Australian Casinos Blame Layoffs on Online Casinos

January 06, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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In New South Wales, Australia, the land-based gaming operators told the Australian government that hundreds of jobs can be lost if there is continued competition from online casinos.

This complaint comes at a time when the Australian government’s Productivity Commission has recommended that Internet gambling be legalized in Australia. There have been a fair number of those who oppose the changes who have spoken out against the conclusions reached by the Productivity Commission.

The Productivity Commission has also proposed that the laws governing land-based gambling will have greater restrictions. The NSW land-based gambling operators have noted that if the stronger restrictions for land-based gambling are put in place, and more liberal laws surrounding online casinos are put into effect at the same time, that land-based gambling operators will be forced to cut down their number of employees simply to be able to survive, and compete effectively in the gambling market.

There are many clubs and hotels that feature slots as part of their operations. The report released by the Australian Productivity Commission recommends that the betting limit per game should be lowered from $10 down to $1. This in and of itself would cause a huge reduction in the revenue that can be brought in from these slot machine games. Currently, there is a six-hour closing law, which requires that the slots be closed for at least six hours daily. The Productivity Commission has suggested that the daily closing time period for slots should be lengthened. There has also been a suggestion that ATMs will be barred from land-based gambling venues.

Clubs NSW, the land-based gambling operators’ trade association added that should the proposal of the Productivity Commission be accepted, that the land-based gambling operators could lose up to around 30 percent in revenues. Should this happen, it could mean that there will be a necessity to close up to as many as 200 land-based gambling venues, which in turn would mean the loss of hundreds of jobs of those Australians working in the land-based gambling industry.

The Commission noted that banning online casinos does not work, as can be seen in other countries, and that it would be better to manage the online gambling industry instead.

The New South Wales government is definitely afraid of the competition they would have to deal with should online gambling be legalized and regulated in Australia, and are hoping to convince the Australian government not to make this move.

The NSW state government warned the federal government in a letter: "Internet gaming has the potential for exponential growth and without proper regulation it could pose serious problems to society and problem gamblers."