The legislation suffered an onslaught of several last minute amendments in order to get the approval of minor parties, including one change - to appease Greens Senator Bob Brown -- that would effectively force banks to dishonour debts amassed at overseas sites by Australian gamblers.
-It's a dog's breakfast," executive director of the Australian Casino Association, Chris Downy, told ZDNet.
The legislation, which started in April last year, has had so many amendments made to it -that it just goes to show how bad and how ill-thought through the legislation was in the first place".
The Australian Casino Association said it -wasn't expecting" the last minute banking amendment which is designed to discourage overseas operators from targeting Australians.
-I don't think the legislation, with that amendment, will be effective," Downy said, explaining that Communications and IT minister Richard Alston had just six months to get regulation in place that would ensure banks adhered to the proposal.
Downy believes that in six months time -Alston will come back and say 'sorry, we can't do this'."
Another amendment that the Association says is simply -window dressing" the legislation to get the Green's vote is that which is being termed a "good neighbour" clause.
This would enable other countries, such as New Zealand, Canada or Hong Kong, to request that Australian gambling operators do not offer services to their citizens.
However, these countries must have the same legislation in place as Australia, according to Downy.
-No other country in the world has legislation like ours," Downy scoffed, -or is likely to".
-The irony is that Internet gambling is a far more effective means of controlling problem gambling than land-based gambling is," Downy said, pointing out that Net gambling sites can put in place restrictions, such as limitations on players' spending.
online sports betting and lotteries will also allowed to continue after other further political wrangling over the the Interactive Gambling Bill 2001.
"Amendments ... have addressed the concerns expressed by the community, and in particular the racing industry, by excluding wagering before an event has commenced (including sports betting), lotteries and similar activities from the scope of the interactive gambling ban," Alston said in a statement.
