Legalised in-play betting "would rapidly become a billion-dollar-plus market, adding an estimated one-third overnight to the rapidly burgeoning sports punting market," now worth almost A$3B ($2.1B) annually and growing at 20% a year, according to Rick Wallace of THE AUSTRALIAN. Industry and academic estimates "point to it being a honey pot for gambling companies, some of whom have bet heavily on it being legalised." In Britain, where live betting is legal, in-play bets account for A$7 ($5) out of every A$10 ($7) wagered. In Australia, so-called corporate bookmakers, including James Packer’s CrownBet, "see live betting as the lucrative El Dorado of the wagering market." One industry source said, "It would be massive for sports betting. A conservative estimate is that it would add more than 30 percent to the overall size of the market." The riches on offer "will likely see a full-court press from lobbyists connected to various gambling companies, who must try to convince churchgoing Social Services Minister Scott Morrison to repeal the current restrictions with an election on the horizon." A '12 KPMG report predicted that the repeal of the clause restricting live online betting "would create a new market" worth A$467M within a year, growing to A$750M per annum by '21-22 (THE AUSTRALIAN, 9/3).
