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Internet gaming touted as island hope

now, Norfolk Island is expected to have named its first two Internet gaming licensees. All that’s needed is the ink to dry and the licensees’ names announced in the Legislative Assembly.

Internet gambling, the hope and scourge of more than a few Pacific islands, has arrived on Norfolk.

Geoff Gardner, minister for health and the environment, holds the portfolio in which Internet gaming lies. He is convinced the way to avoid the pitfalls of the industry is by carefully restricting both who can obtain a license to operate a gaming establishment and who, in fact, can gamble.

Each of these first two licensees, for example, was assessed by the Norfolk Island Gaming Authority for its financial resources and existing experience in the gaming arena.

Its key personnel, both directly and indirectly connected to the enterprise, were investigated by the Australian Federal Police. Once the licensees had demonstrated adequate gaming experience, financial resources and the probity of its personnel, its technical plans for meeting the Authority’s system delivery, management and internal control requirements are inspected.

These requirements include the necessity for continuous audit control, and the ability to identify and prevent problem gamblers, players with Norfolk or Australian addresses, and players under the age of 18 years. A licence is granted only after the Authority is satisfied the applicant has the necessary experience, character, and financial and technical resources to meet these requirements.

The applicant’s online system must then

be approved by an independent testing lab for compliance with the Authority’s audit controls to begin operation.

The Gaming Authority is the statutory body within the Norfolk Island

Government responsible for establishing

and maintaining the quality of this new

industry.

The Authority is comprised of a Director and two other members who

reports directly to a Gaming Chairperson.

The Chairperson reports directly to an executive member of the government, again presently the Minister for Health and the Environment. John Clark, QC, a retired Australian Court of Appeals judge, is the present Chairperson. Reporting to him is the Authority Director, Kevin Leyshon.

Leyshon is presently Managing Director

of the consulting firm, Gaming Solutions, and has extensive private-and public sector gaming experience.

The remaining two members of the Authority are Jock Irvine, a lawyer who is past chairperson of the New Zealand Casino Control Authority, and Dr. John Walsh of Brannaugh, also a lawyer and a resident of Norfolk. The purpose of this venture is to provide an alternative to tourism as a source of public revenue. Both the gaming and bookmaking licensees will pay the Norfolk Government at least $25,000 per annum per license to cover the cost of administration.

In addition, the gaming licensee will pay to the Norfolk government a duty of 4 per cent of its gross profits; the bookmaking licensee will pay 0.5 per cent of its gross turnover. Finally, each licensee must deposit sufficient funds in a Norfolk Island bank account to pay these duties and

levies, from which a one per cent financial levy

will be charged.

The government’s high-end gross

revenue projections have gone higher than $lOO million per year. But if it made only $lOO,OOO per year, the Minister adds, it’s still $lOO,OOO more than the government has now.

There is no question there is big money waiting to be gained from Internet gambling. A search of the Internet by the phrase “online casino” uncovered over 23,000 pages pertaining to that topic alone.

This large number of existing Internet gaming sites begs the question, “Why Norfolk?” Why would an operator be willing to spend so much money and effort here than elsewhere? The answer, according to Geoff, is Norfolk can combine the financial security, political stability and modern technical infrastructure of an Australian territory with the immediacy of a small island.

Only on Norfolk, for example, can a gaming operator, in the English language and referring to Australian currency, speak with the Executive Minister in charge with conceivably just a phone call and if necessary convene a meeting of the Assembly within 24 hours.

In a global economy where time is money and every second counts, this responsiveness evidently has great value.

Seven other applicants are presently undergoing a similar scrutiny to obtain Norfolk licenses.

“We only have one chance to do this right,” Geoff has repeatedly said. It’s his way of acknowledging Internet gaming’s newness, obvious benefits and potential

pitfalls. ■