Is Online Gambling Legal in Australia? The 2026 Law Explained

Online casinos are not legal to offer in Australia. The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 bans companies from providing online casino games, online pokies and in-play betting to people in Australia. Licensed online sports and race betting and online lottery tickets are legal. Players themselves commit no offence under the Act, but they get almost no protection when an offshore site refuses to pay.

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I’m Liam Kearney, and I review casinos for a living from Brisbane. That makes this the page I most want people to read before they deposit anywhere.

Everything below comes from the Act itself on the Federal Register of Legislation, the ACMA, BetStop, the ATO and the Parliament of Australia. I checked each source in September 2026, and they are all listed at the end.

Is online gambling legal in Australia?

Some of it is. Licensed online betting on horse racing, harness racing, greyhounds and sport before the event starts is legal, and so are online lottery tickets. Online casinos, online pokies, electronic scratchies and in-play sports betting on the internet are banned for any company offering them to people in Australia.

The quickest test is the ACMA register of licensed interactive gambling providers. If a betting brand is not on it, it is not legal to use for wagering in Australia. No online casino appears on that register, because no online casino can hold that kind of Australian licence.

What does the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 say?

The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 is the federal law that controls gambling offered over the internet, by app and by phone. It bans prohibited interactive gambling services, bans unlicensed betting services, bans credit and certain payment methods for wagering, bans advertising of illegal services and sets up BetStop.

The Act’s own simplified outline in section 3 lists the prohibitions. A prohibited interactive gambling service must not be provided to customers in Australia. Unlicensed regulated services must not be provided either. Credit must not be offered to customers of certain wagering services.

It also says wagering services must not accept payment by credit card or digital currency, that illegal services must not be advertised, and that licensed wagering companies must not serve anyone registered on BetStop.

Notice who every one of those rules is aimed at. Each one targets the person or company providing or advertising the service. None of them makes it an offence to be the customer.

How did the Act change in 2017 and after?

The 2017 amendments were aimed at offshore operators. They created a public register of licensed wagering providers, banned lines of credit, gave the ACMA new enforcement tools, and allowed it to refer company directors to the Australian Border Force. Website blocking started in November 2019.

The ACMA says the 2017 reforms were designed to combat groups outside Australia providing illegal gambling services over the internet. Since then, it reports that over 230 illegal services have pulled out of the Australian market.

A 2018 amendment dealt with betting on the outcome of lotteries, and a 2019 change allowed the national self-exclusion register to be built. That register became BetStop in 2023. The credit card ban followed in June 2024.

What counts as interactive gambling under the law?

Under section 5, a prohibited interactive gambling service is a gambling service run as a business and provided to customers over the internet, another carriage service, broadcasting or datacasting. Several services are then carved out, including telephone betting, most wagering on racing and sport, and ordinary lottery services.

The key trigger is the “Australian customer link” in section 8. A service has that link if any of its customers are physically present in Australia. It does not matter where the company is based or where its servers sit.

Section 15 gives a narrow defence. An operator who did not know, and could not with reasonable diligence have found out, that a customer was in Australia may escape liability. The court looks at things like whether the operator warned customers, checked their details and had network data showing where they were.

What forms of online gambling are legal in Australia?

Online betting on racing, and on sport before the event starts, is legal through an Australian-licensed provider. Online lottery tickets are legal. Online casino games, online pokies, electronic scratchies, online in-play sports betting and betting on lottery outcomes are not legal for operators to offer.

Section 8A covers the legal wagering. Betting on horse, harness and greyhound races is an excluded wagering service. So is betting on sporting events, as long as it is not in-play betting.

Section 8D makes a service for the conduct of a lottery, or for the supply of lottery tickets, an excluded lottery service. It also says this carve-out does not apply to electronic scratch lotteries or other instant lotteries, and regulations can exclude highly repetitive, frequently drawn keno-type games.

Anything in the “yes” rows still needs a state or territory licence. Section 15AA makes it an offence to provide one of these regulated services to Australians without that licence.

Why is in-play betting banned online but not by phone?

Section 10B defines in-play betting as a bet on a sporting event, or something that happens during it, placed after the event has started. Online in-play sports betting is banned. A telephone betting service run wholly by voice call is excluded from the ban, so live phone bets remain legal.

The ACMA says you can complain to it if a licensed provider offers in-play online betting. The legal line is whether the dealings with you are wholly by voice call.

Are online casinos legal in Australia?

No. No company can legally offer online casino games or online pokies to people in Australia, whether it is based here or overseas. The ACMA lists slots, casino-style games like poker, blackjack and roulette, and scratchies among the illegal online services.

Land-based casinos are a different matter. Crown, The Star and other venues are licensed by state regulators and can legally run table games and gaming machines on their floors. They cannot put those games online for Australians.

We still review offshore casinos on this site, including our Fair Go Casino review, because Australians use them and deserve honest information about the risks. Our rating method puts payout record and complaint handling ahead of bonus size for that reason.

Can you go to jail for online gambling in Australia?

Not for playing. The offences in the Interactive Gambling Act apply to people who provide or advertise illegal services, not to their customers. I found no offence in the Act for an individual placing bets or playing casino games on an offshore site. The legal risk to players is financial, not criminal.

That is not the same as saying you are safe. The ACMA lists what can go wrong, based on complaints it has received from real players.

• You deposit, you win, and you cannot get your winnings out.
• The operator shuts down or moves, and your balance disappears.
• After you stop playing, money keeps being taken from your bank account without permission.
• The site gets blocked and you cannot log in to reach your account.

The ACMA’s own words are that you are “unlikely to see your money again” in these cases. That is the real penalty for players, and it can be large.

What penalties do illegal casino operators face?

Providing a prohibited interactive gambling service to Australians is a criminal offence carrying 5,000 penalty units per day. There is also a civil penalty of 7,500 penalty units per day. The ACMA says civil penalties can reach $2,475,000 per day for individuals and $12,375,000 per day for companies.

Each day the service keeps running counts as a separate offence, under section 15(2). The same penalty level applies to providing an unlicensed betting service under section 15AA.

The ACMA can also issue formal warnings and infringement notices, accept enforceable undertakings, refer matters to police or prosecutors, and ask internet providers to block sites.

It can report directors of offending companies to the Australian Border Force. The ACMA says they may then be placed on the Movement Alert List, which can disrupt their travel to Australia.

Advertising is covered too. Publishing an ad for a prohibited service in Australia is an offence of 120 penalty units under section 61EA, with a higher civil penalty on top.

How does ACMA block casino sites, and what are mirror sites?

The ACMA asks Australian internet service providers to block illegal gambling websites using its power under section 313 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. Its first request was in November 2019. As of 24 September 2026, it reports 1,822 illegal gambling and affiliate websites blocked.

Recent blocks announced on 24 September 2026 included Bet Ninja, Riobet188, ThePokies33, Spade69 and WinShark.

A mirror site is a copy of a blocked casino on a new web address. Operators create them so players can keep logging in after the original domain is blocked. The 2023 parliamentary inquiry specifically asked the government to find faster ways to block mirror sites.

Is it illegal to use a VPN to reach a blocked casino?

The Interactive Gambling Act does not make players commit an offence, and I found nothing in it about customers using a VPN. But a VPN does not make an illegal casino legal, and it can give the casino an easy excuse to confiscate your winnings.

I do not recommend using a VPN to reach a blocked gambling site. Here is why, in plain terms.

Most offshore casinos have terms that ban VPNs or ban players from restricted countries. When you win big, the casino checks your login history. If it sees a VPN or a mismatch with your ID, it can close the account and keep the balance, and you have no Australian regulator to appeal to.

Also, a site that has been blocked by the ACMA has already been found to be breaching Australian law. Going around the block puts your money with an operator the regulator has flagged. That is the opposite of what a careful player should do.

Is an offshore casino with a Curacao or Anjouan licence legal in Australia?

No. A foreign licence does not authorise a company to serve Australians. The Act applies to any service with customers physically present in Australia, wherever the company is licensed. A Curacao or Anjouan licence only tells you which overseas body, if any, you can complain to.

The Curacao Gaming Authority describes itself as the regulator for the Curacao online gaming industry under the National Ordinance on Games of Chance, known as the LOK. So a Curacao licence does mean a regulator exists that you can write to.

Anjouan, one of the islands of the Comoros, also issues online gaming licences that many newer casinos display.

What neither licence gives you is Australian protection. There is no Australian ombudsman, no ACMA help to recover winnings, and no BetStop coverage.

My view is simple. I treat a foreign licence as the minimum bar for even looking at a casino, never as proof it is safe. If a site shows no licence number I can check on the regulator’s own website, I would not deposit a cent.

Does BetStop cover online casinos?

No. BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register, launched on 21 August 2023 and covers all Australian-licensed online and phone wagering providers. It does not apply to online casino games or other gambling services that are illegally provided in Australia, so offshore casinos ignore it.

You can register for a minimum of 3 months, up to a lifetime. Once registered, licensed providers must close your betting accounts and must not let you bet, let you open new accounts or send you marketing.

The ACMA enforces this. In September 2026 alone, it announced that Dabble paid $1,069,200 in penalties and Palmerbet entered an enforceable undertaking over self-exclusion breaches.

If you want to block offshore casinos too, BetStop will not do it. Ask your bank about a gambling block on your card and account, and use the tools on our responsible gambling page.

Can you use a credit card to gamble online in Australia?

Not for online or phone betting with a licensed provider. Since 11 June 2024, wagering operators cannot accept credit cards, funds linked to credit cards such as some digital wallets, or digital currency like crypto. The ban does not apply to lotteries.

The ban covers online and telephone betting services, including on-course bookmakers. Licensed wagering companies are also banned from offering you credit or helping you get credit from third parties such as payday lenders.

If you want a sense of how Australians actually fund offshore accounts, our PayID casinos guide covers it, along with the scam warning that PayID’s operator publishes.

Do you pay tax on gambling winnings in Australia?

Generally no, for recreational players. The ATO says prizes from ordinary lotteries such as lotto and raffles do not need to be declared. For capital gains tax, gains and losses made directly from gambling are disregarded. What you later do with the winnings can be taxed.

The ATO gives an example where a person wins crypto in an online lottery. The win itself is not ordinary income. But when they sell the crypto two years later for more than it was worth when they won it, they pay capital gains tax on the growth.

The picture can change if gambling looks like your business rather than a pastime. If you bet at a scale and in a way that resembles a trade, get advice from a registered tax agent before assuming the usual rule applies to you.

How do you complain about an offshore casino?

The ACMA cannot recover money from an illegal operator. Its advice is to seek independent legal advice, complain to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, or contact the casino’s licensing authority. You can also report the site to the ACMA so it can investigate and possibly block it.

In practice, this is the order I would work through.

1. Collect evidence. Screenshot your balance, the withdrawal request, chat transcripts and every email. Note dates and amounts.
2. Use the casino’s own complaint process. Ask in writing for the specific term they say you broke. Vague answers are a red flag.
3. Go to the licensing body. Find the licence number in the site footer and check it on the regulator’s own site, then lodge a complaint there.
4. Call your bank. If money is being taken without permission, or you paid a scam, your bank may be able to stop further payments.
5. Report to the ACMA. Use its interactive gambling complaint form. You can stay anonymous. By post, write to the Manager, Interactive Gambling Team, ACMA, PO Box Q500, Queen Victoria Building NSW 1230.

Be realistic about the result. Reporting helps protect other people, but it rarely gets your own money back.

What is scambling and how do you spot it?

Scambling is slang for illegal gambling platforms, usually advertised on social media and messaging apps, that trick people into depositing on a scam website. Australian Payments Plus, which runs PayID, warns that if an illegal gambling site asks you to pay a PayID, it is almost certainly a scambling site.

If you think you have been scambled, PayID’s advice is to contact your financial institution straight away. The sooner the bank knows, the better your chance of stopping further losses.

How do state and territory gambling laws fit in?

The federal Act sets the rules for online gambling, while each state and territory licenses and regulates gambling in its own patch. That includes land-based casinos, pubs and clubs with pokies, and the licences that online bookmakers need before they can legally take bets.

Every licensed online bookmaker on the ACMA register is licensed by a state or territory body. Most are licensed in the Northern Territory, New South Wales or Victoria.

For a complaint about a licensed bookmaker, go to the body that licensed it, as shown on the ACMA register. For offshore casinos, no state regulator has any role, because none of them licensed the site.

What did the “You win some, you lose more” inquiry recommend?

The House of Representatives committee report, tabled in June 2023, made 31 recommendations. They included a national online gambling regulator, a ban on all online gambling inducements, a phased ban on all online gambling advertising over three years, and faster blocking of offshore and mirror sites.

Other recommendations asked for bank minimum standards, including a block on gambling merchants for people registered on BetStop, and a protocol for blocking payments to known illegal operators.

The committee also recommended banning commissions paid to staff or any third party involved in referring people to online gambling, and setting up a national online gambling ombudsman.

What is changing in online gambling law from 2027?

The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 passed Parliament on 19 August 2026. The ACMA says most reforms commence on 1 January 2027, including new advertising restrictions, an opt-out register for gambling ads, limits on inducements and a ban on activity-based commissions to staff or affiliates.

According to the ACMA, the package also does the following.

• Restricts gambling advertising on TV, radio, online and in sports venues.
• Limits direct marketing of inducements 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.
• Boosts enforcement against illegal gambling, including the power to take down ads and illegal services.
• Strengthens how BetStop works and deals with harmful online lottery products.

None of this legalises online casinos. If anything, the direction of travel is tighter enforcement against offshore sites and the ads that point to them. Expect more blocks, faster takedowns and fewer ways for these sites to reach you.

So what should an Australian player do?

If you want legal online gambling, stick to providers on the ACMA register. If you choose an offshore casino anyway, understand that you have little protection. Deposit only what you can afford to lose, withdraw early and often, and never chase a site that came to you through a message.

My honest take after years of reviewing these sites: the legal risk to you is close to nil, and the money risk is real. I would never keep a large balance sitting at an offshore casino, and I would not take a bonus whose terms I had not read end to end, including the free spins on our no deposit bonus list.

If you do play, pick casinos with a track record of paying Australians, like those on our best Australian online casinos ranking, and read the rest of our guides first. If gambling stops being fun, call the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858 or visit Gambling Help Online. Both are free and open all day, every day.

Liam Kearney

Senior Casino Reviewer

Liam Kearney is the Senior Casino Reviewer at Aussie Casinos Guide, based in Brisbane. He has spent years reading casino terms and conditions line by line, with a focus on payout times, PayID and crypto banking, and the real maths behind bonus offers. He checks every review on the site and pushes responsible gambling tools as hard as he pushes fast withdrawals.

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