Australia could soon witness the creation of a new sports betting integrity unit which will help in solving issues related to suspicious betting activity. It will regulate the space and help different organizations with their integrity systems as well.
Problem gambling is one of the wide known issues in Australia as the country has the heaviest gambling spend per capita in the world. Australian wager about $24 billion each year with each adult losing an average of $1,000 per year, which is more than the second-ranked country Singapore. Singaporeans lose an average of $650 per year.
About a third of Australians are currently gambling online, and financial institutions are doing their best to help curb the problem. They are now capping credit card payments on gambling platforms to tackle problem gambling. The legal market in Australia is thriving, but the illegal gambling sector is still worth $1.4 billion each year. The regulator is planning to reduce this and take steps actively to launch a crackdown on the sports betting sector.
The new national watchdog will be actively looking after the sports betting industry with the aim to cut down on cheating and match-fixing. The regulator is currently looking for candidates to head this organization, including the CEO of the Australian Sports Anti‑Doping Authority (ASADA) who is also the current racing integrity commissioner for Victoria. The unit may start its operations after July 2020.
Several high-ranking police officials have already expressed their concerns about the extent of crime and corruption in the sporting world in Australia. The new commission will be gathering information on all potential cases of match-fixing and corruption. It will also be going after sporting bodies to ensure that they have sufficient levels of integrity in monitoring systems. The whole sector is currently going through issues with unlicensed offline and online operators.
The unit is also expected to work closely with the policing agencies on both the state and federal levels. It will also be working closely with the department of home affairs and ASADA. The three most important parts of the betting unit’s remit will be the regulation of sports betting, work with the sporting leagues to develop policies related to integration and conduct thorough investigations and monitoring potential illegal activity.
Problem gambling will be an important aspect of this new regulatory regime as the current self-exclusion policies have not been working too well. The new credit card blocking features is allowing some users to cap their gambling site issues. Specially ANZ is one of the leaders of regard. Another policy for handling this is to shut down unlicensed online platforms targeting Australian players.
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