Gambling Reform: Is Online Gambling Legal in Australia?

Australia is one of the biggest countries in the world and with it have a huge following for activates such as sports. They’ve also been linked with gambling products for decades and it’s been reported that over 80% of residents in the country partake in some form of gambling every year.

The online gambling sector is not as straightforward as you might assume. In fact, it works a lot like the process in the US where there are both federal and state laws about what can and what cannot be participated in.

Throughout this article, we want to look a little closer about the rules and regulations that are in place. Not only do we cover how online gambling works in Australia, but also about licensing, taxes, gambling acts and finally, the future of online gambling within this great country.

What Forms of Online Gambling are Legal in Australia?

As we mentioned, what you can and cannot do in Australia is not all that straightforward. Here is a look at how the most popular forms of online gambling around the world are offered within the country.

• Online sports betting – Legal (aside from live betting)
• Online casinos and online casino games – Illegal
• Online Poker – Illegal
• Online Bingo – Legal
• Fantasy sports – Legal
• Lotteries – Legal (as long as not instant play lottery)

As you can see, there are several products that you simply can’t access online. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t access these at all. For example, there are plenty of land-based casinos that are located across Australia. These are perfectly legal and they offer the same game types that you would see from any standard online casino.

The same can be said of poker halls, again of which many are located throughout the country. We talk more about each of these a little later in this article.

Interactive Gambling Act 2001: How it works and is it now dated?

In 2001 the Interactive Gambling Act was brought in to protect customers from the growing number of online platforms that were starting to emerge. Australia was ahead of the curve here compared with many countries, even compared to that of the UK who didn’t change their gambling act to reflect online play until 2005.

At the time, the world of online gambling was still very new. Many people weren’t massively aware of how it worked or the possibilities that came with it. But it was growing and at a massive pace.

The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 was drawn up to initially slow the growth of the sector and allow the government to create a safe online platform for players. What this actually translates to is that they wanted to get a piece of the action and work out how best to tax these companies.

One of the biggest issues was that many of these online gambling sites were not actually based in Australia. They were located in the likes of the UK, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Scandinavia and across parts of Europe and throughout the Commonwealth. This meant that they played to the beat of the drum of the country they resided in, also paying any taxes due to that country.

As the industry grew up to 2001, one of the most concerning things about online gambling was “games of chance”. These are, for the most part, casino games where you need to get lucky to win. With the Australian government not comfortable about how these worked, in their Act of 2001, they banned any games of chance. In doing so, this meant that online casinos were not able to operate given that all of their games were essentially games of chance.

Controversially, it was also deemed that online poker fell into this category as well. Given that a lot of skill can be applied to this game, it was one of the most questionable parts of the entire Gambling Act.

The following excerpt is taken directly from the Interactive Gambling Act 2001:

Under the IGA, it is an offence to:

• provide a prohibited interactive gambling service to customers in Australia; provide an unlicensed regulated interactive gambling service to customers in Australia; and
• provide an Australian-based interactive gambling service to customers in designated countries.

Interactive Gambling Act 2001

The IGA also go on to state that should anyone be found guilty of either placing a bet or offering a bet, they will be fined for doing so.

As part of the act, it states that even advertising online gambling platforms is illegal as well. This includes all forms of gambling, including sports and bingo, both of which are legal within the country.

In terms of the question of if this act is dated, then we would have to argue that it was. They state that they don’t like games of chance, yet allow online bingo games to be played, along with the lottery to be staked.

On top of all this, they allow casino games to run legally in brick and mortar casinos, which makes it even more bizarre to ban it online.

The only changes that have come over the last 20 years have been to reinforce what is already there. The latest reform came about in 2017, but all this changed was the crackdown on preventing groups from outside of Australia to offer online gambling products. They also removed credit lines and added new tools to limit access for players at legal gambling outlets.

All of this culminated in 33 online wagering providers withdrawing from the country in just 12 months.

Federal and State Responsibilities

Australian gambling rules have a similar pattern to that of the US, where you have a federal law and then a state law. The federal law is put in place and then it becomes the choice of the state as to whether they want to follow it or head down a different route.

Unlike the US, Australia has much fewer states, with just 8 in total. Also, unlike the US, these states generally toe the line and have very similar laws, most of which follow that of the federal law.

To some degree, this makes it easier for the players as they know where they stand within each state. However, it becomes a little more frustrating knowing that they have the ability to overturn if they choose, which they obviously do not.

Each state comes with a different agency that runs the gambling laws in that area. Here is how they are broken down:

Location	Agency
Australia –nationwide	TheDepartment of Social Services
AustralianCapital Territory (Canberra)	ACT Gamblingand Racing Commission
New SouthWales	Liquor andGaming NSW
NorthernTerritory	Departmentof Business, Northern Territory Government
Queensland	Office ofLiquor and Gaming Regulation
SouthAustralia	SouthAustralia Business and Trade – Gambling
Tasmania	Departmentof Treasury and Finance
Victoria	VictorianCommission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation
WesternAustralia	Departmentof Racing, Gaming, and Liquor

Australia: Gambling Laws and Regulations 2021

Changes between each state are usually quite small. Typical examples include the amount you can stake, the types of games on offer, the time you’re allowed to access location casinos and things like that.

Below we’ve included a rundown of each state with a brief overview of any notable rules that move away from the federal laws that are in place.

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory is pretty self-explanatory and includes the capital city Canberra, along with the surrounding areas. In total there are a little over 500,000 people and includes the Casino Canberra, widely regarded as one of the best in the country.

Rules tend to run pretty close to Federal law, aside from a limit of $20 per bet or $10 per game on sports. They allow the use of both online and land-based sportsbooks, with poker and table games prohibited, aside from within the Casino Canberra.

New South Wales

New South Wales is often referred to as the HUB for gambling in the country. With it, they have an incredible 100,000 pokies machines based in casinos, bars and restaurants throughout.

Limits are applied on wagers outside of the casinos, with $10 being the max. However, in casinos, no limits are applied. Speaking of casinos, there are three in operation, including The Star, Crown Casino and Wolf Betting Casino.

Even though online casino use and play are officially banned, some places do offer these services who are generally left alone. These brands are from outside of Australia, so operate at their own risk.

Northern Territory

If New South Wales is regarded as the HUB for gambling, then Northern Territories is, without doubt, the HUB for online sports betting. They have dedicated departments that work just in this sector and their main role is to do with licensing for online sports betting sites.

Outside of sports, the state is pretty quiet, with only two other casinos in the form of Lasseter’s in Alice Springs and Mindil Beach in Darwin. Games are limited to bets of just $5 and any winnings over $500 will be issued as a cheque.

Queensland

Queensland has the highest number of land-based casinos in the country, with 4 located around the state. These include The Star Gold Coast, The Reef Hotel Casino, Treasure Casino and The Ville Resort-Casino.

It hosts a huge range of pokies, with over 47,00 scattered around the state, but also comes with a maximum betting limit of just $5 per spin. The max you can win in a casino at any one time is limited to $25,000.

South Australia

In South Australia, there is just a single casino to speak of. This is The Adelaide, which comes with around 1,000 pokies in total. Throughout the rest of the state, there is only 13,000 altogether, so the numbers are lower than some of the ones we have already mentioned.

Bets on pokies and gambling products are limited to $10 a go, which is quite high. However, they do not accept notes and only coins can be used, making them a little less desirable than other states. Payouts are limited to $10,000.

Tasmania

Tasmania plays host to the oldest casino in the country, The West Point Hotel and Casino. It’s one of the most iconic gambling places in Australia and goes head to head with the Launceston’s Country Club Casino, built-in 1982, some 9 years after The West Point.

Given that only 500,000 residents are in the state, a range of 3,500 pokies is actually quite impressive, and massively trumps that of Australian Capital Territory with just a fraction of pokies in comparison.

Victoria

Victoria has one of the biggest casinos in the country in the form of the Crown Melbourne Casino. It’s well known for its sports and it’s even got permission to offer exclusive access to events like betting on approved foot and bicycle races, games at amusement parks, Calcutta sweepstakes and bets at ZNZAC day.

It comes packed with over 30,000 gambling machines, with each limited to a $5 wager per games and any winnings over $1,000 being paid in the form of a cheque.

Western Australia

Western Australia has some of the toughest rules in place. They don’t have any casino games or pokies outside of their flagship Crown Perth Casino, although inside you will get access to 1,750 gambling machines.

Australian Online Gambling by Sector

As we have pointed out throughout this article, what you can and can’t do in Australia is not as black and white as it might seem. Whilst each state has its own set of rules, albeit very similar to each other, each gambling product ranges as well.

Below we have included a breakdown of each online gambling sector and what you can expect to access as a resident of Australia.

Australian Sports Betting

Sports betting is legal both online and land-based. It’s actually the backbone to the online gambling sector within the country and is the only sector that has little to no restrictions on it.

The only area that is prohibited is that of live betting. This is where a game or match has started and then punters would bet on markets as the game progressed. It means that the only bets you can make are pre-game bets, which is better than nothing but limited to compared to most.

Bookmakers are pretty common and there is a good mix between those that operate solely in brick and mortar or racetracks and those that are online. Given that the country is sport mad it makes sense that this sector does pretty well.

Australian Online Casinos

Online casinos are illegal in Australia. This includes hosting online games and also to allow players from within the country. So, a UK based bookmaker would not legally be able to accept players from Australia and vice versa.

The reason behind this is that the Australian Government are against games of chance, which virtually all casino games are.

That being said, they are fine with people playing casino games in brick-and-mortar places, such as casinos and bars. There are hundreds of thousands of pokies located throughout the country, which are essentially just slot machines. This highlights the issue not just around games of chance, but likely more to do with money and player safety.

There are opportunities to play online and this would be via sites that do not have the appropriate license within the country. States like New South Wales often turn a blind eye to online gambling in the state, but it is illegal still.

Online Poker

Online poker, according to the Australian government, falls into the “game of chance” sector. They essentially see it the same as they would with online casino games, which has been an area of massive debate for many years.

The arguments are that poker is a game of skill and there is an art to being able to calculate odds of hands and also read players both online and offline. These are key components to being successful in the game but are disregarded when it comes to online play.

However, players can access sites outside of the country, with some states once again turning a blind eye for the most part.

Online Bingo and Local Lottery

Bingo and local lotteries are both legal. Given that a lot of these games contribute to good causes, they are one of the few sectors that can legally work both online and offline as well.

Licensing Process for Gambling Sites

The licensing process in the country depends on what product a company wants to license and where they are intending on setting up. Usually, they will have to go to the governing body for the state of their head office, but this is not always the case.

For sports betting a Corporate Bookmaker License or and On-Course Bookmaker License will need to be acquired in the Northern Territory. The Corporate license will cover most of the online platform and the On-Course license is mainly for licenses to work at racetracks throughout Australia.

Casino table game and gaming machines will each have to be applied for at the relevant state. A license for a gaming machine offered in any casino, hotel, bar or club will have to be issued and then it will need to follow the rules for that state in terms of wager requirements.

It’s worth noting that a license in one state will not carry over to another state.

The process is one that can take up to 12 months to be approved. Each state will look over what is a lengthy application process to make sure applications are fit and proper to be offering gambling products. Given that some licenses will cover more than one product, the applicant must tick the boxes for each section to get their license, regardless if they plan to offer that as a service or not.

The Future of Online Gambling in Australia

Given that there has been little movement in how Australia conducts online gambling, we would assume that there will be little movement in the foreseeable. The process and structure that they have right now is one that is confusing and this is enhanced even more by the fact that some states simply turn a blind eye.

The lack of any reform with the current Gambling Act is probably the most concerning part for any relaxation in the rules or the licensing process. If anything, regulations have gotten stricter, which has meant it even tougher for brands to move online.

In terms of a saving grace for any online expansion in Australia, this comes down to the fact that states are ultimately able to create their own paths here. It could only take one state to turn around and approve online casinos within their state for a domino effect to take place.

If you compare this to the US, once the doors started to open for states and they were able to see the success others were having, the process to legalise gambling in other states is moving at an incredible rate. The process is way more complicated over there given there are so many states, but it shows that laws can be relaxed if the states want to put the work in. For the time being, little is likely to change. Online sports betting remains accessible, but for online casino and poker, the future is grey, at best.

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