Australia Blocks Polymarket, Citing Gambling Law Violations
Australia’s telecommunications regulatory authorities advocated a decision that blocked access to Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market, and violated the gambling law that had been implemented for a long time by providing betting opportunities to Australians and providing a license bet.
Australian Communications and Media authority (ACMA) is, according to SIGMA news, after confirming the violation of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA), recommended a blocking measure in August.
ACMA, blocking measures on the basis of violation of gambling law
Asked about the background of this action, ACMA described to SIGMA news as follows: “ACMA has confirmed that the PolyMarket service provides a forbidden interactive gambling service and a regulatory interactive gambling service without license. It is indeed illegal as 2001 to provide this type of service to Australian customers.”
According to the regulators, “ACMA executes the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, IGA in 2001. It is illegal to provide or advertise the following services to Australian customers:
- Forbidden Interactive Gambling Service – Online Casino Style Game, online Slot Machine, and online betting Services that allow real-time betting (‘inflation’ betting) during sports games, etc.
- Interactive gambling service for regulations without license -online betting services provided without license issued by Australia or Territory, etc.
PolyMarket is included in the latest blocking request list of ACMA.Other gambling sites such as Slot Mafia, Top Aussie Pokies, and Spinanca are also included. In the press release on August 13, the regulatory authorities saeid, “Website blocking is one of the various means of enforcement to protect Australians from illegal online gambling.As November 2019, when ACMA requested its first blocking, 1,296 illegal gambling and appstream websites have been blocked.”
The regulatory authorities also added, “After ACMA began to enforce new illegal online gambling regulations in 2017, about 220 illegal services withdrew from the Australian market.”