bet365 casino closing to Australians

This is a shame.

From 22 August bet365 live casino will be closing it’s doors to Australian players.  That means no new Aussie player casino accounts and existing players will have their casino balances transferred over to the sportsbook. This coming Sunday will be the last time you can play their live games.

Australian players (including me!) received notification of the impending closure today…

“We’re in the process of applying for a Sports betting licence in Australia. As part of our preparations for this, we regret to inform you that our Casino, Poker, Games and Bingo sites will no longer be available from week commencing 22nd August.

Any funds currently in your Casino, Poker, Games and Bingo balances will be transferred to your Sports balance. Our Sports site will continue to work as normal.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.”

The reason for the closure – application for an Australian sports betting license, highlights the irony of the online gambling regulation in Australia (and around the world). Sans license, players get access to the full offering; applying for license and access becomes far more limited. You’d think that a move toward local market rule compliance would warrant the reverse situation.

Let’s hope the license application is unsuccessful, or if successful bet365 find operating in the saturated Australian online sports betting market too competitive and we can get access to their live games after they exit!

Taking a glass is half full look at the situation, there are still plenty or great live dealer options for Australian players out there. Let’s just hope Unibet, BetFred , William Hill et al don’t also apply for an Australian license any time soon!

One other thing…if you are an Australian player at bet365’s live casino and have a favourite dealer there, you can still find him/her playing at BetFred or William Hill.