A couple of years ago the UK Gambling Commission introduced legislation that forced online gambling companies operating in the UK to obtain a license. Even if your HQ was based outside the United Kingdom, if you were going to accept online gamblers from the UK, you had to apply for a license. Most bitcoin casinos, poker rooms and bookmakers did not apply for the license since they try to retain their players anonymity by asking for as little personal information as possible. This led to UKGC issuing legal threats to many of the biggest bitcoin betting operators. While most bitcoin gambling sites continue to operate in the UK today, some big name like Nitrogen Sports did pull out and no longer accept players with UK IP addresses.
Australia now plans to follow the UK's lead and force any gambling operator that is active within the country to acquire a license from the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Failure to do so could result in fines of up to €1 million per day for any company that accepts bets from Aussie punters. While this will have little impact on major players like Bet365, 888 or PartyPoker who will be able to meet the licensing requirements, most bitcoin sportsbooks, poker rooms and casinos will probably not qualify.
It remains to be seen whether gambling sites that accept bitcoin will simply ignore the new Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 or whether they will block gamblers trying to access their websites from within Australia.
Australia now plans to follow the UK's lead and force any gambling operator that is active within the country to acquire a license from the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Failure to do so could result in fines of up to €1 million per day for any company that accepts bets from Aussie punters. While this will have little impact on major players like Bet365, 888 or PartyPoker who will be able to meet the licensing requirements, most bitcoin sportsbooks, poker rooms and casinos will probably not qualify.
It remains to be seen whether gambling sites that accept bitcoin will simply ignore the new Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 or whether they will block gamblers trying to access their websites from within Australia.