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Online Casino Laws Australia

Australia is a gambling nation. It is one of the most trafficked markets in the country through legal brick-and-mortar channels, but online gambling is a different story. This page is dedicated to explaining the full legal structure of gambling in Australia and has information on the standing laws, any amendments, the regulatory bodies in charge and more. You will learn about which gambling options are legal and which ones to avoid. Australia is a vast gambling community, but it is well regulated. Use this page as a legal resource for gambling options in Australia and our homepage as a resource for gambling laws by country.

Is Gambling Legal In Australia?

Yes, but only certain forms of gambling. Australian gambling laws were quite lenient in the past, allowing for brick-and-mortar establishments and some online gambling options. The current legal gambling framework still permits brick-and-mortar gambling, but online options are scarce due to tighter restrictions. There are explanations of the laws below.

Gambling Laws In Australia

In recent years, the Australian government has tightened laws around gambling, particularly online gambling through the introduction of the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill in 2016.While these changes help to protect players from unlicensed online casinos, they have caused some confusion amongst Australian players about what casino games they can still legally enjoy online. It’s perfectly legal for any Australian online casino player to gamble at any international sites. Nonetheless, it’s very much illegal for real-money Australian.

Interactive Gambling Act 2001 – The Interactive Gambling Act was Australian Parliament’s way of addressing online gambling. At the time, Aussies were able to access locally based sites for real money games. Offshore gambling sites were also an option. This law targeted domestic operators and made it illegal for them to offer services to residents. It also made it an illegal offense to advertise Australian online gambling products and services locally (including all forms of media). The law permitted domestically based online sites to offer services to ‘designated countries,’ but not local citizens. The only form of domestic online wagering allowed was sports betting through a local service. You can find more information on our Interactive Gambling Act 2001 page.

Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 – Australian gambling laws remained the same for more than a decade. It wasn’t until 2016 that changes were made. These changes came through the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016. The new IGA tightened restrictions on online gambling by banning almost all digital gambling forms, no matter if they are licenced offshore or not. The amendment also ceased all gambling advertisements during sporting events. Any online operator wishing to do business in Australia must obtain a licence through the proper regulatory channels. In-play betting was another target of this bill and made it illegal for local punters to participate in. Learn more about the specifics of this law on our Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 page.

Regional Laws – Gambling legislation is divvied up between individual states and provinces. These laws are similar in nature but have minute differences between them. As such, it is important to understand the different territorial legal codes pertaining to gambling based on where you reside in Australia. Our Australian Regional Laws page has more information on the individual laws.

Who Regulates Gambling In Australia?

Gambling regulation in Australia is twofold. There are some federal departments tasked with widespread regulation, but the bulk of responsibility lies with individual states and provinces. This site focuses on the federal end of regulation and covers:

  • The Australian Communications and Media Authority
  • Polices telephone and online (remote) gambling
  • The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre
  • Regulates money laundering activities
  • The Australian Federal Police
  • Enforces interactive gambling and financial legislation

Forms Of Legal Gambling In Australia

There are multiple land-based gambling establishments that are considered legal in Australia. These include brick-and-mortar casinos which host slots, table games, poker (including pokies, or virtual poker machines) and more. Sports and race betting is considered legal in Australia, but only through properly licenced and regulated outlets. In fact, sports betting is the only form of online gambling legally permitted to be offered to Australian residents from domestically based sites. The largest online platform is known as TAB and hosts sports gambling and racing bets. There is no in-play betting allowed per the local gambling laws.

Minimum Gambling Age in Australia

In Australia, the minimum gambling age is standard nationwide. To enter a casino in Australia, regardless of state, requires gamblers to meet the minimum age of eighteen. This fixed legal age applies to lottery ticket purchasing, sports betting and race betting, bingo, casino games, poker and all real money betting.

Curtailing Gambling Addiction In Australia

Online Casino License Australia

The reason why gambling laws are so stringent is that Australia has a high number of cases of problem gambling. Gambling addiction is taken very seriously in the country and there are multiple regulations in place to keep it in check. This is why in-play betting is considered illegal and not allowed via any licenced and regulated Australian betting outlet. The government made changes to protocols in the time leading up to the IGA 2016. These changes were meant to help problem bettors in the country. For example, there is a self-exclusion register for online bookmakers. This helps to keep problem gamblers from accessing sites. There is another option for bookmakers to establish a betting limit to help gamblers avoid getting into financial hardships. Some bookmakers used to be allowed to offer lines of credit, however, this practice has since been disallowed.

Any Reformations Planned For The Near Future?

There may some further amendments to the IGA. If anything, these would strengthen the restrictions on licenced offshore gambling sites. As things stand now, individuals are not targeted for using offshore sites. Some sites’ IP addresses may be blocked, but there are others still accessible to Aussie punters. Perhaps new legislation would tighten reinforcements on individuals as opposed to just operators.

Gambling Laws Lead To Gambling Operator Exit

Since the gambling laws have gotten so restrictive, many online operators decided to leave the Australian market. For example, notable online poker sites like 888Poker left with the passing of the reformed IGA. The new laws create potential financial hardships and limit these operators’ access to a lucrative gambling pool, so it makes sense why they would leave. Some groups are lobbying for certain operators to be permitted, but the current framework makes it difficult for any licenced online gambling operator to have a legitimate chance in this market. As of now, there are no concrete plans to change the legislation.

Gambling Help Resources In Australia

Lawmakers in the United Kingdom and Australia are proposing to restrict onlinecasino gamesin ways that will make it safer for their citizens. The proposals aim to reduce gambling while ensuring that operators are clear in what they present to their customers.

Australia

Online casino legislation australia

In Australia, MP Andrew Wilkie is pushing to have social casino games outlawed. Wilkie introduced Bill 2020, the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Banning Social Casinos and Other Measures), that would amend the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. Interactive Gambling Act 2001 already prohibits online casino gambling for real money in Australia but the amendments would extend further protections to the public.

At present, any Australian gaming operator that provides online gaming can be fined up to $1.1 million per day. Social casino gaming is currently classified as entertainment in Australia but if Wilkie is successful in getting his bill passed, the classification would be “gambling” and those operating social gaming casinos would be penalized.

Free Australian Online Casinos

Wilkie objects to social casino games because, he says, they pave the way to gambling addictions. He says that by offering real money gambling online it normalizes gambling behaviors and makes gambling seem risk-free and socially-acceptable while, at the same time, encouraging the player to feel that s/he is invincible with his/her betting and, at the end of the day, will certainly win. According to Wilkie, gambling-like games prepare children for real-money gambling later in life. Australians, said Wilkie, are “the world's biggest gambling losers per capita, losing more than $1,200 per year [on average]”.

By bringing the bill to parliament now, Wilkie hopes to stymie the surge in COVID-19 related gambling losses. According to the Australian Parliament’s website,https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/, Wilkie’s address Parliament focused on these issues. “In May,” said Wilkie, “the Financial Review reported a significant spike in gambling during the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown, with data from some organisations revealing a 114 per cent increase in online gambling transactions during the pandemic. Gambling counselling services say they are seeing an increase in demand, despite clubs and casinos having been closed during the coronavirus lockdown.”

Other recommendations that Wilkie suggested included $1 maximum bets on pokie machines, pre-commitment systems that cut people off when they reach their self-imposed betting limits and slower spins. Wilkie’s bill is now heading to its second reading in the House of Representatives as Australian legislators consider the best ways to ensure that Australians have access to safe gaming entertainment.

Casino

UK

Lawmakers in the UK are also exploring ways to make online gambling safer. This past year has seen a number of moves toward this goal including a ban on the use of credit cards to place bets, raising the age threshold to 18 for purchases of National Lottery tickets and scratch cards and advice that online operators contact customers after an hour of play by webchat or phone call to make sure that they are not betting beyond their means.

The Gambling Commission says that it is ready to implement the new limitations immediately but some members of parliament are not satisfied with those restrictions. They have advanced further suggestions that include limits on spin speeds and the imposition of a permanent ban on features that celebrate losses as wins.

2018

The Gambling Commission says that the main concern involves online slot games which account for an estimated 70% of online casino games. Residents of Great Britain play more online slots and similar casino games than any other type of game and UK gaming is said to account for 15% of worldwide slots gaming.

The UK also wants to ban reverse withdrawals. Reverse withdrawals occur when a customer requests a withdrawal and then decides to re-gamble the money that s/he’d requested be withdrawn. The Commission noted that 'Evidence shows that reverse withdrawal functions present a risk to players because of the temptation to continue gambling.”

Casinos

The new moves follow last year’s crackdown on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals which are played in-person in bookie shops. In the FOBT curbs, the government lowered the maximum amount of money that could be bet on the machines from the previous £100 to £2. Now they want confront with what is, in effect, online FOBTs, as they strive to give the gaming customer the chance to control his/her spending.

Google Gaming Apps

As Australia, the UK and other nations consider different ways to make online gaming safer, Google has announced that its gaming apps, which until now have been available only in France, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Brazil, will now be available in an additional 15 countries.

Online

New Online Gambling Laws Australia

Google’s Play Store will now feature real money Android apps in the United States, Japan, New Zealand, Belgium, Australia, Canada, Spain, Sweden, Mexico, Norway, Columbia, Denmark, Germany, Romania and Finland.

Online Casino Legislation Australia

It is not yet clear how the new Australian and British gaming restrictions will affect the Android gaming apps. Google is putting the responsibility on the shoulders of the app developers to adapt their apps to the various legal restrictions on online gaming of each country and, in the United States, each individual state. The apps involved are real money apps and playing the games involves real money. Each developer who uploads an app to the Play Store must be licensed to operate a gambling operation in the country/state in which the app will be sold.