Australia may be known as the lucky country, but what about when it comes to online gambling? While online gambling is everywhere, not all of it is legal – especially in Australia. There are certain laws and regulations that govern gambling over the internet and how it works in the land Down Under.
Therefore, before even eyeing those new no deposit bonuses you can explore at AussieBonuses.com, you need to familiarise yourself with the legalities surrounding this jurisdiction, in order to gamble responsibly and with peace of mind.
The Interactive Gambling Act 2001
The primary legal framework under which online gambling falls in Australia is the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. This Act, which is almost 25 years old, was enacted into law before the iPhone existed, before Facebook existed, before the web as we know it now existed at all.
While there was an amendment to the Act in 2024, the amendments included only a ban on advertising licensed online gambling services across all media (except for a few exemptions) and a ban on using credit cards, credit services, or crypto payments for these licensed gambling providers.
Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, the only online gambling services allowed in Australia are those with a license to provide sports betting (although not during play), licensed lotteries, and free-to-enter lotteries. During-play sports betting is only allowable by phone, and there is no licensing available for online casino games, including poker.
The Act outlines penalties in ‘penalty units’ rather than in AUD. Penalty units are amounts that are indexed and set by the consumer price index each year. The current cost of one penalty unit (after 7th November 2024) is $330 AUD. This price increases whenever the Australian government decides it is time to reassess the penalty unit cost.
So, for instance, under the Act, the penalty for a person who is ‘intentionally providing a prohibited interactive gambling offence’ with an Australian-customer link is 5000 penalty units. At this present moment in time, that would calculate out to 5000 x $330 = $1.65M AUD. And that’s just the criminal penalty. The civil penalty stands at 7500 penalty units and requires a lesser burden of proof to prosecute. That’s $2.475M for the civil penalty alone.
If a person were prosecuted both criminally and civilly for that offence alone, that adds up to over four million dollars. That’s not a sum to be sneezed at and offers a large deterrent to plenty of offshore operators. Of course, it can be hard for the Australian government to track down and prosecute people overseas providing these services. It’s only if a known person travels to Australia do, they really have a chance at prosecuting an offshore operator.
Which Agency Enforces This Act?
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is the overseeing agency that is mainly involved in policing the provisions of the Interactive Gambling Act. ACMA is in charge of overseeing that licensed gambling providers stay within their allowed advertising channels and blocking offshore operators from offering their services to Australian players. The ACMA can and does fine licensed operators and place conditions on their operations if they fall outside of the law.
The ACMA does not have any interaction with players, either with players of licensed service operators or with players of unlicensed offshore operators. The agency only communicates with operators themselves.
Which Gambling Operators are Legal in Australia?
There are almost 100 different licensed sports betting operators in Australia that Australians can access online, and a handful of different lottery operators. Licensing happens at the state and territory level, while enforcement of the Act happens at the federal level.
States themselves also have various legislation surrounding their own management of licensing and operations for sports betting and lottery operators. Operators licensed within a certain state must comply with all the regulations at the state level as well as at the federal level.
The states also govern land-based gambling within their borders. This means, for example, that certain pubs in New South Wales can be licensed slot (pokies) operators, but not in Western Australia, where this type of gambling is only allowed at the casino.
What Does All This Mean for Players?
Players, while governed by Australia’s laws, have not been prosecuted for gambling with offshore operators, whether those operators are licensed somewhere else or not. The Australian authorities instead advise Australians not to gamble with overseas operators as they are not under the protection of the Australian government.
This means that if players are to play at offshore online casinos, they do so at their own risk. While there are no criminal implications for players, people are reminded that there are no protections for recovering money, issues with operators, or other potential problems that might arise.
