Australia is set to become a world leader in gambling regulation when new legislation comes into force from January, offering lessons for the UK in preventing an illegal gambling boom.
The 2026 Melbourne Cup is due off at 4am GMT on Tuesday morning, which is 3pm local time on a public holiday in the state of Victoria. In the build-up, there has been significant betting activity, with Irish punter JP McManus and fellow owner Paul Byrne among attendees at the "Call Of The Card" luncheon in Melbourne on Monday, a A$340 (£178)-per head event that has been a popular feature of the race build-up since 1958.
Big Bets at the Melbourne Cup Event
At the event, four leading bookmakers gave the 1,000-strong audience the chance to back each of the 24 runners. When George Boughey's Hopewell Rock, runner-up in the Ebor Handicap at York in August, was offered at $10 (9-1), Byrne grabbed the microphone and said: "We've travelled a long way now, and this is the horse, we've been studying the form on the way down we're thinking we might try and beat last year's record [bet of A$500k] and get us a million dollars win."
A million to win A$10m is a large bet even by Australian standards. After one bookmaker agreed to lay A$500k at 9-1 and another accepted A$30k, the remaining A$470 was laid at 17-2 and 8-1. McManus and Byrne also placed bets on Joseph O'Brien's James J Braddock (A$150k at 20-1) and McManus's own runners, Trustyourinstinct and Goodie Two Shoes.
Australia's Betting Culture and Regulation
McManus, a lifelong punter and former bookie, experienced the event for the first time and told the Racing Post: "I certainly enjoyed it. It's exciting, I must say. It's something different and I think we can learn from it. I don't know if anything like this will ever happen in Britain and Ireland, but it certainly adds to the occasion and it creates a lot of excitement. I only wish they would do it elsewhere."
Australia has an official Minimum Bet Limits (MBL) for racing, requiring operators to lay an advertised price to lose a standard minimum amount, currently A$2k on a major race like the Melbourne Cup. This establishes the principle that when a bookie advertises a price, backers deserve a fair chance before it is cut. There were occasional boos at Monday's event when Robbie Waterhouse offered a price below his rivals or accepted only part of a requested stake.
Operators have been banned from offering online slot-machine gaming to Australian customers since 2001, and legislation passed by the Australian parliament in August will make it harder for Australians to access illegal offshore casinos. In the UK, the Betting and Gaming Council has often claimed that tax hikes will push gamblers towards unregulated offshore alternatives, but restrictions and account closures against long-term winners have done more to push punters towards the illegal market.
Lessons for the UK
From 1 January 2027, when the latest legislation comes into force, Australia will arguably be a world leader in gambling regulation. The country's lawmakers see the distinction between the most harmful forms of gambling, such as casino-gaming and slots, and betting on sport, and are taking steps to protect citizens from the unregulated market while ensuring bookies lay advertised prices to a reasonable sum.
There will likely be many lessons for the UK government to absorb when a successor to the Gambling Act 2005 finally appears.
