Responsible Gambling in Australia: Laws and Help
Gambling is a form of entertainment that carries a real risk of financial loss. It is not a source of income, and it is not a method for resolving financial difficulties. Any expectation of consistent profit from gambling is unsupported by the structure of gambling products themselves, which are designed so that the operator retains a long-term advantage.
This page sets out what is known about problem gambling, the legal framework that applies in Australia, and the concrete channels through which help can be obtained. It does not promote any gambling service.
The legal position in Australia
Providing online casino games — including online pokies, roulette, blackjack and online poker — to customers in Australia is illegal under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. No domestically licensed real-money online casino exists for Australian players. Operators licensed in Australia are limited to sports and race wagering.
Offshore operators that offer casino games to Australians are not licensed for that purpose, regardless of any Malta, Curacao or other foreign licence they may hold. A foreign licence does not authorise an operator to serve Australian customers, and such operators are not covered by Australian self-exclusion or consumer protection measures.
Deposits to licensed Australian wagering services are limited to debit cards, bank transfer, PayID/Osko and BPAY. Credit cards and cryptocurrency have been banned as deposit methods since 11 June 2024. Online in-play sports betting is banned except by telephone or within licensed retail wagering venues.
Age requirement
The minimum age for commercial gambling in Australia is 18.
Recognising a gambling problem
Problem gambling is generally identified not by how often a person gambles but by observable patterns of behaviour and their consequences. Indicators that have been documented in clinical and survey literature include:
- gambling with money needed for essential expenses — rent, bills, food;
- repeated unsuccessful attempts to stop or reduce gambling;
- chasing losses: increasing stakes or frequency specifically to recover money already lost;
- borrowing money, or selling possessions, to fund gambling;
- concealing the extent of gambling from family members or partners;
- gambling for longer periods than intended, or at times set aside for other obligations;
- restlessness or irritability when attempting to cut down;
- gambling increasingly as a response to stress, low mood or isolation.
The presence of several of these patterns, sustained over time, is a reasonable basis for seeking an assessment. None of them alone is diagnostic, and self-assessment is not a substitute for professional evaluation.
Self-exclusion: BetStop
The law changed in 2019 to allow the introduction of the National Self-Exclusion Register, known as BetStop. BetStop is a national self-exclusion register for online wagering that allows a person to exclude themselves from all Australian licensed online and phone wagering services in a single step.
Registered details include:
- self-exclusion periods from a minimum of three months up to a lifetime;
- around 40 per cent of registrants have chosen to self-exclude for life;
- fewer than 20 per cent have chosen the minimum period of three months;
- more than 14 per cent of registrants have already extended or reactivated their self-exclusion period.
BetStop is available at https://www.betstop.com.au. An important limitation: BetStop does not cover offshore casino operators. A person who self-excludes through BetStop remains able to access unlicensed offshore sites, which are not subject to Australian regulation.
Policy framework
The National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering applies to all licensed online wagering service providers in Australia. Further information is available at https://www.aph.gov.au.
Where to get help
The services listed below operate in Australia. Their details are reproduced as published.
Gambling Help Online — responsible gambling support, free and confidential, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week: https://www.gamblinghelponline.org.au. The National Gambling Helpline, reachable through this service, is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Gambler’s Help — responsible gambling support: https://www.gamblers.help
Lifeline — mental health support: https://www.lifeline.org.au
These services are independent of Casino Payment Au. Contacting them is free and does not require a referral.
Verifying a licence
Players can verify a wagering operator’s licence by cross-referencing the licence number on the regulator’s official website. ACMA publishes a register of Australian-licensed interactive wagering service providers. The same principle applies to foreign licensing authorities: MGA (Malta) and Curacao licensing authorities maintain public registers where a licence number and its status can be checked. A licence listed in such a register confirms only that the operator holds that licence; it does not authorise the operator to provide casino games to Australian customers.
Money and expectations
No gambling product is structured to produce net gains for the player over time. Where gambling is presented as a way to recover debts, cover shortfalls or generate income, the observed outcome in the research literature is typically the deepening of the original financial problem. Losses are the expected result of continued play; treating any single win as evidence of a winning system is a documented cognitive error associated with problem gambling.
A note on this page
Casino Payment Au provides information about gambling in Australia. This page contains no advertising for wagering services and no inducements to open a betting account. Questions about the content of this page can be directed to [email protected].
Updated: 24 September 2026