Australian online sports betting operator Sportsbet has fired back at corporate bookmakers’ plans to mount a grassroots anti-online in-play betting campaign.

Shortly after a collation of gambling stakeholders – including wagering firms Tabcorp and Tatts Group – announced a lobbying campaign urging the government to maintain its ban on online in-play wagering, Paddy Power’s Aussie offshoot Sportsbet mounted its own campaign to call out the corporate bookies for anti-competitive practices.

Australia’s government is currently sitting on a review of the Interactive Gambling Act slated for release later this month. Some stakeholders – including the aforementioned domestic operators as well as racing and pokies groups – fear that the review will recommend an end to the restriction of in-play betting to telephone wagering and in-person wagers placed at betting shops.

In response to the grassroots campaign, Sportsbet government relations manager Brad Addison told local media that Tabcorp and Tatts’ in-play opposition was “hypocritical and protectionist.” Addison said the anti-online stance “further highlights their unwillingness to compete in a 21st century online environment that customers are increasingly preferencing.”