Smart Betting AU
Smart Betting AU

Responsible Gambling in Australia: Help and Limits

Contemplative person at a table with a phone placed face-down in a sunlit Australian home.

Gambling is a legal, regulated activity in Australia, but it carries a documented risk of harm. This page sets out what is known about problem gambling indicators, the self-restriction tools available under Australian law, and where support can be obtained.

Table of Contents
  1. The legal position in Australia
  2. Recognising problem gambling
  3. Self-exclusion: BetStop
  4. Where to get help
  5. Payment restrictions that limit exposure
  6. Verifying a wagering provider
  7. Age requirement
  8. A note on gambling and money
  9. Summary

Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, providing online casino games — including online pokies, roulette, blackjack and online poker — to Australian customers is illegal. There is no domestically licensed real-money online casino for Australian players. Licensed Australian operators are limited to sports and race wagering.

Offshore operators that accept Australian customers commonly hold licences from Malta or Curacao. These licences are issued by foreign authorities and do not authorise an operator to serve Australian customers; a foreign licence does not make an offshore casino a legal option for Australian players.

Recognising problem gambling

Problem gambling is generally understood as gambling that causes harm to the person gambling or to others around them. Research distinguishes it from recreational gambling by observable patterns of behaviour rather than by the amount of money involved. Indicators documented in the clinical literature include:

The presence of one or more of these indicators does not constitute a diagnosis. Screening instruments such as those used by gambling support services exist for that purpose, and a formal assessment can only be carried out by a qualified professional.

Self-exclusion: BetStop

The legal framework changed in 2019 to allow the introduction of a national self-exclusion register. BetStop is that register for online wagering. It allows a person to exclude themselves from all Australian licensed online and phone wagering services in a single step.

Registrants choose a self-exclusion period ranging from a minimum of three months up to a lifetime. The uptake data available to date is consistent with the register serving people with a settled intent to stop: around 40 per cent of BetStop registrants have chosen to self-exclude for life, while fewer than 20 per cent selected the minimum three-month period. More than 14 per cent of registrants have already extended or reactivated their self-exclusion period.

BetStop covers Australian licensed wagering services. It does not cover offshore casino operators.

BetStop is accessible at https://www.betstop.com.au.

Where to get help

The following organisations provide support services. They are listed here because they are the principal national resources available in Australia, not as a courtesy footer.

Gambling Help Online — free, confidential support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week: https://www.gamblinghelponline.org.au

Gambler’s Help — responsible gambling support: https://www.gamblers.help

Lifeline — mental health support: https://www.lifeline.org.au

BetStop / National Self-Exclusion Register — self-exclusion from Australian licensed online and phone wagering: https://www.betstop.com.au

The National Gambling Helpline operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

These services are free to contact. Contacting them does not create any obligation to enrol in a programme, and confidentiality applies.

Payment restrictions that limit exposure

Since 11 June 2024, credit cards and cryptocurrency cannot be used as deposit methods for online gambling in Australia. The only legal deposit routes for licensed Australian wagering are debit cards, bank transfer, PayID/Osko and BPAY. Credit cannot lawfully be offered or used to fund online betting. These restrictions function in practice as a loss-limiting mechanism: gambling can only be funded from money already held.

Verifying a wagering provider

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) publishes a register of Australian-licensed interactive wagering service providers. A licence number can be verified by cross-referencing it on the regulator’s official website. Foreign licensing authorities such as the MGA (Malta) and the Curacao licensing authority also maintain public registers where a licence number and its status can be checked — but, as noted above, a foreign licence does not authorise service to Australian customers.

Age requirement

The minimum age for commercial gambling in Australia is 18. Providers of licensed services are required to verify age; gambling by a person under 18 is unlawful.

A note on gambling and money

The established position in the research literature is that gambling outcomes are, for casino-style and wagering products, determined by chance or by margins favouring the operator. Gambling is not a source of income, and no pattern of play alters the expected loss over time. Using gambling to resolve a debt or a financial shortfall is a recognised risk factor for harm, not a strategy: the expected outcome is a further loss. Anyone experiencing gambling-related financial difficulty can contact the support services listed above, which deal with these situations routinely.

Summary

If the indicators listed above correspond to observed behaviour — in oneself or in someone else — the services named on this page can be contacted directly, at any hour.