Online gambling 'to open flood gates'

30 May 2012, 11:16 am   -   Source: AAP
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Mr Xenophon rejected estimates that Australians spend $1 billion a year on illegal online gambling sites. (File: AAP)

Mr Xenophon rejected estimates that Australians spend $1 billion a year on illegal online gambling sites. (File: AAP)

Anti-gambling campaigners are worried that if new forms of online gambling are made legal, problem gambling will become much worse.

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Anti-gambling campaigners are concerned the flood gates will open if new forms of online gambling are legalised.

The government has released a departmental interim report into the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, which aims at reducing harm to problem gamblers.

The report suggests 30 changes, including banning micro-betting on sporting events, such as ball-by-ball bets in cricket or point-by-point bets in tennis, across all platforms.

The government has made no decisions about possible changes, preferring at this stage to consult with "interested parties".

Independent senator Nick Xenophon said the underlying reasoning of the report - that new forms of online gambling should be legalised because Australians were using illegal overseas sites - was "deeply flawed".

"More and more people will be falling by the wayside," he told ABC Television on Wednesday.

"By giving it the seal of approval of the Australian government, you will see more people flocking to local sites and with it the problems that arise from that."

The senator rejected estimates that Australians spend $1 billion a year on illegal online gambling sites.

Australian Greens health spokesman Richard Di Natale said the government should consider how problem gamblers might be affected if online gambling were to be legalised.

"We've got a huge problem with gambling in this country," he told reporters in Canberra.

"Why on earth would you be making this easier for people?"

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