Online in-play betting on sport is banned in Australia: no provider may accept an online bet on a sporting event once it has begun. Before the start, only a provider licensed in an Australian state or territory may take one. Both rules come from the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (s 8A(3) and s 15AA), and s 10B makes any bet placed, made, received or accepted after the start an in-play bet.
The rule binds the businesses that offer betting, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) enforces it. So once the event has begun, no Australian provider can accept your online bet on it, even though live prices still turn up on screens and on overseas sites. What follows is the law as at 8 October 2026, as general information rather than legal advice.
How the law defines an in-play bet
Section 10B defines an in-play betting service in two limbs. A bet is in-play if it is on the outcome of a sporting event, or on a contingency that may or may not happen in the course of the event. Either way, the test is whether it is "placed, made, received or accepted after the beginning of the event".
The first limb catches the result. The second catches what happens during play, such as the next team to score or the margin at half-time.
The four verbs matter at the edge. A bet you send before the start that the provider receives or accepts after it is still caught, which is how a last-second bet can miss. The guide to whether sports betting is legal times one through to the second.
Section 8A(3) takes online sports betting out of the Act's general ban only "to the extent to which the service is not an in-play betting service", so online betting after the start stays prohibited for every provider, licensed or not (s 15). The Interactive Gambling Act explained sets out the rest of the Act's categories.
In-play or not: bets worked through
The test is when the bet is accepted against when the event it is on begins, whether the bet is on the result or on something during play. The tournament-winner row is the one the explanatory memorandum treats differently. With an illustrative match that begins at 3:15 pm:
| Bet | Accepted | In-play under s 10B? | Can an Australian provider accept it online? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team A to win | 3:10 pm | No | Yes, under a state or territory licence |
| Team A to win | 3:40 pm, during play | Yes: the outcome, after the start | No |
| Next team to score | 3:40 pm | Yes: a contingency during the event | No |
| A same game multi on the match | 3:05 pm | No, even though its legs settle during play | Yes |
| A second multi with a new leg | 3:30 pm | Yes: a new bet accepted after the start | No |
| The winner of a tournament of separate matches, during its first match | 3:40 pm | No, according to the explanatory memorandum | Yes |
| A later match in the same tournament that has not begun | 3:40 pm | No, according to the same memorandum | Yes |
| An overseas league game, bet from Australia | After its start | Yes: the Act asks where the customer is (s 8), not where the game is played | No |
The tournament rows come from the revised explanatory memorandum for the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026, in its passage on tournaments made up of concurrent or consecutive games or matches. It says betting on the outcome of such a tournament after it has commenced, or on a single event in it that has not commenced, would not be an in-play betting service. Its example is a bet on who wins a World Cup final, placed after the tournament's first match has started, and it calls this consistent with how the rules already operate.
A multi-day golf tournament is handled differently. Under the Interactive Gambling (Sporting Events and Excluded Wagering Services) Determination 2017, a provider may not take an online bet on one, on the result or on anything during play, while a day's play is under way.
Who the in-play ban binds
Section 15 puts the ban on the provider. It makes it an offence, and a civil penalty contravention, to provide a prohibited interactive gambling service that has an Australian-customer link, and each day a breach continues counts again. That link exists as soon as one customer is physically present in Australia (s 8). On ACMA's own list of banned services, in-play sports betting sits beside online casinos and betting services with no Australian licence.
So the reason you cannot bet live online is that no provider may lawfully accept the bet, wherever it is based. For customers, ACMA puts the risk in terms of money: what can happen to winnings and balances at an operator that breaks the rules.
Note: General information about the law as at 8 October 2026, not legal advice. The Australian betting laws hub maps the other rules, from licensing to tax.
Why live odds still appear online
A price can exist without an online bet being available. Where you see one during play decides which rule applies:
| Where you see a live price | What the law says |
|---|---|
| An Australian bookmaker's website or app, after the start | No Australian provider may accept an online bet on that event once it has begun (s 10B), so the price is not an online offer |
| A site with no Australian licence that takes bets during play | It is providing a prohibited service (s 5 and s 15), and ACMA can ask internet service providers to block it |
| Odds promoted during a live sport broadcast or stream | Until 1 January 2027, gambling ads and the promotion of odds are not permitted during live sport broadcasts between 5:00 am and 8:30 pm, online streams included; the 2026 Act's rules apply from then (below) |
| An ad for live odds on a match in progress in NSW | An offence under NSW law |
| An ad for an illegal betting service, including its name or web address | Banned under Part 7A of the Act |
NSW makes it an offence to publish gambling advertising about a sporting event in progress in NSW, live odds and in-play betting services included. Its reason is that such advertising may encourage more continuous betting or betting on impulse.
The broadcast rules change on 1 January 2027, under the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026. Between 5:00 am and 8:30 pm, no wagering ads may then be broadcast with live coverage of a sporting event from 15 minutes before its scheduled start to 5 minutes after it ends, breaks included (new s 62K). From that date, broadcasting the promotion of odds is banned except on dedicated wagering channels and programs (new s 62X). The 2026 gambling reforms guide lists the rest.
Sites that take live sports bets from people in Australia
A site that offers you online bets during a game is offering a service the Act prohibits, and ACMA treats that as grounds to block it. Under s 313 of the Telecommunications Act 1997, ACMA asks Australian internet service providers to block websites that provide prohibited services, and it names services that allow in-play online sports betting. Unlicensed betting services, and sites advertising either kind, are blocked on the same basis.
ACMA warns customers that an illegal operator can keep their winnings, vanish with their balance or be blocked so they cannot log in, with no Australian regulator able to step in. Those risks are set out in the offshore betting sites guide, and using a VPN does not change them, because the test is whether you are physically present in Australia.
Complaints go to ACMA in two cases: a provider that is not on its register, or a provider on the register that offers credit or in-play betting. You can report a website you think offers illegal gambling without giving your name. Other complaints about a licensed provider go to the authority that licenses it, named beside it on the register, and checking a bookmaker's licence walks through reading a row.
Risk: Betting involves risk. On a site with no Australian licence, a winning balance can be withheld or cut off by a block, with no Australian regulator to turn to. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Planning your bets around the start
Every online sports bet with an Australian provider has to be accepted before the event begins, so the start is your deadline for everything you want to do online on that event:
- Place each bet, and build any same game multi, before the start.
- If you want to cover a pre-match bet by laying it on a betting exchange, do that before the start too. How much you can lay at the price shown depends on the exchange's market liquidity at that moment.
- Read your bookmaker's terms on bets that reach it after an event starts, so you know what happens to one caught at the line.
Example: Illustrative figures. You back Team A for $25 at $3.60 an hour before the start. Once the event begins, no new online bet on it can be accepted to cover the $25. Plan the stake as a bet that returns 25 x 3.60 = $90 if Team A wins, a profit of 90 - 25 = $65, and nothing if it loses.
Mistakes people make about live betting
| Mistake | What actually applies |
|---|---|
| Leaving a bet to the last seconds | If the provider accepts it after the start it falls within s 10B, so it may not go on at all |
| Taking a price shown during play as an offer | No Australian provider may accept that bet online, however current the price looks |
| Betting live with a site that has no Australian licence | Winnings that may never be paid, a balance cut off by a block, and no Australian regulator to help |
| Using a VPN to look as if you are overseas | You are still physically present in Australia, which is the Act's test (s 8) |
| Counting on covering a pre-match bet during the game | No new online bet on the event can be accepted once it has begun, so the $25 at $3.60 above returns $90 or nothing |
| Assuming the market on a tournament of separate matches shuts when its first match starts | The explanatory memorandum for the 2026 reform bill treats a bet on such a tournament's outcome after it begins as outside the in-play definition, though a multi-day golf tournament cannot be bet online while a day's play is under way |