Ladbrokes Australia returns to in-play betting fold

Ladbrokes’ Australian arm has joined rivals William Hill and bet365 in launching an in-running betting feature designed to satisfy the country’s ban on remote in-play wagers.

Live Play is a follow-up to the operator’s debut live betting feature Quickcall, which was pulled by Ladbrokes in July after the legality of such products had come under increasing regulatory scrutiny.

Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, Australian betting operators are prohibited from accepting online bets on live sports events and can only accept in-play wagers placed in person or over the phone.

To negate the ban, the new feature from Ladbrokes – available on desktop, Android and mobile web – enables customers to place bets via the website so long as the device’s microphone is switched on.

Ladbrokes Australia CEO Dean Shannon told eGaming Review he was confident that the Live Play product was compliant for use in the Australian market.

“We have had extensive QCs’ advice and the federal police have declined to investigate the previous matters across all operators which launched similar live products,” Shannon said.

“Together with the fact our competitors have been in the market unchallenged we decided to relaunch our in-play product now renamed Live Play.

“With the launch of Live Play we have again enabled our live betting harm minimisation options which are available on every live play event we offer,” he added.

The launch of Live Play comes as support for legalising online in-play wagering in Australia appears to be gaining momentum after a leading professional sports body recently joined Sportsbet in calling for the government to change the current laws.