Fears of Internet gambling ban

However, since the moratorium's defeat in the Senate last night, the federal government said it would reintroduce legislation on online gambling.

"There is a possibility that the government may decide that a ban is warranted," Executive Director of Internet Industry Association (IIA) Peter Coroneos said.

Australian online gambling sites already derive 80-90 percent of business from international players because the sites have a good reputation for being honest and well controlled, according to Coroneos.

"The very prospect of a ban will certainly jeopardise our international reputation and send a message that the Australian government does not understand the global, instantaneous and decentralised nature of the Net," Coroneos said in a statement.

"States need to sit down again and nut out a new set of rules," Coroneos told ZDNet Australia.

"I can't work out why the government wants to ban it," he said.