Australia’s federal government wants to harmonize state-level online sports betting point-of-consumption taxes (POCT), potentially dealing a blow to the Northern Territory’s status as the country’s premier online licensing jurisdiction.

On Friday, Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison (pictured) held a meeting with his state and territory counterparts to discuss the upcoming 2017 federal budget. Following the meeting, Morrison told local media that agreement had been reached “to move forward to prepare a proposal for a nationally consistent approach to [a] point of consumption tax on online gaming.”

Morrison insisted that the idea for a uniform approach to online betting taxation was “not about raising revenue for revenue’s sake,” but more about ensuring harm minimization for both punters and national sporting bodies. To which we reply, sure it is.

South Australia was the first state to publicly call for the imposition of a POCT back in 2015, when state Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis declared that it was “important that online gambling operators pay taxes considering that they are generating profits based on betting activities of South Australians.” The state expects to reap A$9.2m per year from its 15% POCT on wagering revenue, which officially kicks in on July 1.