Beware Of Losing Money On Illegal Overseas Gambling Websites

Thankfully, land based casinos in Australia are starting to recognise the benefits of virtual casino titles, with many brick and mortar casinos now offering electronic roulette and baccarat from within the walls of their venues. The contradictory terms laid out within the IGA and the IGA Amendment Bill, which set the parameters for interactive betting within Australia, are glaringly obvious. There is an allowance to offer online sports and lottery betting and a disallowance to offer online casino and poker betting – when all branch off the same tree, and no research suggests one form is more detrimental than the other. However, it’s not all black and white, and there are exceptions, which we will explore in this article to provide a clear explanation surrounding Australia’s online gambling laws.

Through his mobile phone, he had entered the world of online casinos, which are illegal in Australia. Live sports betting is considered interactive, and so this form of betting has been outlawed online within Australian sports wagering companies, and can only be conducted via phone. Gambling expenditure data are compiled annually for the Australian Gambling Statistics report (QGSO 2022). This report defines expenditure as net amount lost (amount wagered minus amount won) by people who gambled in Australia up to 2019–20 (the most recent data available).

QGSO (Queensland Government Statistician’s Office), Queensland Treasury (2022) Australian gambling statistics, 37th edition Australian gambling statistics, 37th edition 1994–95 to 2019–20, Queensland Treasury, accessed 23 May 2023. It consists of 9 items (questions), such as ‘have you bet more than you could really afford to lose? ’, with response options being never (0), sometimes (1), most of the time (2) and almost always (3). While we are distracted by sport and pacified by alcohol and gambling, big business is winning control of our minds. This is run by an entirely legitimate organisation called eCOGRA which describes itself as an ‘independent and internationally approved testing agency’.

"But it moves so fast. And I’m aware of gaming operators who have thousands of URLs, which they can use and move their operation from one to another, to another, to another." But "mirror" websites with slightly different addresses often spring up to replace those blocked. "That just makes it more challenging for law enforcement or other agencies to actually understand where the origin of the funds came from and where the funds are ultimately destined to go to."

Research conducted in 2022 found that almost half (46%) of Australians aged 18 and over who gambled would be classified as being at-risk of, or already experiencing, gambling harm (low, moderate, or high-risk PGSI categories combined). Rowland said the government’s record on harm minimisation was “strong” and she was committed to reducing harms from online gambling. “We’re committed to reducing harms from online gambling and we’re implementing a national self-exclusion register,” she said. The prohibition of internet-based poker machines (also known as Electronic Gaming Machines or EGMs) and casinos to Australians attracts little media attention despite the fact it has been an utter failure. ACMA says its requests to internet service providers have led to blocks on 652 gambling sites.

Illegal online casinos boom during COVID-19 lockdown

A 2020 survey of more than 2,000 adults who gamble found that almost 1 in 3 participants signed-up for a new online betting account during COVID-19, and 1 in 20 started gambling online (Jenkinson et al. 2020). The survey also examined roughly what proportion of participants’ gambling was conducted via different modes (for example online, at land-based venues). On average, before COVID-19, around 62% of participants’ gambling was conducted online; during COVID-19, this increased to 78%. Consumer surveys, key expert reports and industry data suggest that the increased spending on online gambling during the pandemic has been sustained (see Gambling Trends Study). The lack of regulation and oversight in the unregulated market means that people who gamble may not have access to the same level of consumer protection and safer gambling measures found in regulated markets.

• Land based casinos, pubs and betting outlets operate legally throughout the country, providing strictly regulated spaces in which Australians can place real money bets in real life.
• Gambling expenditure data are compiled annually for the Australian Gambling Statistics report (QGSO 2022).
• Online poker machines (27.5%) were reported to be the most harmful form amongst ‘harmed’ interactive gamblers, followed by race betting (17.1%), sports betting (15.3%) or lotteries (13.9%).
• Close family members, including spouses and children, were most often identified as the people impacted by others’ gambling problems (Goodwin et al. 2017).

Gambling laws over time

Below are examples that offer insights into strategies for mitigating gambling-related harms that stem from unregulated gambling markets. Regulators may find these examples valuable when developing strategies to combat unregulated gambling. Some stakeholders see gambling industry estimates of the unregulated market as an attempt to deflect scrutiny of industry activities and resist further regulatory controls. While some research suggests that increased liberalisation of regulated gambling markets may reduce the use of unregulated sites, other research has shown that liberalisation may also lead to a greater risk of harm to populations through increased advertising and exposure. The government has already pursued new mandatory harm-minimisation messages on advertisements, banned the use of credit cards for online wagering and restricted gambling-like activity in video games. “The committee supports the Australian government’s proposed changes to the classification system to reduce the risk of harm from social casinos and loot box features in interactive games.

Gambling in the Australian adult population

We pay our respects to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestors of this land, their spirits and their legacy. The foundations laid by these ancestors—our First Nations peoples—give strength, inspiration and courage to current and future generations towards igamingbusiness.com creating a better Queensland. To find out how to apply for an interactive gambling key person licence, as part of a licence application, contact OLGR.

Once a licence is granted, licensees must submit all proposed interactive games for assessment and approval by the Minister prior to being introduced in Queensland. Luckystar is among them and its licence holder has received a formal warning from ACMA for providing a prohibited gambling service to customers in Australia. "People go to Curacao to seek licences because there is no regulation, no law enforcement and no taxation at all," says Nardy Cramm, a journalist who runs a Curacao news site. "It’s not illegal for you to gamble online. It’s just illegal for the companies overseas to offer you to gamble online," he says. In total, he estimates he lost roughly $150,000 of his own money and another $150,000 that belonged to his mother, a pensioner with multiple sclerosis, through two gambling sites.

UBET QLD Limited is currently the exclusive licence holder for race and sports wagering in Queensland. If you wish to conduct online skill-based games you should seek independent legal advice in relation to whether the game is able to be conducted under the provisions of the gaming legislation administered in Queensland prior to making an application. As experts in the different laws and bodies regulating gambling in Australia, Senet can provide up to date advice on best-practice compliance and accreditation for gambling operators in Australia.

The social costs of gambling – including adverse financial impacts, emotional and psychological costs, relationship and family impacts, and productivity loss and work impacts – have been estimated at around $7 Playfina Bonuses billion in Victoria alone (Browne et al. 2017). Gambling-related harms affect not only the people directly involved, but also their families, peers and the wider community (Goodwin et al. 2017). Use BetStop—the National Self-Exclusion RegisterTM to block yourself from all phone and online gambling providers.