i disagree with the comparison to the US , it is nowhere remotely close to that.
firstly, its never been illegal to bet online here, whereas in the US it has been for many yrs. one of the reasons our books are so safe is government polciy of protecting account balances
we were actually the pioneers of online betting
the only thing that i think is coming to a head is the books are pushing the boundaries of advertising to much , like commentators on sport are now giving odds out on TV at sponsored books. this is getting some public backlash.
this will tighten in the not too distant future, but only restricting advertising, not actual betting
the pokies thing is a completely different beast. the concern there is that pensioners and those that cannot afford to live , let alone play pokies, have unlmited access to lose what they want in clubs and pubs
so they are bringing in databases for those that wish to bet a lot and machines that reduce the speed of losses (ie bets limited to micro amounts) for those that do not wish to be on a database.