The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued notices to Internet service providers (ISPs), under Section 313(3) of the telecommunications act, to take steps to prevent their customers from accessing unauthorised offshore sites “Emu Casino” and “Fair Go Casino.”

ACMA said that the two sites it was targeting offered casino-style games, which are prohibited by the Interactive Gambling Act.

Section 313(3) has previously been employed to block access to child abuse material, tackle online fraud and prevent the spread of malware. The government in mid-2017 released guidelines for the use of the power by Commonwealth agencies, following an incident where a notice issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) saw hundreds of thousands of sites erroneously blocked.

“Emu Casino and Fair Go Casino are illegal sites that target Australians, and between the two we have received more than 50 complaints about their conduct,” ACMA’s chair Nerida O’Loughlin said.

A new funding opportunity for PhD scholarships, post-doctoral fellowships and study grants that help build capability and capacity in gambling research has been launched by the NSW Office of Responsible Gambling.

Funded by the Responsible Gambling Fund, this funding aims to improve the quality, diversity and impact of Australian gambling research in communities across the nation.

Natalie Wright, Director of the Office of Responsible Gambling said these grants will bridge the gap between research, policy and service delivery to increase the influence of research on gambling harm prevention and minimisation and achieve better outcomes.

“We are committed to providing up-and-coming researchers with an opportunity to dedicate their careers to gambling studies and have a real impact in our community,” Ms Wright said.

“Research is crucial because it provides the evidence base for responsible gambling policy, interventions and programs, and it is important to encourage our brightest minds to stay in or move into the gambling research field.

“We encourage collaborative partnerships, cross-disciplinary approaches and applications from a diverse range of disciplines, to build knowledge and develop innovative approaches to working towards zero gambling harm.”

The submission round for the PhD scholarships and post-doctoral fellowships opens on Tuesday 19 November 2019 and closes on Friday 31 January 2020.

The study grants will also open on 19 November 2019 for study in 2020. Applications for study grants can be lodged throughout the year.

More information is available on the NSW Office of Responsible Gambling website:
www.responsiblegambling.nsw.gov.au/funding-opportunities/gambling-research-capacity-grants

This year’s Melbourne Cup saw OpenSports hit a peak of 35,000 bets per minute for a single operator that is now hosted fully in the cloud. OpenSports is known for powering seamless player experiences for its partner operators through its proven, reliable and scalable OpenBet platform as seen across key sporting events across the globe.

The demand through peak times during this year’s Melbourne Cup event was 35 percent higher than the maximum number of bets per minute ever seen previously on the platform in 21 years of operation.

The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s most famous annual Thoroughbred horse race. It is a 3200-metre race for horses three years old and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. It is the richest “two-mile” handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races.

Keith O’Loughlin, SVP Sportsbook for SG Digital, said, “This record performance is a great new benchmark for us and for our partners as OpenSports continues to grow. We’re capable of processing record transaction numbers, and our global customers are benefitting from the scalability of our platform.”