Last year, the New South Wales Department of Racing initiated legal proceedings against Sportingbet Australia, licensed only in the Northern Territories, for placing advertisment in the promotional magazine for the 2004 Gosford Gold Cup Racing Carnival in NSW.

After a hearing 27 June 2005, the Court in NSW ordered the company to stop the illegal advertising, in the absence of which the company directors would face criminal punishment.

The decisive action by the authorities in Australia are in contrast to some of the inaction in other parts of the world against advertising for unauthorised betting. The IFHA has recently called upon the Ministers of Spain and Belgium to stop advertising in the national media for unauthorised betting services.