Australian Courts Open Up Betting

[DeanT]

Betting giant Betfair won a ruling in Australia that allows betting on racing to be an open market. The ruling was based on "restraint of trade"

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23443142-11088,00.html

The High Court ruled that WA Racing's decision to make betting with Betfair illegal was a restriction of trade.

My question: What about restraint of trade here in North America? Why is it that Arizona can ban wagering on other states tracks over the internet? Why can I as a Canadian not get a Youbet account? Why can Connecticut, which last time I checked is in the United States, not bet over the internet? Why does John have to bet at NJBets.com if he can get a better price at Premier Turf Club, just because he lives in Jersey?

Is not North American racing one big, huge, monolithic "restraint of trade"?

Here is an opinion piece about the ruling and what it means to bettors (i.e. lower prices and competiton).

http://pullthepocket.blogspot.com/2008/04/betfair-wins-in-high-court.html

Another question: If this takes hold, will the US climb aboard as Ian's partner Joe says they must; and open their own exchange for price-sensitive people who have left betting racing for other low cost games?

Is this the start of something where the racing world finally is forced to change where the customer is king?

[Cangamble]

The EU is at odds with the USA over internet betting already. The US is basically ignoring the idea of legal trade pacts by either allowing internet horse race betting or disallowing other forms of internet gambling.

Why can't we bet at Youbet? You know full well. It is collusive agreements that Woodbine makes with them. They don't take Canadians and Woodbine doesn't take Americans. Nothing legal about it. And last I looked, collusion is pretty much a criminal offense.

The US, as I understand it, goes state by state when it comes to laws regarding who can do what and when they can do it. Take gay marriage for instance.

[DeanT]

Take gay marriage for instance.

Two gay people can get happily married in San Francisco, but they can't sit around being gayly married on a Friday night and bet at Premier Turf Club :bang:

Ya, I understand CG, it is simply frustrating. It is 2008, not 1908. Governments and racing can open up lotteries and slot machines and other negative expectation games for their own benefit to fleece a public and that is ok. If someone wants to open up a betting site that actually gives customers what they want and offer it at a lower price, they are thwarted - in some cases like Arizona you are charged with a felony.

It will change; I just hope it changes soon before it passes racing by.

[Seabiscuit@AR]

Betfair is great (although as it has its own monopoly at the moment on exchange betting maybe one day it will up its prices too)

The Australian court case was based on constitutional issues. Betfair was licensed by the state of Tasmania a few years back and the state of Western Australia was trying to ban its citizens from using Betfair to protect its own Western Australian tote profits

Unfortunately for Western Australia, the Aussie constitution says trade between the states shall be free. So if Betfair is licensed in one state of Australia you can bet with it from anywhere else in Australia

So maybe check to see if the founding fathers of America said something about free trade between states in your constitution

There is still some way to go. The guy who runs racing in the state of New South Wales is very anti-Betfair. Judging by his comments he might try to prevent Betfair and interstate bookies from betting on NSW racing by charging them exorbitant fees to bet there. This is probably allowable under the constitution as long as everyone is charged the same fee.

The only thing is I doubt all other Aussie states will follow New South Wales so Betfair might not operate on NSW racing soon but will probably operate on racing in other states

The main thing is though you are definitely free to bet on sports or overseas racing with Betfair from Australia now and it won't be banned as long as it holds its Tasmanian licence