An important feature of Australian betting site legislation is the ban on in-play betting. This decision was greeted with reluctance by bookmakers, allowing them to delay this important amendment to the law somewhat. But the ban eventually came into force in 2016. A year later, the authorities closed a loophole that bookmakers in Australia had exploited after the law was published. They were accepting in-play bets by phone. Online poker also fell under the government's hot hand. The law has many detractors, rightly pointing out that gambling Australians will migrate online to East Asian bookmakers, whose business is heavily criminalised.