Australia
Australia's federal Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA), enforced by the ACMA, prohibits the provision of most interactive gambling services to people in Australia — including online casino games (roulette, poker, slots/pokies) and in-play (live) betting on sporting events — regardless of where the operator is based. What remains legal online is wagering on sports and races where the bet is placed before the event begins, plus most online lotteries and keno (instant 'scratchie' style products excepted). The 2017 IGA Amendment Act closed the 'click-to-call' in-play loophole, added civil penalties for offshore operators and empowered the ACMA to seek ISP blocking of illegal sites. The IGA itself does not licence operators: corporate online bookmakers are licensed at state/territory level, most under the Northern Territory (NT Racing Commission / Licensing NT), and each state levies its own point-of-consumption betting tax.
What the prohibition permits
The Interactive Gambling Act does not regulate online casino play so much as forbid its supply. Provision of online casino games (pokies, roulette, blackjack), online poker and in-play betting on sport to people in Australia is prohibited outright, irrespective of where the operator sits. The legal online perimeter is narrow: sports and race wagering staked before an event begins, plus most online lotteries and keno. The practical effect is that Australia has a sizeable licensed online wagering market but no lawful domestic online-casino sector, shaping every compliant operator's product set around fixed-odds pre-event betting.
Ban here, licence there
Australia splits the two halves of regulation across levels of government, an arrangement unusual among developed markets. The Commonwealth statute enforced by ACMA sets what may be offered but issues no operator licences. Authorisation to run an online bookmaking business is granted at state or territory level, and most corporate online bookmakers hold Northern Territory licences under the NT Racing Commission and Licensing NT. A diligence reader therefore reads two regimes at once: the federal prohibition defining lawful products, and a sub-national licence, frequently the NT's, defining the entity permitted to offer them.
A national tax patchwork
Because taxation follows the punter, not the licence, a bookmaker serving the whole country faces a mosaic of point-of-consumption regimes rather than one federal rate. Net wagering revenue is taxed where the customer is located, at rates spanning roughly 15 per cent across New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, 20 per cent in Queensland and 25 per cent in the ACT. The Northern Territory, home to most licences, levies no standard POC tax. Effective national tax cost thus depends on the geographic mix of a book, not on a single headline figure.
Consumer-protection architecture
Player-protection obligations were assembled through the National Consumer Protection Framework, phased in between 2018 and 2023, rather than arriving as a single measure. Its components bind licensed online wagering providers directly: verified customer identity, a prohibition on offering credit to bet, and participation in BetStop, the national self-exclusion register that began operating on 21 August 2023. Registration bars an operator from accepting a stake, opening an account or marketing to that person, and requires closure of existing accounts. These duties attach to the state or territory licence, so compliance is assessed against wagering conditions, not the federal prohibition.
Enforcement and the offshore gap
The prohibition is easier to state than to enforce, because prohibited casino and in-play products are largely supplied from offshore. The 2017 amendments gave ACMA civil-penalty powers reaching operators located abroad and the ability to request that internet service providers block illegal sites, alongside closure of the earlier 'click-to-call' in-play route. ACMA publishes formal warnings and maintains a growing list of blocked domains. A persistent offshore market nonetheless remains, since blocking and penalties deter supply without extinguishing demand, a limitation inherent to regulating conduct that has no lawful domestic channel.
Tax
Net wagering revenue (state point-of-consumption tax)
Point-of-consumption tax ~15%–25% of net wagering revenue (varies by state/territory)
Each state/territory sets its own point-of-consumption (POC) wagering tax on net wagering revenue. NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania levy 15%; Queensland charges 20% (15% POC plus a 5% racing levy); and the ACT is the highest at 25% (since 1 July 2023). Victoria's rate rose from 10% to 15% on 1 July 2024. The Northern Territory does not impose a standard POC tax — it retains a capped bookmaker licence tax plus a Racing and Wagering levy effective 1 July 2024. GST also applies. There is no federal online-gaming tax because online casino and in-play betting are prohibited rather than taxed.
Key facts
Australia across the portal
Licence types
Fees
Change-watch
Interactive Gambling Amendment Act closed the in-play 'click-to-call' loophole and enabled ISP blocking of illegal offshore sites
BetStop national self-exclusion register launched; customer pre-verification ('customer ID') requirements strengthened
Government considering the 2023 Murphy inquiry ('You win some, you lose more') recommendations, including a phased ban on gambling advertising — response pending
Sources (5)
Not legal or tax advice. This is a teaching summary; confirm every figure against the primary regulator (Australian Communications and Media Authority) before relying on it.