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Online gambling in Australia, 2026
The money, the regulator and the next change
What the Interactive Gambling Act actually bans
The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 is a federal law. Its section 15 says a person “commits an offence” if they intentionally provide “a prohibited interactive gambling service” and the service has “an Australian-customer link”. In plain words: it is an offence to offer a banned online gambling service to customers who are in Australia. In ACMA's words, the Act “makes it illegal for gambling providers to offer some online services to people in Australia”. ACMA says the banned services include:
- online casinos — ACMA's page on blocked websites also names “online slot machines”, which Australians call pokies;
- in-play sports betting — a bet placed online on a match already under way;
- sports betting services which do not hold an Australian licence;
- betting on the outcome of a lottery.
The list begins with “include”, so it is not complete. Banned services “must not be advertised in Australia”, and providers “must not promote or offer credit for online betting”. ACMA says the Act covers gambling online, “through a website or app and via a telephone”. The offence in section 15 is about offering the service to customers in Australia, so it applies to an operator based in another country too, whatever licence it holds.
The maximum penalty is 5,000 penalty units for each day of the offence. A penalty unit is a fixed dollar amount used in federal laws: the Australian Securities and Investments Commission lists it as A$364 for offences on or after 1 July 2026. For an individual, that is up to A$1,820,000 a day. The Act also has a civil penalty, a money penalty ordered by a court without a criminal case: 7,500 penalty units, or A$2,730,000 for an individual. Section 15C of the Act restricts credit and digital currency for licensed online betting.
Notice who is not named in section 15: the person who plays. The offence is aimed at whoever provides the service. What that means for you is set out in what the law means for the player.
What is legal, and why the line sits there
Betting on sport and racing is legal online when the bet is placed before the event starts, with an operator that holds an Australian state or territory licence. ACMA keeps a register of these licensed online betting (wagering) providers. When we read it on 27 October 2026, it had 213 entries and no casino among them.
Lotteries: section 8D of the Act takes lottery draws and the sale of lottery tickets out of the ban. Electronic scratchies and other instant lotteries are not taken out. ACMA lists “betting and lottery services that are not licensed in Australia” among illegal services; which lottery sellers are licensed is a matter for state and territory law, which this page does not cover.
Casino games and pokies in venues such as casinos, clubs and pubs are a matter for state and territory law. Online, they are banned services. As we read the Act, there is no Australian licence for an online casino to hold: offering one to people in Australia is the offence in section 15. To check a betting site, search its name in ACMA's register. An online casino will not be there.
Why betting is allowed online and casino games are not: the government gave its reasons in 2001, in the explanatory memorandum to the Bill, the document that explains a Bill to Parliament. It separated wagering, “a bet on an event or contingency”, from gaming, “playing games of chance for money”. In a wager, it said, “the bettor usually does not participate in the actual event or contingency”, while “interactive gaming involves the bettor in the game”.
The memorandum gave two more reasons. The market for betting and lotteries was “primarily domestic”, so restricting them “may therefore have significant negative commercial consequences” for local industry. In-play betting stayed banned because it “could evolve into highly addictive and easily accessible forms of interactive gambling”. The overall aim was to “limit the development of this newly emerging industry and minimise the scope for problem gambling among Australians”. These are the reasons stated in 2001, not a statement of today's policy.
What the Interactive Gambling Act allows online
Services offered to people in Australia; the banned column follows ACMA's list (read 27 October 2026)
Legal with an Australian licence
- Betting on sport and racing placed before the event starts
- Lottery draws and ticket sales, which the Act leaves out of the ban (electronic scratchies are not left out)
- Check: the operator is on ACMA's register of Australian-licensed interactive wagering providers
Banned from being offered
- Online casinos: pokies and casino games such as roulette, blackjack and baccarat
- In-play sports betting over the internet
- Sports betting from providers without an Australian licence
- Betting on the outcome of a lottery
The Act does not make it an offence for customers to use these services, a 2011 federal review paper of the Act says. ACMA says Australian regulators will not be able to help a player if an illegal service withholds winnings.
Sources: Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Commonwealth), sections 8D and 15; ACMA, About the Interactive Gambling Act and Protect yourself from illegal gambling operators; Review of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (2011).
What the law means for the player
The Act does not make playing an offence. A 2011 federal review paper of the Act put it plainly: the Act “does not make it an offence for Australian customers to access and use prohibited interactive gambling services”. The federal Department responsible for the Act says on its page, which carries no date, that the Act “targets the providers of interactive gambling, not their potential or actual customers”.
Both sources are older than the 2026 reform, so we read the Act ourselves, in the text it will have from 1 January 2027. The phrase “commits an offence if” appears 27 times. We found none of these offences aimed at the person who uses the service: they are aimed at providers, advertisers, licensed bookmakers and internet companies. This is our reading of the federal Act, not legal advice, and state and territory laws were not checked.
Not committing an offence is not the same as being protected. ACMA wrote in 2021 that people who use these sites “have little or no recourse if they experience poor player treatment or their winnings have been withheld”. In practice, three things can happen to your money, each covered below:
- the site can be blocked in Australia, and you may not be able to log in (blocking);
- from 1 January 2027, a deposit from an Australian account may be refused (the 2027 changes);
- if the casino keeps your winnings, ACMA says Australian regulators will not be able to help you (if a casino will not pay).
BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register, lets you exclude yourself “from all Australian licensed online and phone wagering services in a single step”, in ACMA's words. Offshore casinos are not licensed in Australia, so, as we read it, BetStop does not reach them.
What ACMA does now: blocking and warnings
ACMA can ask internet service providers to block websites, under section 313 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. It uses this against sites “providing prohibited interactive gambling services to customers in Australia (such as online casinos, online slot machines and services that allow in-play online sports betting)”. A block means your internet provider will not open the site's address, its domain. ACMA warns that if a site is blocked, “you may not be able to log in and access your existing account”. If you have money in an account on a blocked site, follow the steps in if a casino will not pay you: keep your records and complain to the operator and to its licensor.
ACMA's release of 24 September 2026 says 1,822 “illegal gambling and affiliate websites” have been blocked since its first blocking request in November 2019. Its public list of blocked domains held 1,810 entries when we read it on 27 October 2026; the two numbers come from different documents. One brand name can appear many times: 16 domains carrying the name “ignition” were on that list on 27 October 2026.
ACMA says the law “changed in 2017 to combat groups from outside Australia that provide illegal gambling services over the internet”. Since then it can “refer the directors and principals of offending companies to the Australian Border Force”. It also issues formal warnings to operators. For example, a search of ACMA's site on 27 October 2026 listed formal warnings to the company Dama N.V., one of them titled with the brands Katsubet, Winz.io and Ricky Casino, in ACMA's reports for 2021; we did not open the warnings themselves. A warning is addressed to the operator, not to its players.
On results, ACMA's two documents give different numbers. Its page on the Act, updated 21 August 2026, says “Over 220 online gambling services have withdrawn from the Australian market”. Its release of 24 September 2026 says “Over 230 illegal services have also pulled out of the Australian market” since 2017. ACMA also says “the amount of money people lost on gambling services based outside Australia has reduced”, without naming the reports or the amount.
The new gambling laws: what starts on 1 January 2027
On 19 August 2026 Parliament passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026. It became Act No. 72 of 2026, with royal assent on 26 August 2026. ACMA says “Most of the reforms commence on 1 January 2027”. In ACMA's summary, the reform brings:
- restrictions on gambling advertising on television, radio, online and in sports venues;
- a global opt-out register for gambling advertising;
- limits on direct marketing of inducements, such as bonus offers, to new account holders in their first 14 days, to people who left BetStop in the last 3 months, and to customers identified as at risk of gambling-related harm;
- “a ban on commissions to staff or affiliates based on customer activity” — in the Act (section 62ZT) this applies to licensed interactive wagering service providers, that is, Australian-licensed bookmakers, not to offshore casinos;
- “boosting enforcement action against illegal gambling services including the ability to takedown advertisements and illegal gambling services”;
- a stronger BetStop, and measures on “harmful and emerging online lottery products”.
We read the Act as it will stand on 1 January 2027, in a “future compilation”: the text the Federal Register of Legislation prepared on 14 October 2026 with the new amendments built in. It is not an authorised version, because the law can still change before that date. Three measures matter most to a player:
- Payments (section 15J). Banks, credit unions and other authorised deposit-taking institutions, and payment-system participants, must prevent, “so far as it is reasonably practicable to do so”, payments from an account held in Australia to the operator of a banned service. “Funds” include digital currency. So a deposit may be refused. The rule covers payments from an account in Australia to the operator; it says nothing about payments back to you, and how banks will apply it is not yet known. That silence is not a promise that winnings will reach you: ACMA warns that with illegal operators, “if you win you can’t access your winnings” (see if a casino will not pay you).
- Internet services (section 15AB). Internet providers, domain name system providers, app stores and search engines must prevent their services being used to provide or reach a banned service, so far as reasonably practicable.
- Removal notices (sections 61EH–61EN). ACMA can give notices to hosts, websites, search engines and app stores to remove an ad, the service itself, a search link or an app, within 24 hours unless ACMA allows longer.
Advertising rules tighten too. From 1 January 2027 an online ad for a banned service “is taken to be published in Australia” if someone in Australia can reach it (section 61AB). The civil penalty for publishing one rises from 180 to 1,000 penalty units; the criminal penalty stays at 120.
None of this creates an offence for the player: the new duties fall on providers, advertisers, banks and internet companies (our reading of the text). ACMA says it “will be publishing more information in the lead up to commencement”. We found no ACMA guidance on the payment rule when we checked on 27 October 2026.
Figure 3 places the 2027 changes in the longer history: from the first Sydney race in 1810 to the Act of 2001 and the steps that followed it.
From Hyde Park to the 2027 reforms
Two centuries of Australian gambling in eleven dates
- 1810First official horse race in Sydney, run in Hyde Park (October)
- 1881George Adams runs his first public Tattersall's sweep, on the Sydney Cup
- 1956New South Wales legalises poker machines in clubs
- 1973Australia's first legal casino: Wrest Point, Hobart
- 1999The Northern Territory licenses Lasseters Casino, Alice Springs, to run an internet casino
- 2001Interactive Gambling Act makes it illegal to offer online casino services to people in Australia
- 2017Amendment Act targets providers outside Australia; ACMA gains new enforcement tools
- 2019ACMA makes its first request to internet providers to block illegal gambling sites (November)
- 2023BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register, launches (21 August)
- 2024Credit cards, credit-linked products and digital currency banned for licensed online wagering
- 2027Most reforms of the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 commence on 1 January
Sources: 1810 — State Library of New South Wales and Dictionary of Sydney; 1881 — Australian Dictionary of Biography; 1956 — University of Technology Sydney doctoral thesis on New South Wales clubs (the 1956 Act itself was not read); 1973 — University of Tasmania, Companion to Tasmanian History; 1999 — Northern Territory Parliament tabled paper of 22 April 1999 and Alice Springs News, 14 April 1999; 2001–2027 — ACMA and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts.
“Licensed” casinos and what the licence is worth
A casino site may say it is “licensed”. An offshore licence is a licence from a regulator outside Australia, for example in Curaçao or Anjouan, or the Kahnawake or Tobique gaming commissions in Canada. It is not an Australian licence: the licensing authorities in ACMA's register are all Australian state and territory regulators. And section 15 bans offering the service to people in Australia whatever licence the operator holds, so a foreign licence does not make the service lawful here.
Australian dollars and Australian themes are not a licence either. ACMA's 2021 report describes offshore services that “target Australian customers, using Australian themes and accepting play in Australian dollars”. Those signs show a service offered to people in Australia, which is what the Act bans.
What a licence can give you is a name. If a casino names its company and its licensor, you know whom to complain to if it will not pay; ACMA lists contacting “the relevant licensing authority” as one option. A licence does not make the service lawful under the Act.
What a VPN can cost you at an offshore casino
A VPN (virtual private network) changes the address a casino sees. It does not change whom the Act is aimed at: the provider that offers the service to people in Australia. What a VPN can put at risk is your balance. The terms of three casinos, read from an Australian connection on 27 October 2026, treat VPN use as grounds to forfeit money, meaning the casino keeps it:
- Ignition, clause 6.2: “the usage of a VPN, proxy or similar service that masks or manipulates the identification of your real location” is listed as improper activity, and in that case “all Account balances (including both deposits and any winnings) shall be forfeited”.
- Lucky Tiger, clause 6.3: on “using the VPN, proxy or similar service” the casino says it may “block user’s Account with forfeiting of all Account balances without prior notification”.
- Casino Rocket, clause 3.2: “Use of VPNs to bypass geographic restrictions is strictly prohibited and may lead to confiscation of winnings.”
Ignition and Lucky Tiger name the whole balance, deposits included; Casino Rocket names winnings. None of the three says how it detects a VPN, and we have not tested whether any of them does. On 27 October 2026, ACMA's list of blocked sites held domains carrying each name: 16 with “ignition”, 2 with “luckytiger” and 15 with “casinorocket”. A domain carrying a name is not proof that the same company runs it.
If an offshore casino will not pay you
ACMA's warning is direct: “Illegal operators let you deposit money into your account on their website or app, but if you win you can’t access your winnings.” If you use an illegal service, ACMA says, “Australian regulators will not be able to help you” when “the service provider withholds your winnings”. For money stuck at an overseas site, ACMA names three options: independent legal advice, a complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, or contacting the licensing authority. It does not say any of them will get your money back. Work through these steps in order:
- Document everything: screenshots of the balance and the withdrawal request, chat transcripts, and the terms as they stood when you played.
- Complain in writing to the operator, citing the clause you complied with.
- Complain to the licensor, the body that issued the casino's licence, through its complaints route, if it publishes one.
- Seek independent legal advice or complain to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the other two options ACMA names.
- Report the site to ACMA if you think it offers illegal gambling. ACMA's form is for reporting the website; ACMA does not say it recovers money.
- Ask your bank whether a card deposit can be disputed. The decision is the bank's; ACMA does not name this among its options.
- Make a public complaint on independent forums, with your evidence.
Where to complain about an online casino has the contact routes in more detail.
Free help, any hour
If gambling has stopped being fun, these Australian services cost nothing
18+ only. Gambling involves financial risk.
Winnings and tax
The Australian Taxation Office lists “betting and gambling wins (unless you operate a betting or gambling business)” among amounts that are not assessable income. Its ruling IT 2655, issued on 17 October 1991, cites the Full Federal Court's view that gambling, “as ordinarily conducted by members of the gambling public, would seldom be a business even where large gains or losses are involved”. The ruling adds: “There is no Australian case in which the winnings of a mere punter have been held to be assessable (or the losses deductible).” The ruling deals with betting, and we have not checked whether it is still current.
Crypto is a separate case. The tax office says capital gains and losses “directly from” gambling winnings are left out of capital gains tax. But if you keep a crypto asset you won and later sell or swap it, “your crypto investment may be subject to CGT”, that is, capital gains tax, counted from the asset's value when you won it. Whether you count as running a gambling business depends on your own facts. This is general information, not tax advice; gambling winnings and tax covers the detail.
If you play anyway: the risk you carry
If you play at an offshore casino, the law leaves the risk with you. What an offshore licence gives an Australian player is covered in what the licence is worth: a name to complain to, not a lawful service. These five checks reduce the risk; how to check that an online casino is safe has the full list.
Five checks to make before you deposit
- A named operating company and licence in the terms. Search the document for “operated by”.
- Written withdrawal limits and a processing commitment. Without them, “fast payouts” is marketing. Which operators commit to a clock is checked claim against clause.
- Verification completed before the first withdrawal, so that identity checks do not hold up your first payout.
- A deposit limit set in the account before the first session, and a check that it covers crypto deposits too.
- Money you can afford to lose entirely, including to the operator. If an offshore casino withholds your winnings, ACMA says Australian regulators will not be able to help you.
Besides the legal risk, every game has a built-in cost: the share of each dollar staked that it keeps on average, whether the site is lawful or not. Figure 5 compares common games.
What each game keeps per dollar
Casino games: the house edge, the share of every dollar staked the game keeps on average. Keno and lotto: the share of ticket sales not paid back as prizes. RTP is return to player, the share of stakes a pokie pays back. Lower is better for the player.
Roulette edges calculated from the wheel (1/37, 2/38, and 1/74 for French la partage); baccarat, craps and blackjack as published by the Wizard of Odds (blackjack: six decks, dealer stands on soft 17, double after split, blackjack pays 3:2); online pokies: 100% minus the RTP in the game's information screen, where 94–97% is an example band, not a measured average (three Pragmatic Play titles we read on 23 October 2026 show 96.01–96.52%); venue pokies from the return range Gambling Help Queensland gives for clubs and hotels; keno from the New South Wales keno rules (Government Gazette No 266, 12 July 2024), which send 75% of regular keno ticket sales to the prize fund and let the operator move that by up to 5 points; Saturday Lotto from the Western Australian Lotteries Commission (Saturday Lotto) Rules 1996 (reprint as at 4 August 2006), which send 60% of ticket sales to prizes. Keno and lotto figures are for the whole game, not each ticket; other lotteries and later rule versions were not checked. The exact edge of a casino game depends on its rules and paytable.
How a real-money session runs from deposit to cash-out, clause by clause, is in real money pokies.
For scale, Figure 6 shows how many Australian adults spent money on each kind of gambling in 2022, in venues and online, legal services and banned ones together.
What Australians actually gamble on
Share of all Australian adults (not only gamblers) who spent money on each product in the 12 months before July 2022
Source: Australian Gambling Research Centre (2023), Community Attitudes Survey, online panel of 1,765 adults aged 18+, July 2022, via AIHW, Gambling in Australia (version of September 2023). Keno and bingo are one category in the survey. Eight of the 13 activities surveyed are shown; harness racing (22.5%) and novelty betting (17.2%) are left out.
FAQ
Is online gambling legal in Australia?
Partly. Betting on sport and racing before the event starts is legal online with an operator that holds an Australian state or territory licence, and the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 leaves lottery draws and ticket sales out of its ban. Online casino games, online pokies and in-play betting over the internet cannot legally be offered to people in Australia. The ban is on offering these services, not on the person who plays.
How do I check that a betting site is licensed in Australia?
Search the operator's name in ACMA's register of licensed interactive wagering providers. If the name is not there, the register does not show it as licensed in Australia. When we read the register on 27 October 2026, its 213 entries included no online casino.
Is it illegal to play online casino games in Australia?
Not under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, the federal law; we did not check state and territory laws. A 2011 federal review paper says the Act does not make it an offence for Australian customers to use banned services, and we found no player offence in the text as it will read from 1 January 2027. The offence is the operator's, for offering the games. ACMA says Australian regulators will not be able to help you if an illegal service withholds your winnings.
Are there any legal online casinos in Australia?
No. Offering online casino games to people in Australia is the offence in section 15 of the Act, so, as we read it, there is no Australian licence an online casino could hold, and ACMA's register lists none. Betting online before the event with an Australian-licensed operator is legal; casinos and pokies in venues are a matter for state and territory law.
What are the new gambling laws in Australia, and what changes on 1 January 2027?
The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 (Act No. 72 of 2026) was passed on 19 August 2026, and most of it starts on 1 January 2027. It brings advertising limits, an opt-out register, limits on inducements, a commission ban for Australian-licensed bookmakers and removal notices with 24 hours to comply. Banks and payment systems must stop payments from Australian accounts to illegal operators, so far as reasonably practicable. We found no new offence for the player in the text.
Can ACMA block an online casino I use?
Yes. ACMA asks internet providers to block illegal gambling sites; its release of 24 September 2026 counts 1,822 blocked since November 2019. ACMA warns that after a block you may not be able to log in to your existing account. From 1 January 2027 it can also give removal notices for the service and its ads.
Can I use a VPN to gamble online in Australia?
The Act is aimed at gambling providers; the risk to you sits in the casino's terms. In terms we read on 27 October 2026, Ignition and Lucky Tiger say VPN use can cost the whole balance, and Casino Rocket says it may lead to confiscation of winnings. We have not tested whether these casinos detect a VPN.
Do I pay tax on online casino winnings?
Generally not: the Australian Taxation Office lists betting and gambling wins as not assessable income unless you operate a betting or gambling business. If you keep a crypto asset you won, selling it later may be subject to capital gains tax. This is general information, not tax advice.
Sources and method
- The Act. Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Commonwealth), current compilation C2024C00646 on the Federal Register of Legislation, sections 5, 8D, 15 and 15C, read 27 October 2026; the future law compilation for 1 January 2027 (prepared 14 October 2026, not authorised), sections 8D, 15AB, 15H, 15J, 61AB, 61EA, 61EH–61EN and 62ZT, read 27 October 2026; Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 (Act No. 72 of 2026), text as made, read 19 October 2026.
- Why the line sits where it does. Interactive Gambling Bill 2001, Revised Explanatory Memorandum, read 27 October 2026; Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Review of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001: call for submissions (2011), read 17 October 2026; Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts, The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (page without a date), read 25 October 2026.
- ACMA. About the Interactive Gambling Act (last updated 21 August 2026), Blocked gambling websites (last updated 20 July 2026) with its public list of blocked domains, and the register of licensed interactive wagering providers, all read 27 October 2026; ACMA site search for its formal warnings to Dama N.V., read 27 October 2026; Latest illegal online gambling websites blocked (24 September 2026), Online casino services targeting Australians (compliance priority 2020–21 report, November 2021) and Protect yourself from illegal gambling operators (last updated 6 March 2025), read 25 October 2026.
- Penalty units. Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Fines and penalties, read 27 October 2026.
- Tax. Australian Taxation Office, What income to exclude (last updated 7 May 2025), Taxation Ruling IT 2655 (17 October 1991) and Crypto asset prizes and gambling winnings (last updated 22 June 2026), read 26 October 2026.
- Casino terms. VPN clauses of Ignition (clause 6.2), Lucky Tiger (clause 6.3) and Casino Rocket (clause 3.2), read from an Australian connection on 27 October 2026 (not linked: the links carry casino addresses).
- For the figures. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Gambling in Australia (read 23 October 2026), for 2022–23 losses and the support lines; Department of Infrastructure, on the BetStop launch of 21 August 2023; Gambling Help Queensland, on the return of pokies in clubs and hotels (read 17 October 2026); the Wizard of Odds, for the baccarat, craps and blackjack edges; Australian Gambling Research Centre, Community Attitudes Survey (July 2022), as published in the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's Gambling in Australia (version of 6 September 2023, archived copy read 25 October 2026), for what Australians gamble on; New South Wales Government Gazette No 266 (12 July 2024), keno rules; Lotteries Commission (Saturday Lotto) Rules 1996 (Western Australia), reprint as at 4 August 2006, rule 18.
- For the history dates (read 25 October 2026). State Library of New South Wales, the first Sydney races, and Dictionary of Sydney, Hyde Park Racecourse; Australian Dictionary of Biography, George Adams; University of Technology Sydney, thesis on New South Wales registered clubs; University of Tasmania, Companion to Tasmanian History: gambling; Territory Stories (Northern Territory), Internet Gaming Operators Agreement with Lasseters Casino (tabled paper, 22 April 1999), and Alice Springs News, 14 April 1999.
Each quotation is the wording of the source named beside it. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. How we are paid is set out in our disclosure.
Gambling is a cost, not an income; you must be 18 or over. Free, confidential support is available 24/7 on 1800 858 858 through Gambling Help Online.