“Australia stands to rake in the dollars if it relaxes online gambling restrictions,” the Sydney Morning Herald said in reaction to the study by international audit, tax and advisory services company KPMG. “There's a wealth of revenue to be made if Australia can shape and expand the market, which is set to explode given technological advances in mobile phones and other devices,” the newspaper said.
A spokesperson for KPMG stated thatonline gaming “is an underground economy that could become authorised with a sustained period of re-regulation and expand significantly,” while KPMG Australia’s Gaming Industry Practice representative Anthony Travers added that “Governments in many parts of the world are quietly rethinking their opposition to online gambling. With the potential for growth in the sector increasing, the market we see now could be just the tip of the iceberg.
“While it is difficult to predict political and legislative action, many markets that now ban online gaming could easily change their laws as a means of authorizing what is now an underground economy and increasing tax revenues from Australia casino gambling providers.”
Internationally, the report predicts that the internet gambling market will grow by 42% by 2012.
Politicians may be persuaded by such reports, and growing mainstream media coverage, to give increasing thought to the legalisation and regulation of online gambling as the world economy continues to struggle.
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