South Australia is feeling the pinch of online betting giant Sportsbet’s decision to throw away the $20 million high-tech data facility project plan in Adelaide in protest of the 15 percent tax on online betting revenue.

Reeling in pain, South Australia’s Council of Social Service (SACOSS) whined about how “outrageous and unsporting” Sportsbet was when the bookmaker pulled out its investment in the state in protest of the tax plan.

SACOSS is now urging the government to push on with its new point-of-consumption tax as an act of revenge toward Sportsbet. It argued that the bookmaker chalked up a net revenue of $470 million last year – a 41 per cent increase on the previous year and a profit increase of 54 per cent.

“It [Sportsbet] was hugely profitable operation, and their reaction to this proposal to close their use of a virtual tax haven is outrageous and unsporting” SACOSS acting CEO Greg Ogle said, as quoted by local news website In Daily. “It is an absolute dummy spit.”