Yesterday in Federal Parliament of Australia, KAP Member for Kennedy Bob Katter moved that majority foreign owned interactive gambling agencies be barred from operating in Australia.
Mr Katter moved an amendment to the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 that any company that is majority foreign owned is not eligible for registration as a gambling agency in Australia.
Mr Katter said “I voted by myself on the amendment. At the present moment with gambling in Australia, the money is going overseas. I lived in an era where every single dollar (except if you went to a racecourse) — every single cent went into health services for the people. Now most of it is going overseas.
“If the proposition was put to people, do you want the money to go overseas or do you want it to go into health services for Australians, or to help our struggling retirees, or our single mothers trying to make ends meet with three children? I think 80 or 90 per cent of Australians would vote with me, yet I am regarded as the minority.”
The Bill Amendment is as follows:
Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016
23B At the end of section 5
Add:
(4) Despite subsection (3), a gambling service covered by subsection (1) is a prohibited interactive gambling service if the service is provided by a person who is:
(a) an individual not resident in Australia; or
(b) a corporation that is majority foreign-owned.
[majority foreign-owned providers]