It’s often said that politics makes for strange bedfellows, but online betting companies that oppose an in-play betting carveout given to Australian firms Tabcorp and Tatts Group have been joined by some truly unlikely allies.

Last month, Australia unveiled proposed changes to its Interactive Gambling Act 2001, which include a ban on online in-play sports betting. But Aussie-licensed online betting operators cried foul when they learned that Tabcorp and Tatts would still be permitted to offer in-play betting via mobile devices in the companies’ land-based betting shops.

The online betting sites’ opposition has since been echoed by the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), a centrist political party led by the notoriously anti-gambling senator of the same name. The NXT filed its objections to parliament last week, saying the Tabcorp/Tatts carveout could actually expand online in-play betting.

The NXT’s submission says its experience is that staff in the betting venues “rarely intervene … when they believe a customer is struggling to control their gambling.” The NXT pointed out that the government had failed to conduct any modeling to determine whether “the increased availability of these electronic devices” would lead to an uptick in in-play betting.