Australia’s South Australian state government has become one of the first jurisdictions in the world to announce it will ban all betting on eSports.
With governments around the world struggling to get their heads around the eSports phenomenon, South Australia’s officials have used the opportunity to continue their hard line anti-gambling stance – citing the risk such gambling might pose to children.
eSports betting remains a new phenomenon as the popularity of the sport continues to grow, however recent headlines over the Counter-Strike “skins” betting controversy – in which fans would use the decorative skins players can win in the game as betting collateral – have undoubtedly caused some panic among some governments.
Last month. South Australian Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis announced his government would hit betting companies with a new 15 percent tax on all revenue from wagers placed within South Australia.
South Australia is also the home state of renowned anti-gambling Senator Nick Xenophon.
