David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have a few remarks on this revisiting of the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill. The Senate is again fiddling with it. The bill seeks to ban in-play gambling, in-play sports betting, with Australian providers and is operating under the deluded idea that other countries will somehow respect Australia's prohibition approach, even when they don't agree with it themselves and their preferred approach is to regulate, monitor and tax. I am led to believe that Australia is even contemplating taking a leaf out of China's book by IP blocking if that does not work.

This is despite the evidence about online poker—which is my primary concern in relation to this legislation and is again caught up in this ban. Online poker is less harmful than other services that are allowed under the Interactive Gambling Act, like online sports betting. This was confirmed at a recent hearing of the inquiry into online poker which I established. Online poker is a game requiring considerable skill and results in very little problem gambling. Poker can, of course, be played in pubs, clubs, casinos and private homes but not online, unless on an overseas site, where consumer protections are far less utilised. This is absurd. I call on the government and other senators to commit to enacting the inquiry's recommendations in relation to online poker when the committee reports next month.