Gambling News - August 2005 Edition

"Google - Others Breach e-Gambling Law "

Australia strenuously fighting online gambling advertising.

Australian law prohibits advertising of gambling services where “ it is likely that the majority of that site’s users are physically present in Australia”. Such services include online casino-style games like craps, blackjack, poker, online poker machines and roulette. The penalty for breaching the Act carries a maximum fine of AU$220,000 per day for individuals and AU$1.1 million per day for corporations.

The Interactive Gambling Law 2001 in Australia prohibits websites from placing advertisements for online gambling services and provides penalties for anyone that breaches the law, but some businesses are managing to find ways around the law anyway.

Search engines with an Australian domain, including Google, are presently under investigation by Australian authorities in their efforts to fight companies that are suspected of breaching the law. The search engines display links with misspelled keywords to display advertisements to online gambling sites. Google Australia is one of many search engines using this technique. Web Wombat, a Melbourne-based, little known search engine company employs the same tactics and has admitted to doing so. Michael Tancredi, Web Wombat’s managing director, while admitting that his Web site contains links that are illegal added, that the company is "fire fighting" all the time in order to keep everything legal. Debbie Frost, the Google spokesperson, would not comment on the subject.

Senior associate Justine Munsie, of a leading Asia-Pacific law firm, Mallesons Stephen Jaques , told ZDNet Australia that she has found "many potential breaches of the Act" . According to Munsie, any gambling advertisement which appears on an Australian Web site is considered as being published in Australia. "If a Web site that is targeting Australian users publishes an advert for a Web site offering online gambling services, regardless of where that gambling site is located, the law is broken, because the advert is published in Australia," she said.

There have been no prosecutions to date concerning this aspect of the law, but Munsie indicated that this could change in the near future if breaches become more serious and flagrant. Only five complaints for potential breaches have been lodged since the Act came into force.

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