Australia has no single gambling regulator. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) enforces the Commonwealth's online gambling law nationally, while an authority in a state or territory licenses and regulates each betting provider. AUSTRAC, which enforces the anti-money laundering rules, oversees the identity check a provider must run before you can place a bet. Racing bodies add their own conditions for betting on their races.
ACMA's register of licensed providers shows the licensing side. At its 7 September 2026 update it held 219 rows naming 10 licensing authorities. Three of them hold 195 of those rows: the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) has 76, Liquor & Gaming NSW 71 and the Northern Territory's commission 48.
Who regulates betting in Australia, level by level
| Body | Level | What it covers | Where it touches you |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACMA | Commonwealth | The Interactive Gambling Act 2001: banned services, the licence rule, credit, BetStop and ads for illegal services | Unlisted sites, credit, online bets taken after a game starts, BetStop breaches |
| AUSTRAC | Commonwealth | Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules, which include the national framework's identity check | Your identity checked before your first bet |
| The authority on the provider's register row | State or territory | The licence, the provider's conduct and most consumer protection measures | Disputed settlements, deposit limits, statements, account closure, marketing |
| Racing bodies | Racing industry | The rules of racing, approval to use race fields, minimum bet limits | A racing bet refused under a minimum bet limit |
The Act itself issues no licences. Section 15AA requires an online betting provider to hold a licence under a state or territory law, and ACMA keeps the register of providers that do (s 68). A licence issued in another country does not count. From 1 January 2027 the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 adds advertising rules and a ban on commissions tied to customer activity for ACMA to enforce, and its bans on direct-marketing inducements to designated customers apply from a later day the Minister sets by notifiable instrument, as the 2026 gambling reforms guide sets out.
Note: Register figures are as at the register's 7 September 2026 update, checked on 6 October 2026. General information, not legal advice; the Australian betting laws hub collects the guides on each law.
The 10 licensing authorities on ACMA's register
Each row names the authority that issued that provider's licence. The law column follows the Department of Social Services' list of state and territory regulation and the regulators' own pages, as at October 2026.
| Jurisdiction | Licensing authority | Rows | Main wagering law |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission | 76 | Gambling Regulation Act 2003 |
| New South Wales | Liquor & Gaming NSW | 71 | Betting and Racing Act 1998; Totalizator Act 1997 |
| Northern Territory | Northern Territory Racing and Wagering Commission | 48 | Racing and Wagering Act 2024 |
| Queensland | Queensland Racing Integrity Commission | 9 | Racing Integrity Act 2016 |
| South Australia | Consumer and Business Services | 6 | Authorised Betting Operations Act 2000 |
| Western Australia | Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety | 4 | Betting Control Act 1954 |
| Tasmania | Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission | 2 | Gaming Control Act 1993 |
| Northern Territory | NT Director-General of Licensing | 1 | Totalisator Licensing and Regulation Act 2000 |
| Queensland | Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation | 1 | Wagering Act 1998 |
| ACT | ACT Gambling and Racing Commission | 1 | Race and Sports Bookmaking Act 2001; Totalisator Act 2014 |
Three details change how the table reads:
- NSW: the racing controlling bodies (Racing NSW, Harness Racing NSW and the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission) license bookmakers, and the NSW Minister authorises telephone, electronic and declared-events betting. Liquor & Gaming NSW administers the wagering law and is the authority the register names.
- Queensland: the Racing Integrity Commission licenses racing bookmakers, and its 9 rows are bookmakers, 7 of them telephone only. The Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation's one row is TAB (QLD).
- Northern Territory: the commission covers bookmakers and betting exchanges, and the Director-General of Licensing's one row is the territory's totalisator.
Row counts measure trading names, not business size. One licence holder has 21 NSW rows, 11 Victorian rows are telephone-only bookmakers, and 9 of the NT's 48 rows are marked not currently operational.
The Northern Territory's share of online bookmakers
The NT has fewer rows than Victoria or NSW, yet it is the licensing authority on the rows of many national online brands, and of Betfair. As at the register's 7 September 2026 update:
| Trading name on the register | Licensing authority on the row |
|---|---|
| Sportsbet, Ladbrokes, Neds, PointsBet, bet365, Unibet, Bet Right, Dabble, Picklebet | Northern Territory commission |
| Betfair | Northern Territory commission |
| betr | Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission |
| Palmerbet | Liquor & Gaming NSW |
| TabTouch | WA Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety |
| TAB | Seven rows, each naming its own jurisdiction's authority: NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the NT |
That puts 10 of the 14 brands in the table with the NT commission. The register records which authority issued each licence, not the reasons behind it. Under the Interactive Gambling Act, a provider licensed in one state or territory does not breach s 15AA by taking bets from customers elsewhere in Australia (s 15AA(7)).
Bookmaker names are trade marks of their owners. B337 is not affiliated with them.
Example: Illustrative. You live in Hobart and bet with Bookmaker A, whose register row names the NT commission. A dispute over a settled bet goes to Bookmaker A first, then to the NT Wagering Commission rather than Tasmania's commission, even though every bet was placed from Tasmania.
The NT Wagering Commission, once the NT Racing Commission
The NT Wagering Commission is the independent statutory authority, established under the Racing and Wagering Act 2024 (NT), that regulates NT-licensed bookmakers and betting exchanges today. It was once known as the Northern Territory Racing Commission. ACMA's register printed it as the Northern Territory Racing and Wagering Commission at its 7 September 2026 update, and NT racing is now regulated separately.
Under that Act the NT licenses sports bookmakers, betting exchange operators and on-course bookmakers, while its totalisator has an Act of its own. Its licences cover betting on racing, on sporting events it has approved and on novelty events. The commission decides licence applications, declares sporting events, issues rules for novelty bets, prohibits contingencies and directs licensees on consumer protection and harm minimisation.
It also decides complaints against its licensees, which must reach it within 60 days of the day you became aware of the problem, once the operator has had its chance to fix it.
Racing bodies and race field fees
Racing bodies regulate the sport rather than the bookmaker, but they shape the betting on it. Racing Australia makes the Australian Rules of Racing for thoroughbreds, and the principal racing authority in each state adds Local Rules of its own. Harness and greyhound racing have separate bodies and rule books.
Their reach into betting runs through race fields, the published fields for each race. A wagering operator needs approval to use a state's race fields information. In NSW the racing controlling bodies of all three codes grant that approval and set its fees, which the operator pays for its use of that information. Racing NSW's policy (last updated March 2011) is that any operator using NSW thoroughbred fields needs its approval, wherever the operator is based or licensed. Racing Victoria and Racing Queensland likewise set conditions for the operators they approve.
Those conditions are where minimum bet limits come from: the amount a racing body requires an operator to accept a fixed-odds bet to lose at its displayed price. In Western Australia the Gaming and Wagering Commission sets them through licence conditions instead. The minimum bet limits guide has the amounts and the complaint forms.
The Rules of Racing also draw a line around operators without approval. AR 238 calls one a non-approved wagering operator. Anyone bound by the Rules, meaning people who take part in racing under them, must not bet with one on Australian thoroughbred racing, lay bets included. In NSW, bookmakers who field at the track are licensed by the racing controlling bodies themselves. The corporate and on-course bookmakers guide compares the two kinds.
Which regulator takes which complaint
| Your problem | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| A betting site you cannot find on the register | ACMA, which accepts these complaints without your name |
| A provider on the register offering you credit, or taking an online bet on a sporting event after it started | ACMA |
| A provider letting someone on BetStop bet, open an account or receive marketing | ACMA, which runs BetStop under the Interactive Gambling Act |
| A disputed settlement, a deposit limit not applied, a missing statement, a closure request ignored, unwanted marketing | The provider first, then the authority on its register row |
| A racing bet refused under a minimum bet limit | Raise it with the provider, then with the body that set the limit: a racing body, or in WA the Gaming and Wagering Commission |
| An offshore site keeping your money | No Australian regulator can help, ACMA warns, as the offshore betting sites guide explains |
The bookmaker complaints guide walks through each route, what to send and the time limits. To find any provider's authority, search its trading name on the register, as the licence check guide shows step by step.
Risk: Betting involves risk. Regulators police how providers behave, not how bets turn out, so a losing bet with a provider on the register stays lost. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Mistakes that send a complaint to the wrong place
| Mistake | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Complaining to your own state's regulator when the register names another | The right body never sees it, while the NT's 60-day window keeps running |
| Taking a disputed settlement straight to ACMA | ACMA's complaints cover unlisted sites, credit, online bets after the start and BetStop, so the dispute comes back to the licensing authority and time is lost |
| Taking a refused racing bet to the licensing authority | It belongs with the body that set the limit, and the NT commission lists minimum bet laws among the matters it will not investigate |