What's the legalities behind Australian gaming and affiliates?

[lowrisk]

Hi

Just wondered, if I had a casino site which was geo-targeted to Australia, is this legal? It's a hypothetical situation at the moment, and it may be an Australian domain. What are the legalities? I know some operators have stopped acceptin traffic from
Australia, please can somebody confirm?

Thanks
Lowrisk

[GCG]

I think the Gooner knows a lot about this.

I do not know what casinos accept AU traffic, would like to know this also related to New Zealand.

Rewardsaffiliates - accepting AU / NZ traffic ? no clue.
Wagershare - 'yes'
Brightshare - 'yes'
..........

[rak]

Hi

Just wondered, if I had a casino site which was geo-targeted to Australia, is this legal? It's a hypothetical situation at the moment, and it may be an Australian domain. What are the legalities? I know some operators have stopped acceptin traffic from
Australia, please can somebody confirm?

Thanks
Lowrisk

Yah its legal. But buying traffic from Google Australia on Gambling terms is a little more difficult. I believe you need an aussie gambling license for that.

Also to be the owner of a .com.au - you need to have some relationship (your name, business name) to the domain, or it can be taken off you, if someone says "I should be the rightful owner"

Off the top of my head, I can only think of Merge Network not taking Aussie players ( I think this is correct ), because they have tech operations of some sort there.

[TheGooner]

AUSTRALIA
--------------
Sports betting is allowed in Australia and licensed domestically, and you can advertise to Australians - as long as they are not live-play or "micro-games" (like runs off the next cricket ball, or who will score the next goal) etc.

But - it's technically illegal to target, advertise or provide "short duration" online sports, casino or poker games to Australian residents. So traditional casino and poker games are illegal for Australian licensed companies (who offer sports betting only)

However, Australia is not like the United States, and they don't seem to try and police the globe - and have not chased international providers or affiliates - so if you are not domiciled in Australia then it should be OK.

However, to do so with an Australian registered Domain ( .com.au ) would almost certainly be in breach of the regulations - and might attract attention.

------------

NEW ZEALAND :
New Zealand has a monopoly situation on Sports Betting with the local state run TAB, that pays a percentage of all bets to relevant sports organisations, and tax to the government. There are no local online casino or poker products allowed.

Note that it is NOT illegal for New Zealanders to bet online, but there are NO competing local products allowed, and no local company is allowed to offer online casino / poker gambling to New Zealanders - basically the regulation is ZERO COMPETITION.

The TAB is allowed to advertise it's products - but no other organisation is allowed direct advertising or targeting of advertising to New Zealanders for real money games. So you see a few of the bigger casinos / poker rooms advertising their .net (play for free) websites on TV late at night - but that's all


Again, internet advertising to New Zealanders on a international domain (.com) would probably be OK as New Zealand seems to turn a blind eye to it - but using a local domain (.co.nz) is likely to get the website closed down.

[baldidiot]

Also, just to add about the ccTLD's - I'm pretty sure .com.au's can only be registered by Australian residents, Australian companies or companies with a trademark in Australia. That's the way it was when I was looking into it anyway.

But as the others have said, probably wouldn't have been a good idea anyway...

[lowrisk]

Nah, the registrar I was gonna use allows five countries to register .com.au and UK was one of them

[baldidiot]

Nah, the registrar I was gonna use allows five countries to register .com.au and UK was one of them

Oh really? Do you mind sharing who that is?

[playmaker003]

I own an Australian based business and to technically registar a .com.au domain you need to be registered as the company or trading as in Australia or the State. The implications of not doing this could be the domain getting taken from you if another Australian Company shows cause for thier rights to the domain. How many times has this happened? I have now idea but thought I would share the risk involved in purchasing a .com.au domain.

[playmaker003]

In regards to marketing to Australian Gamblers here is current legal standing:
http://www.dbcde.gov.au/broadband/on...sked_questions

Here is how well Australia polices online gambling (1 billion in offshore online gambling per annum)
http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=9369

Hope this helps