Tasmania is an island territory off the southern coast of Australia; part of
the federal union of states within Australia, Tasmania has autonomy in respect
to state taxation and the regulation of gaming and gambling within its
jurisdiction. Tasmania was unique in being the only non-European Economic Area
jurisdiction to be included in the UK Gambling Commission's White List as a
consequence of its high standards of gaming and gambling regulation and consumer
protection standards.
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The Liquor and Gaming Branch is the executive office which oversees gaming
and gambling in Tasmania and provides direct support to the Commissioner for
Licensing who heads the Licensing Board and the Tasmanian Gaming Commission.
Ultimately, the Revenue, Gaming and Licensing Division of the Department of
Treasury and Finance with offices in Hobart and Launceston have legislative
responsibility under the liquor Licensing Act 1990 and the Gaming Control Act
1993.
The Commissioner for Licensing oversees research and policy implementation,
regulatory operations and compliance, industry communications and education as
well as establishing technical standards and performing audits. There is a wide
variety of license classes that may be applied for and the fee structure also
varies just as widely with a typical fee of approximately AUS $1,200 being
typical as an initial application fee. Tasmania has also been in the gambling
industry news recently due to a raft of new and reformed gambling taxes being
levied by the state as the gambling sector of the economy matures in this
jurisdiction.
The Gaming Control Act 1993 is the primary legislation controlling all gaming
and gambling in Tasmania, including online or remote gaming operators. Operators
are required to be licensed according to their class of business determined by
the Act which includes gaming machines, keno gaming, casinos both online and in
the real world, interactive and remote gaming and gambling as well as wagering
or other minor activities such as bingo or raffles.
Real world operations are conducted by a monopoly granted to Federal Hotels
by a Deed of Agreement with the Tasmanian government. Remote operations are
strictly regulated but there is no monopoly environment and many of the world's
leading remote operators use Tasmania as their base of operations for the highly
lucrative Asia-Pacific market.
The strict regulatory and consumer protection approach of the Tasmanian
authorities ensured the jurisdiction was included in the UK White List. A
consequence of this was that Tasmanian operators have been allowed to continue
advertising and promoting their services to UK players which has also seen a
steady rise in the number of applications for licenses in the territory.
Tasmania also subscribes to the free market doctrine in the development of
the global online gaming and gambling industry and believes consumers and
operators are best placed to dictate how the market develops subject to control
with regard to the negative aspects of the industry. The Tasmanian authorities
do not recognise the extra territorial and unilateral ban by the United States
in respect of online gaming and gambling and remote gambling operators accept
players from the United States.
