Betfair's Tasmanian Licence Weeks Away

Published: Thursday, November 24, 2005 Online-Casinos.com

BETFAIR'S TASMANIAN LICENCE WEEKS AWAY

Tasmanian Parliament votes a convincing "yes" on betting exchange law

The contentious legislation that will allow the Tasmanian government to license betting exchange company Betfair overcame another political obstacle this week when the Parliament passed the Gaming Control Amendment (Betting Exchange) Bill 2005 with only four amendments.

The approval ends a year-long battle by Betfair and partner in the Australian venture Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) to gain an Australian licence. Members of the House debated and considered the new legislation for two days before passing it.

Amendments requiring independent socio-economic impact assessments every three years were accepted by Premier Lennon despite his opposition to this during the consultative process. However, a move by the Green Party to include a requirement for a socio-economic study before the licence was granted was shot down.

Betfair director Andrew Twaits said outside Parliament: "It's a great day for Australian punters. Punters fund the racing industry. A lot of people tend to forget that. What this does is provide competition with existing wagering operators, which can only give punters a better deal at the end of the day."

Twaits added that his company would apply for a license, which he expected would not take long. It would then move in 20 UK employees to set up the hub in Hobart with a view to having it operational by early 2006.

Answering statements that other companies would be seeking licences, too Twaits agreed that competition was inevitable. "We do expect competition from existing wagering operators and we do believe that there will be other betting exchanges licensed in Australia, possibly in Tasmania, within the next 12 months or so," he said.

Betfair has been a controversial proposal for Tasmania since Premier Lennon first entered into talks with the Betfair-PBL consortium in April.

Racing authorities warned that Tasmania could be ostracised from the national betting pool as a result of its decision, a statement that Lennon countered by seeking a commitment from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that it would investigate should anti-competitive retaliatory action occur.

The Premier applauded the passing of the Bill, saying: "Betfair brings with it unprecedented improvements in probity and integrity to racing, huge funding increases to the local racing industry and at least 150 new jobs for Tasmania. The Legislative Council listened to the facts and reached the only logical conclusion."

MPs received a seven-hour final briefing on the Bill 24 hours before the vote, listening to interested parties like the Australian Racing Board, Tasmania's Thoroughbred Racing Council and Betfair.

Australian Racing Board director and Racing Victoria chief executive Robert Nason, who warned MPs that Betfair's promise of between $35 million and $40 million by 2009-10 was "highly unlikely", said they had been given a good hearing.

"It's democracy at work isn't it?" he said.