4 ms·

I live in Australia too and I think the government letting pretty much any company that wants a wagering license have one is problematic. I'm sure there were p

I live in Australia too and I think the government letting pretty much any company that wants a wagering license have one is problematic. I'm sure there were problem gamblers 30 years ago when TAB was the only player but it feels like these days there's a new player entering the market every month, and they're getting increasingly desperate to make a profit in what is already a flooded market.

irrational 4y ago
What is the tax the government is levying on these machines? I presume this is a case of “follow the money”.
- jamesfinlayson 4y ago
  Oh I was talking about sports betting but I used to work in a venue with poker machines and I was told the government tax was barely anything (like a tiny tiny fraction of what the venue earned in a year).
- technion 4y ago
  It was recently increased to and there was a huge lobbying effort with many places pretending they will go out of business. Edit: Depends on business size. https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/taxes-duties-levies-royalties/gaming-wagering-tax/gaming-machine-tax https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/taxes-duties-levies-royalties...
  - lozenge 4y ago
    The UK has a limit on the number of machines per shop which means the shops just fill the high streets with four machines in each one. It would be preferable to just have places with rows of machines. The starter tax rate is a clear incentive for every venue to have a little gambling room upstairs. No getting away from your impulses if you like to gamble. Nice to see they got covid relief too.
0xy 4y ago
So your solution is to grant a monopoly to TAB and Sportsbet, preventing any competition? Gatekeeping licenses leads to predatory monopolies. That's why every single physical casino in Australia, which generally receive monopoly licenses, are cesspits of money laundering and gang activity.
- jamesfinlayson 4y ago
  Not necessarily, but I don't think the Northern Territory having no apparent limit on bookmaker licenses is a good idea either. That said, I think the tote is not a predatory monopoly because it just takes a percentage (I don't think it's fixed but maybe it's capped) of all bets whereas the fixed odds players need to squeeze every penny because if they're not careful they can lose money, so having 10+ fixed odds bookmakers creates an environment of cut-throat and sometimes dubious behaviour to make money.

irrational 4y ago

What is the tax the government is levying on these machines? I presume this is a case of “follow the money”.

jamesfinlayson 4y ago
Oh I was talking about sports betting but I used to work in a venue with poker machines and I was told the government tax was barely anything (like a tiny tiny fraction of what the venue earned in a year).
technion 4y ago
It was recently increased to and there was a huge lobbying effort with many places pretending they will go out of business. Edit: Depends on business size. https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/taxes-duties-levies-royalties/gaming-wagering-tax/gaming-machine-tax https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/taxes-duties-levies-royalties...
- lozenge 4y ago
  The UK has a limit on the number of machines per shop which means the shops just fill the high streets with four machines in each one. It would be preferable to just have places with rows of machines. The starter tax rate is a clear incentive for every venue to have a little gambling room upstairs. No getting away from your impulses if you like to gamble. Nice to see they got covid relief too.

0xy 4y ago

So your solution is to grant a monopoly to TAB and Sportsbet, preventing any competition? Gatekeeping licenses leads to predatory monopolies. That's why every single physical casino in Australia, which generally receive monopoly licenses, are cesspits of money laundering and gang activity.

jamesfinlayson 4y ago
Not necessarily, but I don't think the Northern Territory having no apparent limit on bookmaker licenses is a good idea either. That said, I think the tote is not a predatory monopoly because it just takes a percentage (I don't think it's fixed but maybe it's capped) of all bets whereas the fixed odds players need to squeeze every penny because if they're not careful they can lose money, so having 10+ fixed odds bookmakers creates an environment of cut-throat and sometimes dubious behaviour to make money.