Nick Xenophon’s name is fast becoming synonymous with anti-online gambling sentiments. He has certainly come up with an unusual idea of a new method to prevent online gambling operators from offering their wares to Australians.
Xenophon has suggested that Australia should legalize chargebacks on credit cards as a way to help control online gambling. What this means is that Australians who gamble on the Internet would be allowed to cancel, or void, any bets that they had placed by credit card.
This legislation is scheduled to be tabled in the Australian Parliament in May. Should the law be enacted, this would mean that essentially, Australians who have placed losing bets online using their credit cards would retroactively be allowed to void the transaction, and thereby void the losing wager. Those who win, however, can simply keep their winnings.
The politician behind this interesting proposal is of course Nick Xenophon. He holds the position of an independent senator in the parliament in Australia. Xenophon plans to make a proposal regarding tighter controls on advertising for companies that have wagering products, and also for their affiliated sites.
Xenophon told the Sydney Morning Herald the following: "With voided credit card bets, I have to say there’s something appealing to me about online casinos losing their shirts rather than the punters. It would certainly make online casinos think twice about accepting Australian cards.”
Should the chargebacks be legalized, online gambling sites would not be able to offer their games to Australians if the players simply void any losing wagers, as the operators would not be able to make any profits from their Australian players.
The current law in Australia does prohibit online gambling, which includes online casinos and online poker sites. There have not really been any prosecutions even though online gambling is illegal in Australia. There are around one billion Australian dollars that are placed as wagers at online gambling sites each year. There are a large number of online gambling sites that are located offshore that accept players from Australia.
Although the law has not been enforced, companies that offer online gambling in Australia can be fined as much as $1.1 million per day.
Online gambling may not be advertised in Australia, however, online gambling companies often use affiliated sites in order to sponsor teams in which people play the games for fun, and not for real money.
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