BetStop in Australia: What It Covers and How to Register

What BetStop is

BetStop is a national register you add yourself to: while you are on it, licensed Australian wagering providers must not let you bet, open an account or receive their marketing. The Australian Government launched it on 21 August 2023 as “the tenth and final measure of the National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering”, the Department of Infrastructure says. It costs nothing: BetStop calls itself a “free Australian Government initiative”.

Dataworks Group Limited “operates BetStop - the National Self-Exclusion Register on behalf of the ACMA”, the Australian Communications and Media Authority. BetStop adds that “The ACMA is responsible for monitoring compliance with the law”.

Providers “are able to check their customer details against the register”, and if the details match, the register operator tells the provider that the customer is self-excluded. ACMA adds that the operator “will not share other information about self-excluded individuals with wagering providers”. The law sets the same duty: the operator must tell a licensed provider, on request, whether a person is registered (Interactive Gambling Act 2001, s 61GA).

Your account is on betstop.gov.au: its menu has Register and Sign in, and a forgotten password is reset through “Forgot password?” on the sign-in page.

Who has to use BetStop

Every licensed interactive wagering provider in Australia, online or by phone, has to, and you cannot pick which ones. ACMA says that if you self-exclude, “you will be excluded from all of the approximately 150 licensed wagering providers in Australia”, and “You cannot select which providers to exclude from.” The December 2025 review report counts more: around 130 licensed providers when BetStop began, a number that “has now grown to closer to 200 providers”.

The duties come from Part 7B of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. Its simplified outline (s 61GA) says a licensed provider must not, for a registered person:

• provide a licensed interactive wagering service (s 61KA);
• send regulated electronic messages (s 61LA);
• make regulated telemarketing calls (s 61LB);
• send regulated direct marketing material (s 61LC);
• disclose information about them for marketing purposes (s 61LD);
• open a wagering account for them (s 61MA).

Two more sections require providers to close a registered person’s existing account (s 61MB) and to promote the register (s 61JP). We read the compilation in force on 17 October 2026, C2024C00646; legislation.gov.au notes a new compilation prepared for 1 January 2027, when the 2026 reforms start.

For you, existing accounts end: “providers will need to close them and refund any credit”, BetStop says, and they are not reactivated when the exclusion ends. ACMA adds that BetStop “does not replace existing obligations on wagering providers, including providing customers with the option to self-exclude”.

When providers break the rules

ACMA enforces these rules. Two cases it published in September 2026: Dabble Sports Pty Ltd “has paid $1,069,200 in penalties” after ACMA found it “failed to close 157 wagering accounts” of people registered with BetStop (16 September 2026). Palmerbet “accepted 312 bets from the self-excluded individual between December 2024 and February 2025” (23 September 2026).

If a provider lets you open an account, gamble or receive its marketing while you are excluded, or does not close your account, BetStop’s contact page lets you lodge a complaint.

What BetStop does not cover

BetStop covers licensed online and phone wagering only. Online casinos are outside it, as BetStop says in the line quoted at the top. So are pubs, clubs and casino venues: the December 2025 review report says BetStop’s scope “is limited to telephone and online gambling. It does not cover in-person betting.”

For pokies and other gambling in venues, the same report notes that “In most jurisdictions people can exclude from in-venue gambling”. The programs in NSW, Victoria and Queensland are set out on our gambling help page.

BetStop does not replace other registers. ACMA: “The National Self-Exclusion Register operates as a separate program and does not replace, and cannot integrate with, existing programs.” Your details on a state register are not transferred, so you register with BetStop separately.

For online casinos, BetStop points to the regulator: “You can make a complaint about these services to the ACMA”. Blocks you can set up with your bank and on your devices are listed in our section on bank and device blocks. What the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 bans, and how ACMA acts on it, is on our page on the law.

How to register

You register online at betstop.gov.au, and BetStop says “Registering takes about 5 minutes”. You need “a mobile phone number, email address and either an Australian driver’s licence, an Australian passport or a Medicare card”. Without one of these documents, BetStop asks you to call 1800 238 786 “to talk about other ways we can verify your identity”.

You choose the length, from “a minimum of 3 months, up to a lifetime” (BetStop). The Act allows a number of months, a number of years or life, and the months “must not be less than 3” (s 61JA).

You can nominate up to 5 support people. BetStop tells them:

• how long you have excluded yourself;
• if you try to cancel early;
• if you extend;
• when your exclusion is about to end;
• if you remove them as a support person.

Nobody can sign you up: “A person needs to register themselves for BetStop - the National Self-Exclusion Register.” When registering, you are asked whether BetStop should remember your details after the exclusion ends, and it contacts you before the period expires.

BetStop’s freecall number is 1800 238 786, answered 9 am to 9 pm (AEST/AEDT) Monday to Friday, except national public holidays. The National Relay Service (1300 555 727) and the Translating and Interpreting Service (131 450) can connect you.

Extending or cancelling early

You can lengthen an exclusion at any time but not shorten it. ACMA: “You can extend the duration of your self-exclusion at any time” and “You cannot reduce your self-exclusion period.”

Cancelling early is possible, with conditions. You “can apply to cancel your self-exclusion early after at least 3 months of self-exclusion”, BetStop says. Under the Act in force on 17 October 2026, that 3-month bar does not apply to someone registered before: s 61JK(2) ends “unless the individual was previously registered before that time”.

The application needs a Commonwealth statutory declaration that, in the 3 months before it, you obtained counselling or advice about the decision from a qualified counsellor, a qualified psychologist, a general practitioner or a listed support service (s 61JK(4)). BetStop’s FAQ names only “a counsellor or a general practitioner”; ACMA names “a qualified counsellor, psychologist or doctor”.

If the application is valid, BetStop removes you “after 7 days”, and you can withdraw it during that time. ACMA: “Any support people will be notified when this application is made.”

The 2026 reforms add a rule for this point. The minister’s release of 19 August 2026 lists a ban on the direct marketing of inducements “three months after a person deregisters from BetStop”; when the reforms start is in the review section.

BetStop in numbers

By 30 June 2026, 65,430 people had registered and 40,160 still had an active exclusion, ACMA’s statistics updated on 17 July 2026 show. The other 25,270 “have completed their self-exclusion or cancelled their exclusion early”. About six in ten registrations were still running (our arithmetic).

People in ACMA’s group “30 years and younger” were the largest, at 30,081.

The review report counted 53,308 registrations by 1 December 2025. Set against ACMA’s 65,430 at 30 June 2026, that is 12,122 more in seven months (our comparison of two official figures). ACMA publishes new figures each quarter; figures for July to September 2026 were not out when we checked on 17 October 2026.

The 2024–25 review of BetStop

BetStop’s first statutory review calls it a success. The Act requires the review (s 61QF), and on 22 October 2024 the minister appointed Richard Eccles to lead it. His report is dated December 2025 and was tabled in Parliament on 25 February 2026. It uses NSER, short for National Self-Exclusion Register, and concludes: “The NSER is a successful policy and is delivering well on its objectives.”

The report also names weak points. Among people who had bet in the past 12 months, 33.5% knew about BetStop, and 26.5% of all adults did, according to research the report cites. Access to online gambling while excluded “has been a much-discussed area of challenge over the NSER’s first 2 years of operation”.

Among its ten recommendations: extend BetStop to “online keno and any other online rapid play gambling products”; consider requiring “more substantive evidence” to cancel; and apply the 3-month minimum to all registrants, including people registered before. These are recommendations, not law.

Parliament passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 on 19 August 2026, and the Department says “The reforms will commence from 1 January 2027.” The Department lists among them “strengthening the operation of BetStop—the National Self-Exclusion Register”. The minister said the Bill strengthens BetStop “based on the outcomes of the recent statutory review”, and ACMA says the new laws include “substantially increasing the penalties for breaches of the rules”.

BetStop FAQ

Sources and method

• BetStop, home, about, what to expect, FAQs, contact, site version 2.22.0, read 17 October 2026
• ACMA, BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register, last updated 8 October 2026, read 17 October 2026. This page gives the register operator’s number as 1300 792 958 and lists a driver’s licence or Medicare card for registration; we follow BetStop’s own site for both
• ACMA, BetStop statistics Q4 2025–2026, updated 17 July 2026, data to 30 June 2026, read 17 October 2026. Figures change with each new ACMA release
• ACMA, Dabble pays $1m penalty for gambling self-exclusion breaches, 16 September 2026, and Palmerbet breaches gambling self-exclusion rules, 23 September 2026, both read 17 October 2026
• Department of Infrastructure, BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register and Gambling Reforms 2026, read 17 October 2026
• Richard Eccles, Report of the Statutory Review of BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register, December 2025, published 25 February 2026, read 17 October 2026
• Minister for Communications, media releases Review of BetStop launched, 22 October 2024, and Strongest ever gambling reforms passed, 19 August 2026, both read 17 October 2026
• Interactive Gambling Act 2001, Compilation No. 24, C2024C00646 (compilation date 14 October 2024, in force on 17 October 2026), Part 7B: ss 61GA, 61JA, 61JK, 61JP, 61KA, 61LA–61LD, 61MA, 61MB, 61QF, read 17 October 2026
• Our arithmetic: share of active registrations (40,160 of 65,430) and the growth from the review’s 53,308 to ACMA’s 65,430; the two figures come from different publications and dates

We describe BetStop because it helps people with gambling harm; we have no relationship with BetStop or ACMA and are paid nothing for the links. Details change: if a number here has moved, tell us at info@toponlinecasinoaustralia.com and we will correct it.

You must be 18 or over to gamble. National gambling helpline: 1800 858 858.

Written by: Helene Berner · Updated: 17 October 2026