You guys know that I am all for responsible gambling. I’ve written about it often enough. I’ve even dedicated a post to responsible gambling. I’ve even written a post about problem gamblers. Therefore I am all for it when governments introduce laws and regulations to help the problem gambler. Sometimes I have to wonder if they go over the top a little and turning the sporting industry into a virtual nanny state.
Ben Groundwater actually calls Australia a nanny state in his article Australia: The Great Nanny State! I was wondering about the online sports betting industry being treated as a nanny state by our government when they force online betting sites like bet365, Sportsbet and Sportingbet $500 Free Bet Link to either remove any free offers or to have a disclaimer on the page offering them to prospective online sports punters. Like that link to Sportingbet. There used to be a time when all new punters could partake in the free bet offer. Not anymore. Check out the disclaimer at the end of the page.
Sport Betting Nanny State Rules
“This offer is not available to residents of Victoria, South Australia, NSW (effective 28 May 2014) & Western Australia.”
Luckily for me, living in South Australia, I signed up to bet365 before this dumb rule came into being. Personally I think it’s unfair to all those responsible gamblers out there. I also don’t think it’s going to do any damn good anyway. I didn’t become an online sports betting punter because of the $200 free bet offer. I was going to join that day anyway. I personally don’t believe that those free bet offers suck prospective gamblers in. People join because they want to be able to place a bet on line with ease and without the hassle of going to a bricks and mortar betting site, like TAB, or to have to place it by phone. Am I wrong? If I am let me know in the comments section below.
So why do these sites have these offers? I think it’s obvious. Online sports betting is a competitive market and these offers are merely to attract punters to join their respective online sports betting sites.