From the first of next month, Betfair Australia will start offering exchange betting on Hong Kong Racing. Players will be able to use all Betfair products on races run at Hong Kong’s two racecourses.
“For a number of years Betfair has respected the views of the Hong Kong Jockey Club which was to only have totalistator betting on their product and therefore did not offer the product on the Betfair betting exchange,” noted Betfair Australia chief executive Tim Moore-Barton.
“However, with current online in-play restrictions under the Interactive Gambling Act (IGA) and the introduction of Point of Consumption (POC) taxes in Australia, we saw the need to stop the flow of Australian customers moving their activity offshore to illegal exchanges.”
According to the CE, the impact of Australia’s POC taxes in an already heavily taxed environment, along with the prohibition of in-play betting on sports under the new legislation, are two of the biggest impediments for keeping Australian customers wagering offshore.
Moore-Barton vowed to keep fighting for fairer fees and taxes on behalf of Australian gamblers, as well as the removal of in-play prohibitions.
Betfair said that its players have been requesting Hong Kong racing for some time now, and since it is within the group’s control to offer this, it has decided to roll out this product on September 1st.