Brown Stand to Curb On-Line Gambling

[Oquist, Ben (Sen B. Brown)]

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Wednesday, 6 December 2000


Brown Stand to Curb On-Line Gambling

'Gambling Costs Jobs' - Brown

Greens Senator Bob Brown told the Senate today that his support for the
government's moratorium on on-line gambling is essentially out of concern
for the spread of availability of poker machine style betting into
Australian homes.

"The big decision on on-line gambling will be next May when the moratorium
expires.  It will be a question of federal prohibition versus tough,
nation-wide regulations agreed by all states and territories," Senator Brown
said.

"The diversion of money into gambling costs jobs out of the retail sector.

"It may be that for each job created by on-line gambling, two will be lost
in shops and other services

"A report from the Small Retailers Association of South Australia, quoted by
the Productivity Commission, found that 77% of retailers reported that
gambling had a negative impact on their business," said Senator Brown.

Senator Brown supported the bill (after previously opposing it) when he was
able to secure new amendments to the legislation to exempt wagering from the
moratorium so that the Tasmanian, Victorian and WA TABs could operate in a
similar fashion to other state and Territory operations.


Contact: Ben Oquist 02 6277 3170 or 0419 704 095

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Ben Oquist
Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown
Parliament House, Canberra 2600
Australia
+61 2 62773170 ph
+61 2 62773185 fx
0419704095 mobile
http://www.greens.org.au/bobbrown
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