Australia, Australia, Australia

In between charging from pillar to post today, during which I picked up an exciting new client, I've been enjoying another fabulous piece of analysis from Cyberhorse on the SMH advert that I mentioned yesterday.

I don't have time to write anything else today, and if you have a spare moment, you'll want to be reading that anyway... But as it happens I've written plenty more about Australia in the last month which I have not yet published: if you're interested, you can see thoughts about the court case over there here and here, and the stuff I wrote relating to the Productivity Commission report here.

Sex

It takes an Aussie to say, of gambling, that "It's a bit like sex: everyone thinks they're good at it but not many people are."

But that isn't actually the reason I was drawn to Max Presnell's article in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald.

Rather, I thought it interesting for two things.

First, because, at last, someone, somewhere in the world, who can be considered part of racing's older guard has recognised that the biggest threat to racing is from competitive product.

And second, because of the line that says, "the Australian Productivity Commission estimates Australians gamble some $800million on online poker and casino".

If anyone wants proof that prohibition is a waste of time, this is it. It is clearly, explicitly, 100% illegal to gamble online on poker and casino products in Australia. The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 makes all online gambling illegal unless it is covered by Section 8A, which explicitly allows wagering on sports and horseracing.

So that $800million is money gambled and not taxed, and lost to Australia.

Someone explain to me how that makes sense.