Is this discrimination against Canberra?

peitab said :

I could be wrong of course, as it’s been a few years since I’ve had to organise an online-only competition. The ACT was the only jurisdiction in which I had to pay for a permit (which wasn’t that expensive from memory).

It depends, you need a permit in NSW if the prize has any value but the permit is only $80. In the ACT you need a permit if the prize value exceeds $500 and in this case they would had to have paid $257. I’m guessing someone did a back-of-the-envelope and decided that the extra Canberra customers they could attract in March wasn’t worth the $283.

peitab said :

dpm said :

Do you mean like this?
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/watchdog-knocks-back-dick-smith-giveaways-20120510-1yfzz.html

Kind of like that!

I could be wrong of course, as it’s been a few years since I’ve had to organise an online-only competition. The ACT was the only jurisdiction in which I had to pay for a permit (which wasn’t that expensive from memory).

My bet is that many of the competitions are unfair and would bias their winnings to certain demographics.

Everyone might run out and get Dick Smith stuff and Dick might go around and only knock on the door of Ladies with big tits he follows home. If its unregulated how does the public know?

Its exactly the same as going to a shop that advertises steak for $8 but you go in and low and behold they sold all the steak to the shop owners family before the sale, then expect you to buy stuff at the store after been fooled into coming.

dpm said :

Do you mean like this?
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/watchdog-knocks-back-dick-smith-giveaways-20120510-1yfzz.html

Kind of like that!

I could be wrong of course, as it’s been a few years since I’ve had to organise an online-only competition. The ACT was the only jurisdiction in which I had to pay for a permit (which wasn’t that expensive from memory).

Interestingly this suggests that you don’t need a permit for a website lottery if there is no advertising in the ACT other than the website itself. However, by mentioning it on the RiotACT it may have now advertised by means other than the website itself and it now requires a permit.

peitab said :

Generally we’re the only jurisdiction in Australia where you need a permit to run a ‘game of chance’ competition with relatively low-value prizes – this includes online competitions. In other states and territories you either don’t need a permit at all, or you only need one once the prize pool is over a certain value.

That’s why you see so many ‘game of skill’ competitions (e.g. tell us in 25 words or less why you should win this bicycle) – they generally don’t need permits anywhere in Australia.

Do you mean like this?
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/watchdog-knocks-back-dick-smith-giveaways-20120510-1yfzz.html

Good to see the government focuses on the stuff that really matters.

Generally we’re the only jurisdiction in Australia where you need a permit to run a ‘game of chance’ competition with relatively low-value prizes – this includes online competitions. In other states and territories you either don’t need a permit at all, or you only need one once the prize pool is over a certain value.

That’s why you see so many ‘game of skill’ competitions (e.g. tell us in 25 words or less why you should win this bicycle) – they generally don’t need permits anywhere in Australia.