{"id":590323,"date":"2026-04-07T02:07:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T02:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/590323\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T02:07:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T02:07:12","slug":"nt-bill-to-reform-de-facto-gambling-regulator-introduced-months-after-four-corners-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/590323\/","title":{"rendered":"NT bill to reform de facto gambling regulator introduced months after Four Corners program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legislation intended to reform Australia’s de facto online gambling regulator has been slammed as a “damage control exercise” by the nation’s peak body for gambling harm prevention.<\/p>\n

Northern Territory Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby last month introduced a bill to amend the NT Racing and Wagering Act, which governs the NT Racing and Wagering Commission (NTRWC).<\/p>\n

Despite having no full-time staff, the NTRWC acts as Australia’s de facto online gambling regulator because 52 bookmakers \u2014 including Sportsbet, Bet365 and Ladbrokes \u2014 are licensed in the NT for tax purposes.<\/p>\n

Reporting by Four Corners<\/a> and ABC News NT<\/a> has alleged conflicts of interest within the NTRWC, finding commissioners have personal links to the industry.<\/p>\n

Six of the past 10 NTRWC commissioners have owned or part-owned racehorses, while its chair has accepted hospitality gifts from bookmakers.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

The NT Racing and Wagering Commission meets once a month in Darwin. (ABC News: Matt Garrick)<\/p>\n

The NTRWC has also been criticised for years-long delays in resolving complaints by punters against bookmakers.<\/p>\n

There have been calls for a national regulator to be established to take responsibility away from the NTRWC, with a 2023 federal parliamentary inquiry recommending the move among 31 recommendations to reduce online gambling harm.<\/a><\/p>\n

How six people in the NT regulate Australia’s online gambling trade<\/a><\/p>\n

For years, Australia\u2019s de facto online\u00a0gambling\u00a0regulator has been based in the\u00a0Northern Territory.<\/p>\n

But when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week unveiled the federal government’s long-awaited response to the inquiry’s report<\/a>, it did not include establishing a national regulator \u2014 meaning some of Australia’s largest online bookmakers will continue to be regulated by the NTRWC.<\/p>\n

Ms Boothby said the bill was “about modernising governance and licensing to provide long-term certainty for industry, security for investors, and growth in racing and wagering”.<\/p>\n

\"Branding<\/p>\n

Some of the country’s biggest online bookies will continue to be regulated by the NT body. (Four Corners)<\/p>\n

Reform of the NTRWC<\/p>\n

The bill to amend the NT Racing and Wagering Act was introduced to NT parliament following separate reviews into both the NT racing industry and conflicts of interest at the NTRWC.<\/p>\n

Under the proposed changes, the NTRWC’s responsibility for regulating the territory’s racing and greyhound industries would be removed, meaning its sole focus would be regulating NT-licenced bookmakers.<\/p>\n

New conflict-of-interest provisions are also included in the bill. They would prohibit NTRWC commissioners from holding betting accounts or owning racehorses.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The Northern Territory Racing and Wagering Commission operates from this building in Darwin. (Four Corners: Ryan Sheridan)<\/p>\n

Commissioners would also have to advise the NT racing minister within 10 days of any direct or indirect interest that may conflict with their role.<\/p>\n

After the bill was introduced to parliament last month, it was subsequently referred to the NT Legislative Scrutiny Committee.<\/p>\n

The committee provided an eight-day timeframe for the public to submit feedback and subsequently received six submissions, most of which recommended changes to the bill.<\/p>\n

Bill a ‘kneejerk, reputational response’<\/p>\n

In its submission, the Alliance for Gambling Reform (AGR) said the bill was “not the product of a genuine commitment to reform, but a kneejerk, reputational response to the national scrutiny generated by Four Corners”.<\/p>\n

“The \u2026 bill reads not as a serious reform agenda, but as a damage-control exercise \u2014 introduced after national scrutiny exposed a regulator that is part-time, under-resourced and structurally unsuited to the role it performs,” the submission reads.<\/p>\n

Calls for national gambling watchdog grow<\/a><\/p>\n

Alleged conflicts of interest have been aired in relation to the NT’s de-facto regulator of Australia\u2019s $50 billion online gambling industry.<\/p>\n

The AGR’s submission said the commission should be resourced as a full-time regulator and be funded from existing NT government wagering revenue streams.<\/p>\n

It also said a public register of interests for commissioners should be established, as well as mandatory public reporting of complaints received and resolved by the NTRWC.<\/p>\n

The submission also suggested the NTRWC’s handling of complaints should be overseen by an independent watchdog.<\/p>\n

“Where serious complaints do not result in enforcement action, published reasons should be required,” the submission reads.<\/p>\n

“Enforcement that cannot be seen cannot be trusted.”<\/p>\n

Bill supported by major bookmaker<\/p>\n

Only two submissions \u2014 from Sportsbet and the Australian Christian Lobby \u2014 recommended the bill be passed in its current form.<\/p>\n

Sportsbet’s submission said the bill’s amendments “appropriately reinforce governance arrangements, protect the integrity of racing oversight, and ensure that the regulatory system functions efficiently and as intended”.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Sportsbet has welcomed the bill. (AAP: Julian Smith)<\/p>\n

“We particularly welcome the NT government’s measured approach in addressing these matters early, consistent with the minister’s emphasis on maintaining confidence in the racing system and providing a stable platform for the future development of the industry,” the submission reads.<\/p>\n

“The \u2026 bill will help safeguard the integrity, sustainability and economic contribution of racing in the Northern Territory, and we strongly support its passage.”<\/p>\n

The five-member Legislative Scrutiny Committee \u2014 which the NT government controls through a three-member majority \u2014 is reviewing the submissions and will prepare a report for parliament, which next sits in May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legislation intended to reform Australia’s de facto online gambling regulator has been slammed as a “damage control exercise”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,615,139612,21944,288355,288352,23237,288353,15858,25213,44,8867,288354,1098,204221],"class_list":["post-590323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-betting","tag-betting-laws","tag-gambling","tag-gambling-legislation","tag-gambling-reforms","tag-horse-racing","tag-law-change","tag-law-reform","tag-legislation","tag-news","tag-northern-territory","tag-northern-territory-racing-and-wagering-commission","tag-nt","tag-sports-bet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}