Betfair Outraged by Blacklist

By Nick Haslem - March 23, 2009  

In an interview with Computerworld Betfair CEO Andrew Twaits said he is outraged over the ACMA’s blacklist that was revealed to the public last week. The multi-billion dollar company was blacklisted without even being notified by the ‘watchdog’ ACMA. The Australian Communications and Media Authority have caused quite a stir in the past few days since their blacklist was revealed to the public by Wikileaks.org.

Betfair, which is the main rival to the TAB, didn’t even know about any blacklist. He didn’t know about the fact that Betfair was one of many online poker sites on the blacklist. One of the more stifling questions remain, are they on it because they are an online gambling site operating in Australia or because they are a rival of the taxed TAB? I suggest that these are not two completely different concepts. I don’t think that Betfair has been targeted any differently because there were many other online poker sites on the list. But the real question is; Are online poker sites on the list in the first place because the Government can’t tax the industry? Many industry pundits such as myself believe the answer to this is an overwhelming yes.

Twaits had this to say about the matter; “We didn’t know. We’ve been licensed to operate in Australia for three years and have never received a complaint or any allegation that Betfair locally or globally is not permitted to be used by Australians. The global Betfair site is used by Australians every day.”

To make matters worse is the fact that betfair even block Australians from playing at their online casino and online poker site. They have made adjustments to their program so that they comply with the standards set by regulations within Australia. Twait said “Betfair is probably the only company in the world that blocks its customers from accessing the overseas gambling services.” He then went on to conclude “I need to find out what the implications are and how we got on the list, I’m amazed at that this has happened.”

I think I can safely say that most of the informed Australian public is amazed that something as undemocratic as this has occured over the past few days. Betfair are one of the most trustworthy, reliable online sports betting site available to Australian gamblers. The Betfair sportsbook is highly regard in the Australian gambling industry. They have been extremely hard done by here and have been treated harshly. This highlights the importance of why this movement musat be shut down immediately -the consequences are felt more than meets the eye.