Betting laws in Australia work at two levels: the Commonwealth's Interactive Gambling Act 2001 sets what may be offered online and by phone, and the states and territories license providers. A provider may take online bets from people in Australia only under one of those licences (s 15AA). It may accept an online sports bet only up to the start of the event (s 8A(3) and s 10B).
ACMA, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, polices the Commonwealth Act, while the licensing authorities enforce most of the national consumer protections. The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 brings in limits on wagering advertising and marketing, most of them from 1 January 2027. On tax, the ATO does not treat betting winnings as assessable income for most people, unless betting is carried on as a business.
The main rules at a glance
The short answers, checked in October 2026, with the law or body each one comes from:
| Question | Short answer | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Who may take bets online or by phone from people in Australia? | Only a provider licensed under a state or territory law | Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA), s 15AA |
| How old must you be to bet? | 18 or over, and an online provider must verify your identity before your first bet | State and territory law; National Consumer Protection Framework, measure 3 |
| Can an online bookmaker take a sports bet once the event has begun? | No: online in-play sports betting is banned | IGA, s 8A(3) and s 10B |
| What online gambling is banned outright? | Casino games such as pokies and roulette, scratchies and bets on lottery results | IGA, as listed by ACMA |
| Who licenses bookmakers? | State and territory authorities: 10 are named on ACMA's register | State and territory law |
| Can an online or phone bookmaker take a credit card or crypto? | No, not since 11 June 2024 | IGA, s 15C |
| Can a bookmaker reward you for opening an account? | No, not since 26 May 2019 (26 November 2019 in NSW) | National Consumer Protection Framework, measure 4 |
| Must an online bookmaker offer a deposit limit? | Yes: a cut takes effect at once, a rise 7 days after you ask | National Consumer Protection Framework, measure 6 |
| How do you exclude yourself from every online and phone betting provider licensed in Australia? | Register with BetStop, free, for between 3 months and a lifetime | IGA, Part 7B |
| What starts on 1 January 2027? | Most of the 2026 reform: ad limits, a commission ban, payment blocking | Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 |
| Are betting winnings taxed? | For most people no, unless betting is carried on as a business | ATO ruling IT 2655 |
How Australian gambling law is split between governments
Gambling law in Australia is shared between the Commonwealth and the eight states and territories. The Commonwealth regulates gambling offered online, in apps and by phone, mainly through the IGA. The states and territories license and regulate gambling providers, and regulate land-based gambling such as poker machines, casinos and lotteries, as the Department of Social Services explains.
The Commonwealth, states and territories agreed 10 minimum protections for online wagering, the National Consumer Protection Framework. The states and territories enforce most of them through their own laws and licences, while ACMA handles the credit rules and BetStop under the IGA.
Other bodies also shape the rules a punter meets:
- AUSTRAC regulates the identity check every online provider must complete before your first bet, under the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) Rules.
- Thoroughbred racing runs on Racing Australia's Australian Rules of Racing, and state bodies such as Racing NSW decide which wagering operators may use their race fields.
- The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) decides how winnings are treated for income tax.
- The revenue offices of the states and the ACT collect point of consumption tax from bookmakers.
Note: General information about Australian law and tax, checked October 2026, not legal or tax advice. B337 does not give legal advice: for advice on your circumstances, see a lawyer, or a registered tax agent about tax.
One bet, followed through every layer of the law
Every online bet passes through several of these rule books at once, as one illustrative bet shows.
Example: Illustrative only: not a real bet, price or bookmaker. You live in Adelaide, bet from home there, and hold an account with Bookmaker A, whose register row gives the Northern Territory's commission as its licensing body. You bet $25 on Team A at $2.40 in a weekend football match. If Team A wins, the bet returns 25 x 2.40 = $60, a profit of 60 - 25 = $35; if it loses, the whole $25 is gone.
| Step | The rule that applies | Who enforces or decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Opening the account | Identity verified before you can bet; no reward for joining | AUSTRAC (identity); the states and territories (joining offers) |
| Paying in | No credit card, credit-linked digital wallet or cryptocurrency | ACMA, under s 15C |
| Placing the bet | Bookmaker A needs an Australian licence and must accept the bet before the match begins | ACMA, under s 15AA and s 10B |
| What the licence covers | Bets on racing, on sporting events the NT has approved and on novelty events | NT Wagering Commission |
| Tax on the bookmaker | South Australia's betting operations tax, on Bookmaker A's net wagering revenue from customers located in SA | RevenueSA |
| Tax on your $35 | For most people, not assessable income, unless betting is carried on as a business | ATO, ruling IT 2655 |
| A disputed settlement | Bookmaker A first, then a referral to the NT Wagering Commission, due within 60 days of your becoming aware of the problem | NT Wagering Commission |
| Joining BetStop | Bookmaker A must close your account, stop taking your bets and send you no more marketing | ACMA, under Part 7B of the IGA |
Three different places are at work. Bookmaker A's licence decides who hears your complaint, so a dispute goes to the NT rather than to a South Australian regulator. Your location when you bet decides which state's tax the bookmaker pays, and the IGA applies wherever you are in Australia.
Online betting laws: what may be offered and what is banned
The IGA works by exclusion. Any gambling service a business provides online, by phone or by broadcast counts as prohibited unless the Act makes an exception for it (s 5). The Act reaches any service with even one customer physically located in Australia (s 8).
The exceptions punters use are wagering on horse, harness and greyhound racing, on sport and other events, and lotteries. Each is lawful to provide only with a licence from a state or territory (s 15AA).
On sport, the exception stops at the start. Under s 10B a bet placed, made, received or accepted once the event is under way is an in-play bet, and no licence covers an online in-play sports bet. The in-play betting rules set out what the ban covers once a match starts.
ACMA's list of services that cannot legally be offered to people in Australia:
- online casinos and casino-style games, including pokies or slots, poker, blackjack and roulette
- online scratchies
- sports betting once the event is under way
- betting and lottery services without an Australian licence
- bets on the result of a lottery
The Act's offences and civil penalties target the businesses that provide or advertise these services. An unlicensed provider commits a separate offence for each day it keeps going (s 15AA(2)). Promoting an illegal service is itself banned, and that includes promoting its trade mark or web address (s 61BA and s 61EA).
ACMA asks internet providers to block illegal gambling sites, and the Government's May 2026 response put the number blocked since blocking began at over 1,500. ACMA's Interactive Gambling Act page (updated 21 August 2026) says more than 220 online gambling services have withdrawn from Australia since the 2017 changes to the Act.
The Interactive Gambling Act explained covers the Act's categories, enforcement tools and amendments. The guide to whether sports betting is legal applies its two tests to a single bet, and offshore betting sites covers what an unlicensed site means for your money.
Who licenses bookmakers and who hears complaints
A betting licence must come from a state or territory, and an overseas licence does not satisfy s 15AA. Once licensed in one state or territory for a kind of service, a provider does not breach the Act's licence rule by providing that service to people anywhere in Australia (s 15AA(7)).
ACMA's register of licensed wagering providers shows, for each provider, its trading name, the company holding the licence, its website and the authority that licensed it. The version updated on 7 September 2026 ran to 219 rows, one per trading name, for about 160 licence holders, with 10 licensing authorities between them.
On the register the Northern Territory's wagering regulator still appears as the Northern Territory Racing and Wagering Commission; today it is the NT Wagering Commission.
Racing adds conditions of its own. Some racing bodies attach minimum bet limits to the use of their race fields. Each is the amount an operator must be willing to lose on a fixed-odds bet at the price it is showing.
Where a complaint goes depends on what it is about:
- A site missing from the register, or a licensed provider offering credit or taking online sports bets after the start: ACMA.
- Any other problem with a licensed provider, such as a disputed settlement: start with the provider, then escalate to the authority named on its register row. A referral to the NT Wagering Commission is due within 60 days of your becoming aware of the problem.
- A fixed-odds racing bet you think was refused in breach of a minimum bet limit: the provider, then the body that set the limit.
The guide to gambling regulators sets out what each authority does, and complaining about a bookmaker covers the steps and time limits. Before you deposit, the licence check shows how to match a site to its register row, and whether Betfair is legal applies the same check to the exchange.
Protections every licensed provider owes you
Ten minimum protections for online wagering make up the National Consumer Protection Framework, first agreed in 2018 and updated in 2022. With the credit card ban, they follow an account from opening to closing.
Before your first bet
- Your identity must be verified before you can bet, a rule since 29 September 2023. An account found to belong to a person under 18 has to be closed, with the deposits refunded.
- Nothing of value, such as credit, a voucher or a reward, may be offered for joining or for signing someone else up.
- Since 17 February 2018, a provider may not give you credit to bet online or point you to a payday lender. Since 11 June 2024 it also cannot accept credit cards, digital wallets funded by a credit card or digital currencies such as crypto, under the credit ban; the guide to the credit card betting ban covers the edge cases.
- You must be prompted to set a deposit limit at sign-up.
While you bet
- A deposit limit binds the provider. Lowering it takes effect straight away; raising it waits 7 days from your request. Deposit limits covers choosing one.
- A statement of your deposits, withdrawals, wins, losses and net result arrives by email each month you are active, as required since 31 July 2022.
- Direct marketing may be sent to you only with your express consent, each message has to carry a way to unsubscribe, and bonus bet winnings must be withdrawable with no turnover requirement, though each bookmaker's terms decide how the bonus bet itself works.
- Consistent safer gambling messages and staff training in responsible service have been required since 30 March 2023.
When you want to stop
- Closing an account must be simple, through the channels you bet with plus email and phone, with no attempt to keep you and no marketing afterwards.
- BetStop, the national self-exclusion register, has run since 21 August 2023 as a free Australian Government service. One registration reaches all online and phone wagering providers licensed in Australia, which ACMA's BetStop page (updated 17 July 2026) puts at about 150. You register yourself and pick the length, from a 3-month minimum up to a lifetime, and can extend a registration but never shorten it.
- The same page says you cannot apply to be removed in the first 3 months, and from 1 January 2027 the Act sets that minimum for every registration. In October 2026 a valid application takes effect after 7 days. From 1 January 2027 it must also be confirmed in writing, at least 7 days after it was made.
The National Consumer Protection Framework takes each measure in turn. These protections bind online wagering providers licensed in Australia, and customers of a site without an Australian licence lose them.
Risk: Betting involves risk. These protections govern how a provider behaves; they do nothing to reduce what a losing bet costs. A limit set at one bookmaker stays at that bookmaker, so each account needs its own. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.
The 2026 reform and when each part starts
The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 cleared both Houses on 19 August 2026, and Royal Assent on 26 August 2026 made it Act No. 72 of 2026. Every Schedule except the transitional one commences on 1 January 2027, but some rules apply later:
| Change | When it applies |
|---|---|
| Wagering ads limited around live sport, capped on daytime TV and banned on radio at school drop-off and pick-up times | 1 January 2027 |
| No wagering ads on sporting uniforms or at sporting venues | 1 January 2027, but a display under an arrangement made before the bill was introduced on 2 July 2026 may continue until 31 December 2031, unless the arrangement is varied on or after 1 January 2027 to extend it or expand the display |
| Online wagering ads limited to logged-in account holders whose age has been checked as 18 or over and who have not opted out (the "triple lock") | 1 January 2027 |
| No commissions to staff or affiliates tied to customer activity | 1 January 2027 |
| Banks and other payment providers must block payments to illegal gambling operators, and online services must block access to them | 1 January 2027 |
| Two-step removal from BetStop, with the 3-month minimum before applying to leave set for every registration; online keno and foreign matched lotteries banned | 1 January 2027 |
| Athletes, celebrities and influencers barred from promoting wagering | 1 January 2027: no new deals entered into from that day, and from that day no wagering ad featuring them may be broadcast or put on an online content service, whenever the deal was made (ads relating solely or principally to racing on a dedicated racing program, channel or online service excepted) |
| No inducement offers to designated customers by direct marketing or targeted social media ads | From a day the Minister sets by notifiable instrument, which must fall after 1 January 2027 |
| The Wagering Advertising Opt-out Register starts | A day fixed by Proclamation |
Designated customers are people whose account has been open 14 days or less, people a provider has identified as at risk of gambling harm, and people who left BetStop in the last 90 days, or left earlier and have not expressly consented to receiving inducement messages (s 62ZN). The inducement ban's later start comes from the Act's application rules, described in its revised explanatory memorandum.
The Act is not the full advertising ban a 2023 House of Representatives committee report on online gambling harm recommended: it limits when, where and to whom wagering ads may appear, with exceptions for racing.
Each change has its detail in the 2026 gambling reforms guide, and the betting inducement rules add the state laws on offers that apply alongside it.
How the ATO treats betting winnings
For most people, the ATO treats betting and gambling wins as outside assessable income and losses as non-deductible, since gambling done the ordinary way is not a business. It set this out in Taxation Ruling IT 2655 on 17 October 1991, after three 1989 Federal Court decisions: Evans, Babka and Brajkovich. The ruling allows that betting can become a business, but treats that as unusual for anyone whose only involvement in racing is placing bets.
Whether it is a business turns on the facts of each case. The ruling looks at:
- how systematic, organised and businesslike the betting is
- how much is staked in total, and how big each bet is
- any link to other businesslike racing activity, breeding horses being the ruling's example
- whether profit or pleasure is the main motive
Point of consumption tax is paid by bookmakers on their own net wagering revenue, and it is not deducted from your winnings. As the ATO's page on crypto prizes and gambling winnings explains, a won asset makes no capital gain on the win, but selling it later can, with its market value when you won it as the cost base.
The guide to tax on gambling winnings covers records and the point of consumption tax rates. Professional gambler tax covers heavier betting, and tax on systematic betting covers matched betting and arbitrage.
Where the law ends and bookmaker terms begin
The IGA and the state laws set duties for providers. Apart from the minimum bet limits set for some fixed-odds racing bets, stake limits, voided bets and closures are governed by each bookmaker's own terms, which differ from one bookmaker to the next.
The terms of many bookmakers restrict or ban betting by software, giving anyone else access to your account, and running more than one account. Any bookmaker may cut your stakes, void bets under its terms or close the account, and that risk is yours.
Whether arbitrage, matched betting or betting software suits a bookmaker's terms is for those terms to say. Whether a method is lawful in your circumstances is a question for a lawyer. The guides to whether arbitrage betting is legal and whether betting bots are legal separate the two questions, and bookmaker closed my account covers what happens after a closure.
Use only accounts in your own name: identity verification before the first bet is a legal duty on every online provider.
Mistakes people make about gambling laws in Australia
| Mistake | What it can cost |
|---|---|
| Treating a licence from another country as good enough | Section 15AA recognises only a licence issued under Australian state or territory law, and if an unlicensed site keeps your money, ACMA says no Australian regulator can help |
| Using a VPN to bet with a blocked site | The site is still unlicensed: no BetStop, no binding deposit limits, no regulator to turn to, and access can vanish with your balance |
| Expecting every part of the 2026 reform from 1 January 2027 | The inducement ban for designated customers starts on a later day the Minister sets, the opt-out register on a day fixed by Proclamation, and some uniform and venue ads can run to 31 December 2031, so check each date before relying on it |
| Complaining to the regulator in your own state | The authority on the bookmaker's register row hears it, and time spent with the wrong body still counts against the NT's 60-day window |
| Expecting a regulator to reopen an account or lift a stake limit | Outside the minimum bet limits set for some racing bets, both are matters for the bookmaker's terms, and the NT Wagering Commission lists account restrictions, including limits on how much you can bet, and accounts an operator has closed among the matters it cannot investigate |
| Believing BetStop blocks every kind of gambling | It covers online and phone wagering providers licensed in Australia; BetStop's own site points to separate programs for venues with poker machines and casinos |
| Assuming no betting gain can ever be taxed | Most people's winnings are not assessable income, unless betting is carried on as a business, and selling a won asset can still produce a capital gain |
If betting costs more than you meant to spend, call the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Gambling Help Online and BetStop are free as well, and the National Debt Helpline (1800 007 007, weekdays) offers free financial counselling.