia) group protested Western Australia’s plans. Stephen Conroy, the director of RWA, claimed that online sports betting sites are currently being charged with 40% tax on the revenue they receive from the gamblers in West Australia. More so, he reported to the media that online operators would pass some of these costs to Western Australian bettors.  This will inspire players to look out for more competitive offers from licensed international betting sites.

Conclusion

In the meantime, a meeting inclusive of state and federal ministers agreed on new rules that will restrict sports betting websites from offering Aussie players specific types of free bets and other welcome bonuses. Some of these bonuses include the ‘refer a friend’ and sign-up bonuses.

Additionally, sports bookmakers will now have to request gamblers to “opt in” to receive marketing notifications. On the same note, information on how one can unsubscribe or turn off the notifications must be clearly displayed for easy access.

Australia keeps coming with more and more online casino gambling regulations that may affect players either positively, or negatively. Nonetheless, at Kiwi Casinos, we will do what we can to keep NZ players up to date with the latest gambling news.