Inside Asian Gaming

www.asgam.com EDITORIAL Actions speak louder than words Ben Blaschke Managing Editor We crave your feedback. Please email your comments to bb@asgam.com. I ’ve long said that the best argument for regulating online gambling is the danger of not regulating online gambling. The point seems more pertinent now than ever before. n recent weeks I’ve read with interest the results of countless studies around the world that show increases in online gambling activity due to COVID- 19 ’ s confinement of people at home. Predictably, the reporting of these studies invariably includes comments from anti-gambling campaigners warning us of the dangers of gambling and - most notably in those jurisdictions with minimal access to legal avenues - the gateways to gambling addiction that legalizing such activities will inevitably open. There are multiple problems with this argument, not least the assumption that the banning of online gambling will mean gambling online can no longer take place. COVID-19 has again shown the opposite to be true. Take Australia, the country where I was born and raised, as a case in point. IAG recently published an article on our website, asgam.com, highlighting a joint study by Australian credit bureau illion and analytics firm AlphaBeta which showed a 67% increase in online gambling by Australians in the space of one week in early April, shortly after the government imposed strict “stay at home” orders. While the study didn’t break down this increased activity by type, it should be noted that regulated online gambling in Australia is basically restricted to sports betting and lotteries - online casinos and poker are banned. And, given the lack of sport currently being played worldwide, it’s pretty safe to assume this 67% increase has been largely directed to illegal offshore sites outside the government ’ s jurisdiction and therefore its ability to offer protections to its citizens. In other words, if protecting people is themotivation then prohibition is clearly not the answer. What COVID-19 and instances like the 67% increase in online gambling show us once again is that where there is a will, there is a way. And with Asia-Pacific tipped to register the highest growth rate of any region in online gambling spend between now and 2027, according to a ResearchandMarkets.com report published in April, it’s clear the people are speaking louder than ever before. Perhaps it is time their governments started listening.