Online gambling in Australia
Australia is an interesting gambling jurisdiction. Famed for their propensity to gamble, and presented with a myriad of terrestrial gambling options (holds the dubious honour of having the highest density of poker machines in the world) Australian’s per capita annual gambling spend is amongst the highest in the world. Yet despite the government’s very tolerant position toward local gambling options, they are not so happy with Australian’s gambling online – particularly with offshore operators.
Australia was one of the first countries in the world to enact legislation drafted to specifically deal with the issue of online gambling. Back in 2001, the Interactive Gambling Act (“the Act”) became law. Largely prohibitive in nature, the Act rendered it illegal for any online gambling operator to offer their product to Australian residents in the absence of a locally acquired license to do so (as issued by one of Australia’s issuing licensing States).
Like America’s UIGEA, the intent of the Act was to curtail Australian resident online gambling activity, and early government commissioned studies seemed to indicate that it was working. Fast forward to the present day, and it seems the situation is very different and locally based operators are now complaining that they can’t compete with offshore operators.
While Australia’s online gambling laws don’t in any way make it illegal for a player to gamble online, they have, like America’s UIGEA had the effect of discouraging some operators from offering their product to Aussie players. Curiously however, while UIGEA has seen almost all of the large brand gambling operators pull out of the US market, this hasn’t been the case with regard to Australia. Operators will typically only close their live dealer casino to Australians if they are seeking to acquire a local online sports betting license.
Until recently his has left plenty of well known operators with live dealer casinos welcoming Australian players.
[Update August 2017]
In 2017 a raft of amendments to the Act were passed providing more clarity on what forms of online gambling are and aren’t permitted. The amendments, contained in the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill, and summarised here also prescribe stronger enforcement measures for offending operators, both locally and offshore.
The new law, coming into effect September 2017 has seen the withdrawal of a number of operators from the Australiian market, including 32Red, Betvictor, LeoVegas and Party Casino.
Best live casinos for Australian players
Not as many live casino options for Aussies as early 2017, and none offering AUD banking/account holding options. Our best pick for Australian players now is Dublinbet, which offers a large range of tables from leading providers.
 Casinos |  Player access |  Banking | Toll free support | Local language | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Read review | Visit | No restrictions | No deposit restrictions. Also accepts Bitcoin | No | YES | Multiple live games platforms to choose from including Evolution, Ezugi, ViG and Betgames |