We provide advice to the Government about the regulation of interactive gambling services and harm minimisation initiatives such as BetStop – the National Self Exclusion Register and gambling advertising. The detailed response to this question is that gambling operators in Australia are banned from setting up online casinos, while offshore operators are banned from offering or promoting online casino services to Australian consumers. Although we advise against doing so, there are no laws to stop Australian consumers gambling at offshore casino sites. Simply put, online casinos are banned from operating or promoting their services to Australian customers, and doing so is illegal. While there are no laws to prevent Aussies from playing at offshore and unlicensed casino sites, we strongly advise against doing so. The regulator responsible for enforcing the Interactive Gambling Act, ACMA, has consumer protection responsibilities and powers relating to the enforcement of prohibitions on providing or advertising illegal interactive gambling services.

What are the main types of legal online gambling in Australia?

There is no single overarching statute regulating gambling activities in Australia, nor is there a single overarching gambling authority. Instead, gambling in Australia is regulated at both the state/territory and federal level. If games are not entirely skill-based (that is, there is an element of chance), then they will be subject to the relevant gaming laws. Online bingo is regulated by the state and territory gambling regulators detailed below. The penalties for organising an unlawful lottery include 50 penalty units and/or 12 month imprisonment for a first offence, or 100 penalty units and/or 2 years imprisonment for a second or subsequent offence. In other countries, pokies are limited to venues that are specifically used for gambling, like casinos or betting shops.

Any applicant for a licence is generally required to undergo a probity assessment to determine whether such applicant is ‘fit and proper’ to be granted a licence. The processes are generally quite extensive, and it can sometimes take up to 12 months or longer for state and territory gambling regulators to complete in relation to new applicants seeking major licences. Hotels and clubs hold a venue operator’s licence and a permit/licence to operate each gaming machine within the licensed premises. There are often strict local government planning requirements that must be met in relation to gaming machines. Retail Wagering is offered by state and territory-based totalisator agency boards (TABs) pursuant to sole licences in the relevant state or territory, thereby providing them with a form of ‘retail exclusivity’. There is co-mingling of state and territory totalisator pools through pooling arrangements, with three Australian totalisator pools currently in existence.

Online gambling platforms can be used for illegal activities like money laundering. The ban helps reduce this risk by controlling which operators can legally offer services in Australia. The country’s laws – more specifically, the Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 www.qld.gov.au (IGA) – paint a stark divide between the legality of certain forms of gambling and the unequivocal ban of others. At the time of writing, casino licensees in NSW, WA and Qld have been deemed unsuitable to hold the licences issued in those jurisdictions. The Star’s Sydney, NSW casino licence has been suspended and a manager has been appointed to oversee operations while the suspension is in force and reforms to achieve suitability can be assessed. In Vic, a ‘special manager’ was appointed to assess and report on remediation efforts of the licensee of Crown’s Melbourne casino.

Using Offshore Online Casinos and Pokies in Australia

The sole casino licensee also pays a tax of 9% on ‘high roller’ gaming revenue, together with a 1% community benefit payment. Finally, the sole casino licensee pays an additional casino ‘super tax’ based on gross gaming revenue, which increases depending upon gaming revenue levels, with a maximum tax payable of 20%. The relevant taxation amounts are reduced by the GST paid by the casino licensee in relation to these services. The main restriction of an operator licence relates to what gambling activity can be offered and through which channel. This is often intended to support a ‘sole operator’ or ‘limited operator’ model, under which overlapping product is limited and retail exclusivity is generally preserved.

Why we block illegal gambling websites

It says people should be able to lower their limits at any time, and there should a time delay of at least 24 hours for raising limits, up to the maximum. Several other countries including Germany, Norway, Sweden and Belgium have introduced various restrictions on how much people can gamble in one go. Australia has the highest gambling losses in the world because governments have taken "a lax approach to regulating gambling", according to a new report from the Grattan Institute. However, this tends to be an age-old problem when governments take a prohibition approach. People tend to look towards the black market instead, seemingly regardless of the inherent risks involved, given there are no laws to prevent you from doing so. These questions, among many more gambling-related queries, are frequently asked in online forums and by people interested in finding out what right’s they have to enjoying some real cash gambling on the Internet, and whether or not they will get in trouble for doing so.

The ban has automatically imposed legal and financial costs – from legal fees to compliance expenses to the loss of potential revenue. Some businesses opted to move offshore or switch to a different line of business entirely. State and territory taxes on gaming machine revenue are complicated and vary significantly. By way of example, https://spinline.io/ in Vic, where average revenue per gaming machine is greater than AUS $12,500 per month, the tax rate is 60.67%.

Instead, the ACMA levies penalties and fines against gambling operators or companies that are breaking Australian laws. Because when an online casino is unlicensed and unregulated by Australian authorities, you have no consumer protections, no safeguards for your money, and those sites are also breaking the law by offering you their services. Material proceedings have been taken by gambling and financial sector regulators against major licensees in recent times.

• Weighing the difficulty in reliably quantifying casino revenue, a ban on online casinos targeting the Australian market seemed like the logical thing to do.
• Specifically, the Act banned the provision of interactive gambling products (including online casinos) to the country’s residents.
• Corporate Bookmakers are commonly licensed in the NT, whereas On-course Bookmakers (which may have online operations) are licensed in the relevant state or territory.
• It must be said though that the government does not explicitly provide this as a reason for the ban but it is hard not to see this as a factor in the policy’s development.

The government introduced the register under the National Consumer Protection Framework. Most of us now have a mobile phone almost surgically implanted onto our hand, making online gambling more accessible than ever. Casinos are responsible for another 10-14%, although fewer people have been gambling in casino games in recent years. An offshore web casino is located overseas, many of the leading ones are in the United Kingdom and Malta, and thanks to the Internet, these sites accept players from around the world. Australia should introduce a mandatory pre-commitment system for pokies and online gambling. The National Self-Exclusion Register for online wagering, or BetStop, provides individuals, particularly those who may be vulnerable to harm, the opportunity to self-exclude themselves from betting.

Without protection, you’re on your own if you choose to play at an offshore online casino from Australia. All this points to a likelihood Australia’s gambling laws will be reviewed and adjusted to address and accommodate market needs, challenges and advancements. The future lies in an equilibrium of leveraging technology for age verification, closer international cooperation and ceding greater autonomy to players. Note that if an online casino is offering these games with no real money, then it is perfectly legal in Australia.

Understanding these regulations provides clarity on the current state and future of online gambling in Australia, highlighting the balance between entertainment and responsible gambling. While online casinos and pokies operating within Australia are prohibited under the IGA, online sports betting and lotteries are legal in Australia, provided they are offered by licensed operators. Under the IGA, an interactive gambling service is defined as a service that involves gambling and uses an internet carriage service, such as the internet or a mobile network. This means that it is illegal for operators to offer online casinos and pokies to Australian residents. While online sports betting and lotteries are legal when provided by licensed operators, online casinos and pokies remain a complex issue in the Australian gambling landscape. The Department of Social Services has lead responsibility for the Australian Government’s online gambling harm minimisation agenda.