Sports Law 2025

AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Sven Burchartz and Jessica Bell, Kalus Kenny Intelex

2. Commercial Rights 2.1 Available Sports-Related Rights Ticketing Rights One of the most notable sports-related commer - cial rights to be exploited in Australia are those relating to ticketing. The market for tickets in Australia is significant and comprises both pri - mary and secondary ticketing markets. The term “primary ticket sales” refers to a situ- ation where tickets are first sold by an official ticket seller, whereas the term “secondary mar- ket” refers to a situation where those primary tickets are resold. The Secondary Ticketing Market The secondary market for tickets in Australia comprises two main components, as follows: • authorised on-selling, whereby sporting bodies, such as Tennis Australia or the AFL, authorise other entities, such as travel com - panies, to purchase tickets to a sporting event and on-sell them to their customers; and • ticket scalping, whereby ticket scalpers resell tickets at an elevated price. Scalping There is no federal legislation making scalping illegal in Australia. In 2017, the Australian Senate passed an amended motion for the Australian federal government to introduce new legislation to combat the issue. However, to date no specif - ic federal legislation has been enacted. Instead, ticket resale to sporting and entertainment events is regulated through various consumer protections under the Australian Consumer Law and state/territory-specific legislation which sets out the manner and terms on which tickets can

Protecting the Integrity of Sport – Information Sharing In some Australian states, approval by regula - tors (such as the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission) as a Sports Controlling Body (SCB) enables an organisation to enter into agreements with sports betting providers for the provision of particular sports betting services, and to receive a financial benefit in return. This also allows those SCBs to share information with betting operators – for example, in order to protect and support integrity in their sport. The intention of such a framework is to promote con - fidence in Australian sports and any associated betting activities. 1.4 Disciplinary Proceedings Each of the major sporting codes in Australia has developed and implemented its own integ - rity unit, tribunal or similar body, to manage disciplinary proceedings against athletes. The steps taken by each of those bodies in respect of investigating and penalising doping, integ - rity, betting and other offences differ among the codes. By way of example, Rugby Australia has imple - mented a mandatory reporting scheme where - by “participants” in rugby (including players, coaches, managers and agents) are required to immediately report any breaches of their Anti- Corruption and Betting Policy to an appointed Integrity Officer. That Integrity Officer is then empowered to investigate the breach, issue the relevant participant with a written breach notice and, if requested, establish an integrity tribunal to conduct a hearing in relation to the alleged breach.

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