When do you lose $500,000 yet still come out a winner? When your freedom is an issue in a court case in Australia, it seems.

In last week’s top gambling news story from Down Under, Wollstonecraft citizen Zheng Tan was facing trial for money laundering in an Australian district court. The specific incident involved a stolen check for AU $500,000 (about US $472,000) which Tan said was the repayment of an informal loan he’d made to a fellow high-roller in the Crown Casino’s VIP room.

Tan first lent the man AU $120,000, to which the thankful loanee offered his $300,000 Philippe Patek watch. When Tan later topped up his new friend with another AU $350,000, the man offered an IOU based on real estate in China.

A short time later, Tan’s friend made good on his promise and wrote Tan a check for the AU $500,000 – about AU $29,000 (US $27,400) more than what had been leant; the outstanding amount was argued by prosecuting attorneys to have been a fee for laundering the money. He then cashed the check and took the money to play with in Canberra – unfortunately, that money was reportedly stolen from his car.

Tan argued in court that he didn’t know the check was stolen and that he’d gambled away some $10 million at the Crown Casino alone. “$29,000 is nothing to me,” he said.

Tan was exonerated of the charges.

Though still affected by the slumping worldwide economy, Sportingbet representatives were recently quite happy to announce the sportsbook’s profitable third-quarter results for the fiscal year. Key markets of Spain and Greece were unimpressive for Sportingbet, but a large influx from Australia proved to be the financial difference. The next year may be a bit difficult for the bookmaker, though, as new gambling laws in France are forcing the company’s withdrawal from that market.

Interactive Investor: Australia drives Sportingbet Q3

For the third quarter of its fiscal year, Sportingbet reported net gaming revenue to be up 29.8 percent to £55.7 million. Total bets in the period ending in April increased 22 percent to £521 million (approximately $750 million) wagered.

“Given the widely reported economic difficulties in Spain and Greece, which are two of our biggest markets,” said Sportingbet CEO Andrew McIver, “it is pleasing to report an 18 percent increase in profits.” Sportingbet business in Greece increased 8 percent, while Spain was stagnant for the bookmaker.

Sportingbet shares, which earlier in the week had hit a nine-month low at 57.5p, had rebounded by 3.7 percent to 62.5p on the morning of the announcement of results, valuing the company at £307 million.

McIver cited the advantages of geographical diversification business, and added that the company’s fourth quarter would be focused on the World Cup, repeating his comments of May that “much of how the remainder of this quarter performs will depend on the outcome of (the World Cup).”

In addressing next year’s results, Sportingbet stated that it would no longer be accepting bets from French players in light of the new licensing regulations for offshore online casino owners there. Sportingbet will apply for licensing in France, but due to the time involved plus some permanent loss of revenue, fiscal year 2011 is expected to be down for Sportingbet.

Financial Times: Australian profits drive Sportingbet

Since the Australian market showed in 19 percent raise in gross amount wagered in the third quarter of the fiscal year, Sportingbet was able to report a 13 percent jump in pre-tax profits.

Australian wagering at Sportingbet increased from £153.2 million to £182.1 million. Reasons given for the profitable quarter in Australia included “horse racing results that favored the bookmaker” and liberalization of advertising regulations in the country.

Sportingbet also reported weak intake from Spain and Greece, two markets that make up about 33 percent of Sportingbet revenue. For comparison, the bookmaker draws about 5 percent of its business from the U.K.

Sportingbet representatives also reported that they anticipate a further increase in revenues in the fourth quarter because of World Cup betting. Betting on soccer makes up 61 percent of sportsbook activity at Sportingbet.

Stock Markets Review: Sportingbet report Strong Q3 for sports and casino

Sportingbet’s fiscal results for quarter three were reported as strong, with net gaming revenue increasing 30 percent year-on-year (or 27 percent with exchange rate fluctuation taken into account). In addition to the excellent results in Australia, sports and casino growth in Europe was also called “strong.”

For Sportingbet, European sportsbook activity increased 21 percent YoY to £29.1 million. Casino gaming was up 17 percent to £11.6 million, with particular good results for the Sportingbet flash casino. Poker gaming at Sportingbet was down 10 percent YoY to £4.5 million.

With regard to the French market, Sportingbet indicated that it expected to receive sports, horseracing and poker licenses in early 2011 and that the company had already entered into marketing partnerships to advertise in “Le Monde” and “L’Express” newspapers.

After trying to ban the online gambling industry from Australian’s, the government realized that it had made a mistake being that an estimated $790 million went out their window to offshore casinos. Knowing that’s there’s a high demand for the industry, the government is liable to break down restrictions and embrace it.

The Wall Street Journal: Analyst predicts online casino boom as governments seek taxes

The global financial crisis seems to be on its way out and could spark rapid growth in online gambling as governments remove bans and tax casinos. A report from KMPG predicts the global online betting market will grow by 42% to $32 billion by 2012.

The recent Productivity Commission draft report into online gaming urges deregulation of the industry, and repealing of restrictions on online betting as well as the removal of the ban on Australian companies operating cyber casinos.

Analysts guess that the long-term trend will be towards deregulation as prohibition clearly isn’t working. Australians have spent $790 million on offshore cyber casinos. The return of revenue to Australia and the potential for establishing an Australian-branded online casino would be a substantial boost for local players.

The Sydney Morning Herald: Online bets on track for legalisation

According to accounting firm KPMG, new laws allowing gaming companies to offer online gambling in Australia are ”inevitable,” as the federal government stands to benefit from the tax revenue of a rapidly growing industry.

According to the Productivity Commission, Australians spent $790 million on online gambling through overseas sites in 2008. The commission’s recent draft report on gambling concluded that, ”While illegal and invisible in official records, online gaming appears to have grown very rapidly, and could amount to 4 per cent of gambling expenditure.”

The commission recommended the government liberalize online gaming, allowing Australian companies to provide internet poker and casino games to local customers. Online wagering and sports betting is already permitted.

Many inside the Australian industry believe it is unlikely the government will move to liberalize online gambling during an election year. However, the idea does have the support of some anti-gambling figures who say legalizing the service would enable authorities to better control it and protect problem gamblers, who are already gambling online through overseas sites.

Australian Associated Press: Online gambling ‘to double by 2012′

A new report suggests that Australia stands to rake in the dollars if it relaxes online gambling restrictions. Australians are estimated to spend around $790 million playing poker and other casino games through offshore websites in 2008. Predictions indicate that the industry will double in size by 2012.

The estimate gives weight to calls for Australia to rethink its prohibition of online gambling, due to the fact that it’s obviously not effective. A wealth of revenue is there to be made if Australia can shape and expand the market, which is set to explode given technological advances in mobile phones and other devices.

Australia could harness the revenue spent at offshore sites by relaxed restrictions, a practice that other governments, including the United States, have been working towards. A federal Productivity Commission draft report has recommended the government consider regulated access to local gaming sites, rather than all-out prohibition.

A group of cyber hackers calling themselves simply Anonymous launched a massive denial-of-service attack on two major Australian government websites yesterday. The attacks were in response to an announcement from December in which the government revealed plans to filter the internet, blocking sites related to pornography, online gambling, and other “unwanted” content.

PC World: Australian Parliament Web Site Attacked

The website of the Australian Parliament site was struck with a denial-of-service attack on Wednesday, two days after a hacking group called Anonymous threatened attacks in response to the government’s plan to filter the internet.

During yesterday’s attack, the Web site was hit by 7.5 million requests per second. By noon, the Parliament’s Web site was down.

The hacking group Anonymous put out a press release on Monday, complaining about plans announced back in December by Australian Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy which would reqire ISPs to block illegal and “unwanted” content, including online gambling and pornography.

“The Australian Government will learn that one does not mess with our porn,” Anonymous said in its press release. “No one messes with our access to perfectly legal (or illegal) content for any reason.”

“No government should have the right to refuse its citizens access to information solely because they perceive it to be ‘unwanted,’” the group continued. “Indeed, the only possible interpretation of ‘unwanted content’ is content that the government itself does not want to be seen.”

BBC News: Australia websites hacked in porn filter protest

A group of computer hackers attacked official websites in Australia yesterday in a protest against the government’s proposed internet filter targeting pornography and online gambling sites.

The Australian parliament’s website was down for almost an hour after being disrupted a group calling itself Anonymous. The hackers did not infiltrate government security, but instead swamped government computer servers.

A statement attributed to the group said they believe that the Australian government should not be allowed to control what its citizens view on the internet.

The government intends to introduce the mandatory internet filter system by early 2011. The filter block a list of banned websites, including those containing child abuse material.

Alastair MacGibbon, formerly of the government’s High-Tech Crime Centre, said that internet hackers like these are difficult to combat, but he said that compared to most Western nations, Australia was “well prepared” for the attack.

International Business Times: Anonymous group protests against Australian Government filter

In response the Australian Government’s proposed internet filtering project, a group under the name Anonymous attacked two major government websites yesterday.

Both the Australian Parliament House website and Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy website were hit by the attacks. The websites became sluggish and stopped responding under the pressure.

According to the Attorney-General’s office, Anonymous used a distributed denial-of-service attack. The Australian Parliament House website was down for about 50 minutes. It is now fixed but is still acting sluggish.

The Department of Defence Cyber Security Operations Centre continues to monitor the situation closely.