Australia’s major professional sports believe an "anachronistic" prohibition against online betting after a match has started is fueling the use of illegal, offshore bookmakers and "threatening the integrity of their competitions," according to Chip Le Grand of THE AUSTRALIAN. The leading football codes, cricket, tennis and netball -- in a joint submission to the O’Farrell review into the impact of offshore wagering -- warn that a ban against licensed bookmakers fielding "in-play" bets on their sports has created an "integrity blind spot" in which corruption can flourish. A submission by the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports said, "Any amount of betting that takes place with offshore betting operators poses a relatively higher risk to maintaining the betting integrity of a sport when compared to betting that takes place on the regulated Australian betting market." The Australian Hotels Association argued that "the removal of restrictions on in-play betting within the Gambling Act would greatly reshape the betting landscape, with more punters shifting away from racing and towards other sports betting." In such a shift, "the racing industry and pubs would be hardest hit, the submission argues." Australia’s largest wagering operator, Tabcorp, "is circumspect about opening up in-play betting to online accounts." Although Tabcorp estimates that offshore betting is a growing, A$1B ($720M) problem, "it advocates stricter penalties, website blocking and restricting the transfer of funds to offshore accounts as better ways of reducing the impact of illegal bookmakers" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/1).
