Australian media company ABC Online is reporting that online gambling companies Betfair and Sportingbet are launching a High Court challenge in Australia seeking to challenge legislation that stops non-New South Wales companies from advertising gambling products and services in the Australian state.
The move may have consequences for online bingo games operators and international online bingo halls looking to access the growing Australian online gambling market.

Michael Sullivan of Sportingbet says his company has been unfairly restricted from using print, radio and television advertising and from being allowed to sponsor events in New South Wales. He adds that an Australian High Court decision against Western Australia’s government proved to be the catalyst for the current legal action.

“If you look at what the decision was in Western Australia in relation to Betfair, we think we’ve got a very good chance,” he said.

“We are licenced in the Northern Territory and we’re not allowed to advertise in New South Wales; that is a restriction of trade between states and territories, and we believe it to be unconstitutional.”

At this time there has been no official government reaction to the legal move by Betfair and Sportingbet.

Tags: ABC Online, Betfair, online bingo games, online gambling, Sportingbet

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 9:36 am and is filed under Online Bingo News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.