PROVIDING ONLINE GAMBLING SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA

Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cth), it is an offence to provide prohibited interactive gambling services (online casinos, slots, in-play betting etc.) to people in Australia. Yet thousands of websites remain accessible, accept AUD, use local payment methods, and claim legitimacy. Why does this gap between law and reality exist?

That's a good question, because accessibility and legality are two very different things in this case.

The ACMA is quite clear that online casino games and online slots are prohibited interactive gambling services that operators must not provide to customers in Australia. However, the fact that an offshore casino can still be opened from Australia, accepts AUD, or offers familiar payment methods doesn't mean that it is licensed or legally authorised to provide those services there.

A large part of the gap comes from the fact that many of these operators are based offshore. Australian authorities can investigate them, issue warnings and ask Australian ISPs to block their websites, but this is an ongoing enforcement process rather than something that prevents every illegal site from appearing in the first place.

Operators can also appear under new or alternative domains after a domain has been blocked, which makes enforcement something of a moving target.

The scale gives some perspective: by July 2026, the ACMA said it had requested the blocking of 1,774 illegal gambling and affiliate websites since website blocking began in 2019, while more than 230 illegal services had withdrawn from the Australian market since stronger enforcement began in 2017.

So I wouldn't use accessibility, AUD support or local-looking payment options as evidence that a casino is legitimate in Australia. For players, the safer reference point is whether the service is actually authorised to operate there.

Of course, we're not lawyers here, so for the legal interpretation of a particular operator or situation, the ACMA would be the appropriate authority.