Yes. Sports betting is legal in Australia when the provider holds an Australian state or territory licence and, for a bet made online or in an app, the bet goes on before the event begins. Both conditions come from the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cth), sections 8A(3) and 15AA, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) enforces them.
The law bans what sits outside those conditions. Providers may not offer online betting on a sport once the event has started, online casino games or pokies, online scratchies, lottery outcome betting, or any service without an Australian licence. You also have to be 18 or over, and the provider must confirm who you are before it takes your first bet.
The two conditions a lawful sports bet meets
The Act is written as rules for the businesses that offer or advertise gambling to people in Australia, and it works by exclusion. An online gambling service is prohibited unless the Act carves it out, and sports betting is carved out only "to the extent to which the service is not an in-play betting service" (s 8A(3)).
Even then, s 15AA makes it unlawful to provide that service to customers in Australia without a state or territory licence. The Interactive Gambling Act explained sets out how the rest of the Act is built.
That leaves two tests for any sports bet:
- The provider is licensed in Australia, which you can confirm on ACMA's register of licensed interactive wagering providers.
- The bet goes on before the event begins. Section 10B treats a bet as in-play when it is "placed, made, received or accepted after the beginning of the event", whether it is on the result or on something that happens during play.
The words "received or accepted" matter at the edge, because the test looks at when the bookmaker takes the bet, not only at when you press the button.
Example: Illustrative times. A match starts at 7:30:00 pm. A bet you send at 7:29:55 pm that the bookmaker accepts at 7:29:58 pm went on before the event began. The same bet accepted at 7:30:03 pm, after the first bounce, falls within s 10B, and an Australian provider cannot take it online.
The in-play betting rules cover that definition and why prices still move on screen during a game.
Note: General information about Australian law as at 7 October 2026, not legal advice. For advice on your own situation, speak to a lawyer. The Australian betting laws hub links every page on the topic.
What is banned, and the reasons given
ACMA lists the services that are illegal to offer to people in Australia. Here is each one, with where the Act deals with it.
| Service | Status | Where in the Act |
|---|---|---|
| Betting on a sporting event after it has begun, online or in an app | Banned for providers | s 10B, s 8A(3) |
| Online pokies or slots, poker, blackjack, roulette and other casino-style games | Banned for providers | s 5, s 15 |
| Online scratchies and other instant lotteries | Banned for providers | s 8D(2) |
| Betting on the outcome of a lottery | Banned for providers | s 8A(5) |
| Any racing or sports betting service with no Australian licence | Illegal to offer to people in Australia | s 15AA |
| Credit for betting, and deposits by credit card, credit-linked wallet or cryptocurrency | Banned for online and phone wagering providers: credit since 17 February 2018 (with a narrow exception for small on-course bookmakers taking phone bets by voice call), the payment methods since 11 June 2024 | s 15C, s 15D |
The Government gives different reasons for different rows. On online casino-style products, its May 2026 response to the House of Representatives inquiry into online gambling describes the Act's intent as limiting "online gambling products that can lead to harmful gambling". On unlicensed operators, the same response says they are unlikely to have consumer protections, pay no Australian taxes or racing and sports fees, and can be used for money laundering or match fixing.
State and territory licences and what they allow
State and territory governments license and regulate online wagering providers, and the Commonwealth sets the national online rules through the IGA and ACMA. For the IGA's purposes one licence covers the country: s 15AA(7) says a licensee does not breach the Act by offering that kind of service in its own state or territory or outside it. So, as far as the IGA goes, a bookmaker licensed in the Northern Territory can take a bet from someone in Tasmania.
State and territory rules sit on top of that, including what a licence allows. In the Northern Territory, for example, a sports bookmaker or betting exchange licence lets the holder take bets on racing, approved sporting events and novelty events. ACMA's register names the licensing authority beside every trading name, and the gambling regulators guide covers each authority and the complaints it handles.
To check a site yourself, search its trading name on ACMA's register of licensed interactive wagering providers and match the website letter for letter. The licence check guide walks through it.
The legal betting age is 18
Betting is for adults: as Gambling Help Online notes, gambling is illegal in Australia for anyone under 18. For online and phone accounts the check comes first. Under the National Consumer Protection Framework, a provider must verify your identity when you open an account and before you can place a bet, which has been required since 29 September 2023.
If a customer is verified as under 18, the provider must close the account immediately and return all deposited funds. Winnings cannot be withdrawn until identity is verified.
From 1 January 2027 the age line reaches advertising as well. The 2026 Act treats anyone under 18 as a restricted user, and an online service may show wagering ads only to people logged in to a registered account who are not restricted users. The 2026 gambling reforms explain that package.
Which other kinds of gambling are legal
Online gambling is legal in the forms the Act carves out and a state or territory licenses, which include racing bets placed before the jump, bets on sport and other approved events placed before the event begins, and lotteries. Buying a lottery ticket online is a lottery service the Act excludes from its bans (s 8D), while electronic scratchies are not. Online keno has been sold as a lottery product, and the 2026 Act bans it, along with foreign matched lotteries, from 1 January 2027.
Gambling in person runs on a separate system. State and territory governments regulate land-based gambling, including poker machines, casinos and lotteries, each under its own laws. So most forms of gambling are legal in Australia, inside each jurisdiction's rules, with the online casino-style products in the table above banned for providers.
Which events and bets a bookmaker may offer
A licence does not let a bookmaker take bets on anything it likes: bookmakers may take bets only on approved events and approved bet types. In NSW the Minister declares the betting events and the bet types allowed on each (Betting and Racing Act 1998 (NSW), s 18 and s 20), as Racing NSW's page on bookmakers and betting explains. In the Northern Territory the Wagering Commission can declare sporting events, issue rules for novelty bets and prohibit contingencies.
Victoria also bars bets on some junior sport. Under a Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission direction announced on 3 August 2023, no bets may be taken on sporting events where all participants are minors or on under-19s events. Bets on an individual player's outcome are barred too where the player is under 18, though bets on team results in senior competitions where minors play are still allowed.
A site with no Australian licence sits outside all of this: taking bets from people here at all breaks s 15AA, and the offshore betting sites guide explains what that means for your money.
Mistakes that leave punters out of pocket
| Mistake | What it can cost |
|---|---|
| Assuming a site is legal because it accepts Australians | Taking Australian customers without a licence is exactly what s 15AA forbids, and if that site withholds winnings no Australian regulator can step in |
| Treating a sign-up bonus as normal | Licensed providers may not offer an inducement to open an account under the national framework, so the offer itself is a warning sign |
| Reading a moving price during a game as an open market | An Australian provider cannot accept an online bet on that game once it has started, however the price on screen looks |
| Checking only the brand name | The register lists each trading name's website, and a different domain is a different site |
| Depositing by credit card or crypto because a site allows it | Licensed providers have been barred from both since 11 June 2024, so a site taking them from Australians is not following Australian rules |
Risk: Betting involves risk. A lawful bet with a licensed provider can still lose the whole stake, and protections such as deposit limits, monthly statements and BetStop apply only to providers licensed in Australia. See responsible gambling for limits and support.