Online Casinos and Australian Law in 2026
As previously stated, when the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 was brought into effect in 2017, a large number of online casinos pulled out of the Australian market. Only operators that hold a licence under Australian State or Territory Laws are able to offer their betting services to Australians, and these licences cover wagering and lotteries, not online casino games or online pokies. No online casino is licensed in Australia, so any online casino that accepts Australian players operates offshore without an Australian licence, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) can have such websites blocked.
Australian Slots
Slots or pokies as they are often called, have been popular for a long time in Australia. Classic 3 reel slots like Bar Bar Black Sheep by Microgaming, Irish Gold by Play´n GO and Couch Potato and Break da Bank by Microgaming have remained popular, and Microgaming titles are now distributed by Games Global. Australians also like to play for large jackpots and Mega Moolah by Microgaming is a favourite where winning a life changing amount of money is possible. More modern pokies that are played frequently are More Chilli by Aristocrat, Avalon, Thunderstruck, Battlestar Galactica and Game of Thrones by Microgaming. According to free-play statistics from 2025–2026, Australians most often play IGT's Crown of Egypt and Cleopatra, 10 Boost Hot by Felix Gaming and Asian-style games by JILI such as Shōgun, Fortune Coins and Super Ace, as well as Boxing King by TaDa Gaming.
Australian Casino Games
The most popular casino games in Australia are Video Poker games such as Texas Hold´em and Stud, American and European Roulette, Classic Blackjack and other variations, Craps and Baccarat. Australia also has a large number of Bingo Halls as Bingo is an extremely popular pastime. Other popular forms of gambling are sports, horse and dog racing betting and lotteries. Online, these are offered by Australian-licensed bookmakers such as bet365, TAB, Ladbrokes, Neds and Unibet. Since 11 June 2024, licensed online wagering providers are no longer allowed to accept payments by credit card or digital currency, and since 2023 players can exclude themselves from all licensed online and phone betting providers through BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register. At NeonSlots we have a wide range of online casino games that you can play for free.
Casinos in Australia
The first casino in Australia was opened in Hobart, Tasmania in 1973. There are only a few licensed casinos in each State and Territory. New South Wales has two casinos, The Star Sydney and Crown Sydney, regulated since 2022 by the NSW Independent Casino Commission, and Queensland has four licensed casinos: The Star Brisbane, The Star Gold Coast, the Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns and The Ville Resort-Casino in Townsville. Due to an increase in demand, two of the largest casino brands in Australia built 2 new casinos. The Crown Sydney casino and hotel opened in Barangaroo, but Crown was allowed to start gaming there only in 2022, on a conditional basis, after the Bergin Inquiry had found it unsuitable to hold a casino licence. In 2024, The Star Brisbane opened at Queen's Wharf and replaced the Treasury Casino and Hotel that the same group operated in Brisbane.
Gambling Laws in Australia
The current legislation is the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 which prohibits online casino games and online pokies from being offered to Australian players, and the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016, passed in 2017, which states that online gambling operators can only offer real money interactive wagering services to Australian residents if they are licensed in an Australian State or Territory. This has meant that a large number of online casinos that previously accepted Australian members, are no longer available. Main milestones of federal online gambling regulation:
- 2001 – the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 bans online casino games for customers in Australia
- 2017 – the Interactive Gambling Amendment Act 2017 bans unlicensed online wagering and strengthens the powers of the ACMA
- 2022 – the NSW Independent Casino Commission is established to supervise casinos in New South Wales
- 2023 – BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register, is launched
- 11 June 2024 – credit cards and digital currency are banned for online wagering
There are also many Territorial Laws that control Casinos, Gaming and Betting.
