Gambling in Australia – All You Need to Know

An Overview of Gambling in Australia

If you are interested in the legal gambling situation in Australia, please read on! According to Australian law, operators are not allowed to offer or advertise any gambling services to Australian residents. In order to avoid the rapidly growing number of people with gambling problems, the government has restricted the access to online casinos. Even though, some offshore casino sites may still accept Aussie players, visiting them is highly inadvisable. Besides from going against the law, players wouldn’t have a guarantee that their private and financial data would be handled confidentially. Most forms as gambling such as casino play are illegal, but others are simply restricted. Sports betting is still legal, as long as all bets are placed prior the start of the sporting event – which means no in-play betting. Australian online lottery sites, meanwhile, are perfectly safe if they do not feature instant-win scratch cards or casino games.

Current Legal Situation

Well, 2017 sure proved a bumpy ride, eh? Gambling has been one of the favourite pastimes in Australia for quite a while now, and the advent of online casinos and sport betting sites opened up endless possibilities for Aussie players. You could find most of the world’s best casino sites in Australia and play with the sure knowledge that your deposit will be safe. Sadly, new legislations were passed in 2016 and 2017 and made online gambling a lot harder. Severe restrictions against offshore operators meant that online casinos would stop accepting any players from Australia and close existing accounts. The good news is that the laws do not persecute individual players; the bad news is that Australian online casinos are now few and hard to find. Of course, gambling fans have access to other legal games from Australia – here is the 2024 list of legal gambling activities for Aussie players:

• online sports betting – without in-play betting;
• online lotteries – without instant-win scratch cards;
• online bingo.

The current set of laws explicitly forbids playing at online casinos. For about 15 years, offshore online operators had no problem catering to Aussie players, while Australian casinos were restricted to only accepting foreign customers. This changed in 2016 with the introduction of the Interactive Gambling Bill. The new law severely restricted the range of online sports bets available and outright banned offshore online casinos from accepting Aussie players. For you, the players, the important bit is the following: there are no clear sanctions in place for people who practice online gambling. All the problems are on the operator’s doorstep – which means that it has become rather hard to find a site that would accept Aussie players. The other major drawback is that when you decide to use a casino site, you lose the protection of the local law and become vulnerable to online scams. You have to be extra careful with your choice or to simply avoid playing online.

Gambling Responsibly – State by State Overview

Since foreign online casinos are currently not permitted in Australia, there is no unified licensing body to provide certification for operators in the same vein as the United Kingdom Gambling Commission. The matter is additionally complicated by the fact that gambling is quite often handled by the State rather than the Commonwealth – which means that there are separate institutions in most Australian states and territories. The new Interactive Gambling Bill basically stipulates that no online casino operator can operate in an Australian state or territory, unless granted a licence by the local authority – and currently there are no plans for creating provisions for such licensing. Hopefully, this will change at some point in the future, but in the short term, the perspectives seem quite bleak. In the table below, you can find a full list of authorities for responsible gambling in Australia where we will post live updates if there are any changes in legislation:

History of Gambling in Australia

Australia has a relatively long history of gambling since such games have always been popular with the populace. Settlers brought many games with them towards the end of the XVIII century, though reports show that Aboriginal people picked up gambling from passing traders even earlier, in the 1700s. The first officially recorded gambling event was held in 1810 when a horse racing meeting took place in Hyde Park near Sydney. The first lottery was organized in 1880, while slot machines arrived in the 1950s, more than half a century after their inception. Slots would go on to become the pokies that we all know and love – and the rest, as they say, is history.

However, quite a lot of time would pass before the first official casino reared its head on Australian shores – that would be the Wrest Point Hotel Casino which opened up in Hobart, Tasmania, on 10 February 1973. More would follow, and nowadays there are more than a dozen legal casinos scattered in different states. Gambling games and sports betting were always popular, but the advent of online casinos and sportsbooks in the 2000s would boost the accessibility of such games to unprecedented levels. With liberal – if somewhat vague – regulations in place, Aussies would soon get hold of the title of most active gamblers. With around 80% of the population taking part in some gambling activities, Aussies would get a reputation for betting often and betting big.

Pokies and online poker became the favourite Australian casino games, with more than 40% of the adult population taking some part in the latter. Even though an American managed to nab the biggest ever poker win in the country – $AU 23 Million claimed by Antonio Esfandiari – Australian players established an impressive reputation for themselves around the world. One of the biggest scams ever also took place there, when an unknown VIP client – or perhaps even a group of regulars – walked off with something like $33 million from the Crown Casino.

However, things would change drastically in 2015. Under the new Federal Minister for Human Services, Alan Tudge, an Amendment to the existing 2001 Interactive Gambling Act was introduced. The new legislation was approved by the Senate in 2016 and came into force in 2017. Since all the sanctions were aimed at offshore online casino sites, what followed was a mass exodus of the best casino operators in Australia. A late push to recognise poker as a game of skill rather than chance also failed, which meant that online poker rooms would also shut their doors for Aussie players.

The future prospects of online gambling in Australia seem bleak right now, but considering the nation’s passion for these games, we can say for sure that Aussies will continue to find ways to place a good wager or two.

The Best Casino Resorts on the Continent

Online casinos might be having a hard time finding a license currently, but land-based casinos have been putting up a fight for quite a lot longer, so there are about a dozen legal casino properties scattered around Australia. Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory boast the most venues, but there is at least one casino property in most Australian states.

The Crown Casino in Melbourne is one of the most popular venues for foreign visitors. In fact, it is widely considered the best casino in Australia, but don’t tell that to anyone who doesn’t live in Victoria! The enormous complex the size of two city blocks sprawls on the south bank of the Yarra River, and offers not only classical casino games, but also cutting-edge new tech versions. It is rivalled by the Star Gold Coast Casino, the oldest casino in Queensland which has been expanded several times since its inception in 1986. The complex is famous for its large hotel and 2000-seat theatre.

One of the traditional venues is the Adelaide Casino with a history spanning more than three decades and monopoly over table games in South Australia that will continue until 2035 and maybe even beyond. In 2018, work began on a $330 million expansion that would create more than 1000 job openings. The Wrest Point Hotel Casino is also still operational. Australia’s first official casino was once seen as a marketing ploy that would resurrect Tasmania’s tourist industry but has since gained a huge popularity on its own.

Top 3 Land-Based Casinos in Australia

Crown CasinoMore than 500,000 square meters of gambling games and other forms of entertainment. One of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.

Star Gold Coast Casino Over 1,600 gaming machines await their players in one of the most luxurious settings you will find. In 2017, the construction of a 17-storey tower began as part of a huge redevelopment.

Adelaide CasinoA traditional casino in Adelaide city centre. It is likely to remain the only casino in South Australia for the foreseeable future. The venue will soon boast 200 tables and 1500 machines.

Famous Aussie Gamblers

Joe HachemPoker Player

Alan WoodsBlackjack Player

Australia is home to many famous gamblers and sports bettors. Most of the popular online casinos had a poker room ready for Aussie players, which were infamous for their love of the game. Joe Hachem is currently the most successful Aussie poker player, and that’s telling a lot considering the popularity of the game. His winnings from tournaments surpass $11 million and he has been working hard to prove that poker can be a respectable full-time occupation and that “an ordinary guy with a family can be a poker pro and not be considered a degenerate”.

Zeljko Ranogajec – of Croatian descent, as the name suggests – is a horse-betting expert that is notoriously secretive about his winnings. He is also well-known in blackjack circles, as people consider him one of the most innovative advantage players out there. Alan Woods was another famous blackjack player, part of a math-generation that tried to beat the odds on blackjack tables in the 70s and 80s. He would go on to establish one of the most successful horse race betting syndicates, and when he passed away in 2008 his net worth was estimated to be $670 million.

Conclusion: There Are Still Legal Land-Based Casinos for Australian Players

Even though our choice of Australian online casinos has been severely limited, players can still visit land gambling venues. As we’ve mentioned, there are many excellent casinos around the country, so you shouldn’t risk playing online. Remember that the access to most casino sites has been restricted by the government. Even though some operators still accept Aussie players, you’ve got to be careful as you could easily become a victim of a scam. Thus, our advice for you is to avoid online casinos and visit the brick-and-mortar venues instead.

Meanwhile, we’ll follow the matter and we’ll let you know if the online gambling’s legal situation changes in the future. And just in case you are interested, we created a very handy and detailed list of the New Zealand’s best online casinos that payout.

Frequently Asked Questions About Gambling in Australia

As our article about gambling in Australia is coming to an end, we think it’s appropriate to give answers to some of the most frequently asked questions. Spare a couple of minutes more to check them out, as you will find some very useful and interesting information.