I tried to sign up with Ladbrokes but they advised me:

In order to comply with the Australian Interactive Gambling Act, please note that; as of 19th May 2009, Ladbrokes will no longer be accepting any NEW registrations from anyone identified as, or claiming to be, resident in Australia. Your account has been suspended for the above reasons. I apologize for the inconvenience.

I though the Act only applied to casino type games but not to horse racing and sports betting.


Anyone know about this?

All the best.

Hendo.

Yeah I'm currently doing some psychological research into online gambling, so I've read up a little in the legal area also. As far as i was aware, this is the current legal status of online gambling forms:

* Federal legislation permits- online sports and race books, poker rooms, and skill game sites to both Australian and non-Australian residents. Online lotteries are also permitted, with the exception of keno style games, scratch tickets, and instant lotteries. Online casino gambling is banned. (Wood, & Williams, 2009)

So, I have no idea why this would be the case. Strange....

I've done some research on this topci and my understanding was...

1) Australian based/licensed companies cannot offer online gambling products to non-Australians; and

2) Companies without Australian licences cannot offer online gambling products to Australian residents.

So until Ladbrokes becomes licenced in Australia (or obtains an Australian Licneced company) they can't do it. Even online poker sites should not be accepting Australian residents unless they have the proper licence but they do as it's a very hard to thing to enforce. However I think Ladbrokes are loooking to acquire an Australian company soon so they are probably trying to behave

That is the whole reason why Betfair had trouble when they started and they had to get a licence. Even then the licence is quite restrictive which is why Australians are still not allowed to use Betfair games site (poker, blackjack etc).

That might be what they are saying but I would not bet with Ladbrokes now having read other posts in various forums about how they operate. So the question is no longer relevant to me.

All the best.