Free Bet Ban For Western Australia

In Australia, the state of Western Australia is following New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia by proposing legislation that would prohibit bookmakers from offering inducements including free bets in order to gain new customers.

Terry Waldron, the state’s Racing And Gaming Minister, stated that the recent lifting of advertising restrictions across Australia has seen many wagering operators offer ‘financial inducements in the form of free bets’ to attract punters.

“The recent High Court decision in the Betfair case has cast doubt over the validity of state- based advertising prohibitions and these prohibitions are to be removed,” said Waldron.

He revealed that it was important for any gambling advertisements to meet appropriate consumer protection standards and the state would be introducing legislation to ensure these criteria.

“I firmly believe that offering free bets as an inducement to gamble is highly inappropriate and the guidelines will prohibit this practice,” said Waldron.

“This is a responsible gambling issue and the state government takes its responsibilities in this regard very seriously.”

The Minister stated that a number of wagering operators had accepted that state governments were not happy with the offering of free bets as a business strategy and had ceased the activity as ‘a measure of good faith’.

“I encourage other gambling operators to take the same action before they are forced to by legislation as this is the responsible course of action,” said Waldron.

“Cabinet has approved these amendments to be included in the race fields legislation that will establish a requirement for Australian wagering operators to pay for the Western Australia racing product they use in their gambling business.”

Waldron revealed that the proposals are in the final stages of drafting could be introduced in the forthcoming session of Parliament.