Bets on foreign lotteries off under new legislation

The government to introduce legislation tomorrow to ban betting on lotteries on Keno games following a grass-roots campaign supported by One Nation.

Pauline Hanson poses for a photo with newsagency owners John and Maree Allen at Wynnum North News while backing newsagents in fight against online betting giant Lottoland. Picture: AAP

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has announced the Turnbull government will introduce legislation tomorrow to ban betting on lotteries on Keno games following a grass-roots campaign supported by One Nation.

The statement from Senator Fifield comes after The Australian today revealed the government was about to ban so-called “synthetic lotteries” which pose a threat to newsagents and other small business owners.

Senator Fifield said the government had “formed the view that permitting betting on these services... undermines the long-standing community acceptance of official lottery and keno products.”

“Traditional lotteries and keno games are popular and long-standing recreational gambling products that form an important income stream for thousands of small businesses across Australia, including newsagents, pharmacies, pubs and community clubs,” he said.

“They also generate significant taxation revenue for state and territory governments, helping to fund schools, hospitals, public transport and roads.”

He warned that online gambling agencies which allowed betting on lottery outcomes had generated “considerable community concern”.

“The Government has listened carefully to a range of groups that have views on the undesirability of permitting betting on these products,” he said.

“Many Australians enjoy lotteries and keno as a recreational activity, and the Turnbull Government is committed to ensuring that gambling takes place under a robust legislative framework with strong consumer protections and within the boundaries of community standards.”

As reported by The Australian, the legislation will commence six months after passing through parliament to allow an appropriate transition period.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has personally pushed the government into proceeding with the shake-up.

Over $1 billion in tax revenue is received by the states and territories each year from the sale of official lottery tickets, but there is mounting concern that the rise of operators such as the Gibraltar-based Lottoland will eat into revenue collections that contribute to charitable causes as well as health and education services.

About 4000 newsagencies, chemists, supermarkets and shopping-mall lottery kiosk operators earn about $350 million from the commissions on the sale of lottery tickets each year.

The amendments will prohibit gambling companies from providing a service for the “placing, making, receiving or acceptance of bets” on the outcome of “Australian and overseas lottery draws”.

The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Lottery Betting) Bill 2018 also clarifies that a Keno-type lottery is considered “an example of a lottery and therefore included in the prohibition on lottery betting services”.

The rules for some online betting agencies were tightened at the end of November as a result of a campaign backed by Senator Hanson as well as lotto outlets and local newsagencies to overhaul licensing laws in the Northern Territory.

Lottoland is licensed in the NT, a popular operating base for bookmakers, with the NT government changing the licensing laws to stop companies from taking bets on the outcome of Australian lotteries.

Senator Hanson argues the new amendments would help protect 20,000 newsagency jobs while the prohibition of bets on Keno outcomes would give additional support to 250,000 staff working in pubs and clubs.

About $42.5 million is paid in Keno state taxes each year and there are more than 1900 hotel Keno venues across the country.

“These might appear to be small wins for One Nation, but I can assure people that it’s these small things that affect so many people who have previously felt ignored,” Senator Hanson said.

“There are over 4000 newsagents across Australia and no matter which town you visit, whether it be Longreach, Townsville or any of our cities, each one of them have early starts and late finishes in an industry that would have been wiped out without these changes.

“We have seen the demise of our taxi industry in this country through slow government intervention and I wasn’t about to see our newsagents go down the same path.”

Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association policy and government relations manager Ben Kearney said the advance of the bill was “great news”.