Is online gambling legal?
Interactive Gambling Act 2001
Crypto gambling tax
Grey market casinos
Credit and crypto banAustralia's regulation of online gambling falls into two categories. Everything connected to gambling in person, the pokies in the pub, the casinos and the TAB counters, is regulated by the individual states and territories. Everything online falls under federal regulation, through the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA).
What this page covers
For a player of online gambling sites, the regulator that matters is the ACMA. Most of this page is dedicated to what the ACMA and the IGA do, rather than what the other authorities around online gambling do not do.
ACMA: the online gambling regulator
The ACMA is Australia's federal regulator of communications and media. The IGA gives it regulatory power over online gambling services: it investigates reports of illegal gambling sites, publishes formal findings that declare certain websites illegal, pursues civil penalties against those companies, and runs two programs, website blocking and BetStop.
The ACMA's formal findings list the illegal gambling services it has investigated and declared illegal. Investigations into international gambling websites have produced long lists of brands found to be running illegal services in Australia. Investigations into the wagering services of licensed Australian companies have found breaches of in-play betting rules, marketing communications sent to self-excluding customers, and gambling accounts opened for people registered with BetStop.
The website blocking program
Since November 2019, the ACMA has asked Australia's internet service providers to block access to illegal gambling websites. The point of the blocking program is to reach illegal operators who have no physical presence in Australia. As of May 2026, the ACMA and the internet providers have blocked access to 1,708 gambling and affiliate websites, and around 220 illegal operators have left the Australian market since 2017 under that pressure.
For players, there are two details to note about the ACMA's blocking program. First, the blocked list includes the affiliate and promotional websites of gambling companies, not just the casinos. Second, the blocking happens at the DNS level, which is why an international casino's address so often changes to a new number. A block means the ACMA has formally declared the site illegal; it cannot wipe the player's balance, but the player may have to switch to the operator's newest address. There is more on this in our grey market guide.
The official list of every gambling website the ACMA has blocked since 2019 is published on its own website, and anyone can submit a form to report a gambling site as illegal and operating in Australia.
How a complaint becomes a block
Anyone can start the process of investigating a gambling website. The ACMA's online form lets a complainant report an illegal site, and it can be submitted by a member of the public, a rival gambling company, or the ACMA itself. Once the site is investigated and found to be offering illegal services, the ACMA declares it illegal, sends that declaration to every internet service provider in Australia, and adds the site to the official blocked list. Repeat offenders keep piling new domains onto that list. Where an operator has licensed companies with a presence in Australia, civil penalty proceedings can follow between the ACMA and the company.
The other half of the ACMA's register covers investigations into licensed gambling companies that breach the IGA. Its findings include operators that broke in-play betting rules, sent marketing to self-excluding customers, and opened gambling accounts for people registered with BetStop. Penalties and enforceable undertakings are published after these investigations.
BetStop and player protection tools
The ACMA has run the National Self-Exclusion Register, BetStop, since 21 August 2023. Registering on BetStop automatically excludes you from every licensed online and phone wagering company in Australia, for anywhere between three months and permanently. Licensed wagering companies must check a customer's BetStop status before opening an account or sending marketing. Over 18,000 customers registered in the first year, and licensed bookmakers have already been punished for breaching BetStop's terms.
The BetStop boundary
BetStop's scope does not reach international gambling companies. Registering on BetStop has no effect on your ability to gamble at an international casino, so anyone relying on self-exclusion should add per-site exclusion tools and website-blocking software to cover those sites as well.
The regulators around the edges
Beyond the ACMA and BetStop, a couple of other bodies shape online gambling without regulating the gambling companies directly. AUSTRAC is Australia's anti-money-laundering agency; it supervises the AML obligations of banks and registered cryptocurrency exchanges, and the identity checks you complete at an Australian exchange exist because of AUSTRAC's requirements, not any casino's. Separately, the major banks decline card payments to international gambling companies as a matter of policy, not law, which is one of the main reasons players have turned to cryptocurrency for international sites.
The policy department
The government department behind the ACMA sets interactive gambling policy: the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts. It drafted the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, ran the credit and cryptocurrency ban investigations, and publishes the official roadmap of proposed changes to Australia's interactive gambling laws. Any change to those laws is announced in this department's publications first.
State and territory regulators
All land-based gambling is controlled by the individual states and territories. The regulators you may come across include:
| NSW | Liquor & Gaming NSW |
|---|---|
| Victoria | Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) |
| Queensland | Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation |
| Western Australia | Gaming and Wagering Commission of WA |
| South Australia | Consumer and Business Services |
| Tasmania | Liquor and Gaming Tasmania |
| ACT | ACT Gambling and Racing Commission |
| Northern Territory | NT Racing and Wagering Commission |
The Northern Territory is unusual: its Racing and Wagering Commission licenses most of the bookmakers that operate online in Australia, which is why nearly every licensed Australian bookmaker holds a Darwin licence. The Territory offers low taxes and a fast licensing process, and although the other states grumble about that dominance, nothing has changed. What none of them offers is an online casino licence, because none exists anywhere in Australia.
What ACMA cannot do
No licences, no refunds, no takedowns
Knowing the limits of the ACMA and the IGA saves online players from hoping for a reality that never arrives. The ACMA does not license online casinos. The IGA does not let it fine international gambling companies, and it cannot take down a foreign server; all it can do is make the site harder to reach from Australia. Any dispute over money between a player and an international operator falls to the company and the licensing authority in its own country. The quality of that foreign licence is the one factor that should decide whether you deposit money into a site.
Who regulates the international casinos?
Not Australia. International online casinos are supervised only by the authority that licensed them: Curacao's Gaming Control Board, Anjouan Gaming, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and others. The quality of that regulation ranges from excellent to poor, and it is the only supervision an international player gets. Every one of our casino reviews reports the operator's licence and says plainly whether it publishes one for its site at all.
Sources
- ACMA, illegal gambling, blocked websites and BetStop: acma.gov.au
- BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register: betstop.gov.au
- Department of Infrastructure, gambling policy: infrastructure.gov.au
- Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cth): legislation.gov.au
Who regulates gambling in Australia? FAQ
Who regulates online casinos in Australia?
No Australian authority licenses online casinos; the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 prohibits them. The ACMA can investigate and block these sites, but the sites themselves are regulated only by the international bodies that licensed them.
What does ACMA actually do about illegal gambling sites?
The ACMA investigates illegal gambling companies, publishes formal findings on the legality of their sites, and pursues penalties against them. It also runs the website-blocking program and the BetStop self-exclusion register, and has blocked 1,708 gambling and affiliate websites since November 2019, as of May 2026.
Does BetStop cover international casino sites?
No. BetStop only excludes players from licensed Australian wagering companies, so it does nothing to restrict international casinos.
Can I complain to ACMA about an international casino?
You can report the website to the ACMA, and it will investigate the company. What it cannot do is reimburse you for gambling losses or resolve a payout dispute; that sits with the operator's own licensing body.
Who licenses Australia's legal betting apps?
The main licensing state is the Northern Territory's Racing and Wagering Commission, which is why nearly every licensed bookmaker operates on a Darwin licence. There is still no online casino licence anywhere in Australia.