The revolutionary reform of Victoria's $5-billion-a-year gambling industry, which would end Tatts and Tabcorp's duopoly control of pokies by handing ownership to venues, is on the brink of collapse.
That's the news courtesy of The Australian:
"Gaming Minister Tony Robinson warned that the Government would have no choice but to walk away from its reforms if Opposition parties continued to block them in the upper house.
"The Coalition and the Greens, whose support Mr Robinson needs, hit back, accusing the Government of trying to ram through a flawed bill by scaremongering.
"The minister said his plan to auction pokies to individual venues and slash TAB's turnover tax on racing would collapse, leaving the industry and its 100,000 employees in chaos, unless the bill to achieve it passed in the next session of parliament in early May. He threatened to renew the duopoly deal if the "Opposition and the Greens would not support the bill. A nasty political brawl looms over the deadlock. The Government is expected to portray the Opposition and the Greens as lackeys of the two gambling giants."
Gambling911.com spoke with Australian Media Man, Greg Tingle regarding the gambling reforms issue:
"Things are still heating up in Australia on the gaming front. Australian's are amongst the world's biggest gamblers be it in clubs, hotels, casinos or online casinos. You can imagine the competition for the entertainment dollar, and of course the Australian government wants their cut also. The knives are out. Australian professional sports codes are upping the ante with magazine front cover promotions, in house sports betting like Betezy's BunnyBet, and so it goes on. In the meantime the world goes through a recession but the Australian gambling market looks pretty healthy."
Tingle deals with the online gambling community himself out of Australia and he claims times have never been better.
"Our numbers here at Media Man Australia are still holding up. We (Media Man Australia) had our recession a couple of years back but the last few years have been full steam ahead. That's an indication that the gambling sector, online gaming, igaming and the brave new world of internet portals are here to stay. Overseas operators still want in to Australia and for many like PokerStars, PartyGaming and The Bingo Affiliates, the internet is the way to go, backed up by "free to play" .net websites, complimented by live shows and offline promotions at the likes of Crown, Star City and Burswood Casino. Indications show that the industry is going to be further regulated, however as the ACMA blacklist policy shows there's going to be a few challenges and teething problems as the Australian government tries to regulate an industry that can be traced back to the underworld, 'Underbelly' days and the mob in Vegas and Chicago. If there ever was a "casino economy" the time is now."
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