Betting

The court ruled Western Australia's outlawing of betting exchanges was invalid, because the Constitution mandates free trade between the states.

The judgment, in a case brought by betting exchange Bet Fair, is expected to sweep away a number of other interstate betting restrictions.

These include betting product fees charged by racing authorities and betting advertising restrictions.

Betfair Betting already has Racing Victoria's permission to use its betting race fields. But the state's harness and greyhound betting racing fields will also now be available to the company.

In a unanimous betting ruling, seven High Court judges said WA's Betting Control Act of 2007, which banned Betfair from operating in WA and punters from placing bets using Betfair, was a protectionist law.

It held the betting law was also invalid where it stopped Betfair making WA race fields available to its punters around Australia.

Betfair allows betting punters to bet on horses to lose. Racing officials believe "lay" bets could harm the industry's integrity and are worried about Betfair stealing revenue away from TAB outlets.