# Is sports betting legal in Australia? What the law allows, and the rules

> Yes, with a bookmaker licensed by an Australian state or territory and listed on ACMA's register, if you're 18 or over: the register listed 213 licensed providers on October 21, 2026. The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 allows online bets on racing, on sport before it starts and on other events the regulators approve, such as elections, but bans online bets on a sporting event once it has started: in-play bets on sport are legal only by phone. Licensed bookmakers can't take credit cards or crypto, must honour BetStop, the national self-exclusion register, and must offer deposit limits and monthly statements. Online casinos and pokies are illegal.

- URL: https://safebet.ai/au/sports-betting/is-sports-betting-legal/
- Markdown version: https://safebet.ai/au/sports-betting/is-sports-betting-legal/index.html.md
- Last updated: 2026-10-25 (re-checked when an operator changes its terms or a regulator or court acts)
- Author: SafeBet.ai Research Team (SafeBet.ai)
- Notice: Advertising. SafeBet.ai may be paid by the operators shown when you register through our links. We only link to betting services on ACMA’s register of licensed providers. 18+ only. Online casinos and prediction markets aren’t legal in Australia, and we don’t link to any.
- Statutory warning: Chances are you’re about to lose. For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au
- Editorial policy and advertiser disclosure: https://safebet.ai/editorial-policy/

## Key takeaways

- Online betting is legal only with bookmakers licensed by a state or territory and listed on ACMA's register: 213 providers on October 21, 2026.
- Online bets on sport must be placed before the event starts; in-play bets on sport are legal only by phone, in a live voice call.
- Since June 11, 2024, licensed bookmakers can't accept credit cards, credit-linked wallets or digital currency such as crypto.
- BetStop lets you exclude yourself from every licensed online and phone bookmaker for anything from 3 months to life.
- From January 1, 2027, new rules limit betting ads around live sport, on TV, on radio and online, and ban commissions linked to customer activity.

## The short answer

Yes. Online betting on racing, sport and other approved events is legal in Australia with a bookmaker licensed by a state or territory, if you're 18 or over. The federal **Interactive Gambling Act 2001** sets the boundaries and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (**ACMA**) enforces it; the states and territories license the bookmakers and set many of the day-to-day rules. ACMA's register of licensed interactive gambling providers listed 213 providers on October 21, 2026. Four of the five bookmakers in [our ranking](https://safebet.ai/au/sports-betting/) are licensed by the Northern Territory Wagering Commission, and betr by the Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission.

## What the Interactive Gambling Act allows

The Act bans any gambling service offered online to people in Australia in the course of business, unless it falls into one of its exceptions. For betting, those are:

- **racing**: bets on horse, harness and greyhound races;
- **sport**: bets on sporting events, as long as they aren't in-play;
- **other events**: bets on other events or contingencies, such as elections or awards, again not in-play, and not on lotteries or games of chance;
- **telephone betting**, where all dealings are by voice call.

Everything else offered online, including online casino games, online pokies and online poker, is a prohibited interactive gambling service. Providing one to people in Australia is an offence, and so is providing betting without a state or territory licence: up to 5,000 penalty units, with civil penalties of up to 7,500 penalty units for each day. At $364 a penalty unit since July 1, 2026, and five times as much for a company, that's up to $13.65 million a day.

## In-play betting: by phone only

A bet is in-play if it's placed after a sporting event has begun, on the result or on anything that may happen during the event, and in-play betting on sport can't be offered online. Licensed bookmakers take those bets by phone instead, and the call must be a live voice call: recorded or synthetic voices and tone signals don't count. Apps help you get there, with features such as bet365's Quick Code and Sportsbet's Fastcode for placing in-play bets over the phone.

Racing is treated differently, so bookmakers can take bets on races online after the jump. For a cricket Test or a golf tournament played over several days, each day of play counts as a separate event, so online bets are only taken between days of play. The rules are enforced: in November 2025 the NT commission fined Amused Australia, which runs the Noisy and Bet Nation brands, for taking bets online after a sporting event had started; the fine of $19,425 was reduced to $4,625 on review in September 2026.

## Licences and ACMA's register

Every legal online bookmaker holds a licence from a state or territory regulator. The NT Wagering Commission licenses most of the national online bookmakers, while TAB's businesses are licensed state by state. ACMA's register lists each licensed provider with its licence holder, the regulator that licensed it and its website. A site that isn't on the register, or a web address different from the one listed, isn't licensed in Australia. Our [legality check](https://safebet.ai/au/sports-betting/licence-check/) searches the register, and ACMA's list of blocked sites, for you.

## Credit cards and crypto: banned since June 11, 2024

Since June 11, 2024, licensed online bookmakers can't accept payment by credit card, through an account, service or facility linked to a credit card, such as some digital wallets, or in digital currency such as crypto, and they can't provide you with credit. The civil penalty is 750 penalty units for each day, and five times that for a company: up to $1,365,000 a day. Bookmakers take debit cards, PayID, Apple Pay and Google Pay instead, and four of the five in our ranking take PayPal.

## BetStop, the national self-exclusion register

BetStop, which launched in August 2023, lets you exclude yourself from every licensed online and phone bookmaker at once, for anything from 3 months to life. It's free: you register at betstop.gov.au with a mobile number, an email address and an Australian driver's licence, passport or Medicare card, and its phone line is 1800 238 786. Once you're registered, bookmakers must not let you open an account or place a bet, or send you marketing, and must close any accounts you have and refund the balance. You can't cancel in the first 3 months; after that, you need a statutory declaration that you've seen a counsellor or GP, and you're removed after 7 days. Licensed bookmakers must link to BetStop on their home page and responsible gambling pages.

More than 60,000 Australians registered between August 2023 and April 2026, and more than 37,000 registrations were active. ACMA enforces the rules: it penalised Unibet $1,014,120 in May 2025 for failing to close the accounts of 954 people registered with BetStop, PointsBet $500,800 the same month for marketing messages to self-excluded people, and Dabble $1,069,200 in September 2026 for both. BetStop doesn't cover illegal offshore sites.

## The National Consumer Protection Framework

The National Consumer Protection Framework (NCPF), agreed by the federal government and every state and territory, sets minimum protections at every licensed online bookmaker:

- **deposit limits**: new customers must set a deposit limit or opt out of one, and the bookmaker can't let a deposit break it;
- **monthly activity statements**: free, with losses in red, wins in black and no green anywhere, and access to at least 7 years of transactions;
- **easy account closure**, with no rewards for keeping an account open;
- **no direct marketing** without your consent;
- **no inducements**: no credit, vouchers or rewards as inducements, and no free bets unless the winnings can be withdrawn;
- **trained staff**, with responsible wagering training when they start and every year.

Betting ads must also carry one of seven taglines, such as "Chances are you're about to lose", with the call to action "For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au". In NSW, these requirements took effect on March 30, 2023.

## Inducements and advertising

On top of the NCPF, the states have their own advertising rules:

- **NSW** makes it an offence to publish any inducement to gamble, or to gamble more often, including an inducement to open a betting account, with maximum penalties of $110,000 for a company and $11,000 for an individual. A disclaimer that the offer isn't available in NSW doesn't help, and a website that publishes such an ad for a benefit can be liable. NSW also bans gambling ads about a sporting event in progress in NSW, including live odds.
- **Victoria** bans offering any credit, voucher, reward or other benefit as an incentive to open an account or to refer someone else.
- **South Australia's** code bans offering credit, vouchers or rewards as an inducement to gamble, open an account or keep one open.

Until the end of 2026, betting ads and the promotion of odds also aren't allowed during live sport broadcasts between 5am and 8:30pm, online streams included.

## The 2027 changes

The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026, which became law on August 26, 2026, takes effect on January 1, 2027. For licensed bookmakers it brings:

- **live sport**: no betting ads in live sport coverage between 5am and 8:30pm, from 15 minutes before the scheduled start to 5 minutes after the end, on TV, radio or online, and none during live play overnight;
- **TV and radio**: at most 3 betting ads an hour on TV between 5am and 8:30pm, and none on radio during the school run on school days, 8–9am and 3–4pm;
- **online**: betting ads only for logged-in users who have confirmed they're 18 or over and haven't opted out, except on sites dedicated to wagering or racing;
- **sport sponsorship and promotion**: no betting ads on sports uniforms or at venues (existing deals can run until the end of 2031), no athletes, celebrities or influencers in ads, and no promotion of odds on broadcasts;
- **commissions**: no commission, bonus, referral fee or revenue share linked to customer activity, such as sign-ups, deposits or bets, for anyone involved in referring customers to a bookmaker.

Most breaches carry civil penalties of 1,000 penalty units, $364,000, or $1.82 million for a company. The Act also limits inducements sent to new, at-risk and former BetStop customers by direct marketing or social media, from a date still to be set, and raises BetStop penalties. Against illegal operators, it requires banks and payment providers to block payments to them, and internet providers, app stores and search engines to block access, and it makes online keno illegal. Racing-only programs, channels and sites are exempt from many of the advertising rules. The government chose these limits instead of the total ban on gambling ads that a parliamentary inquiry recommended in June 2023.

## Elections and other events

The Act also allows online betting on events other than racing and sport, where a state or territory licence covers them. The NT has declared elections, entertainment awards, statistics such as the CPI and the unemployment rate, Reserve Bank interest rates, crypto market events, stock market indices, oil prices and the weather, among others. NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania approve elections too; Victoria's list names Australian federal and state elections, US presidential elections, UK general elections and the Academy Awards.

Some bets are banned instead: Victoria has banned bets on the performance of minors in every approved sports event since February 26, 2024, and the NT doesn't allow markets on events restricted to under-18s. Prediction markets such as Polymarket aren't licensed in Australia, and polymarket.com is on ACMA's list of blocked sites. See [prediction markets in Australia: the legal alternatives](https://safebet.ai/au/prediction-markets/).

## Online casinos and offshore sites

Online casinos, online pokies and online poker are illegal in Australia, whoever offers them. Since November 19, 2019, ACMA has had internet providers block illegal gambling sites, starting with Fair Go Casino and Emu Casino, and its list held 1,810 addresses on October 25, 2026. Advertising an illegal or unlicensed service is an offence too. The Act's offences target whoever provides or advertises the service, not the customer, but offshore sites aren't covered by BetStop or by Australia's protections. See [are online casinos legal in Australia?](https://safebet.ai/au/guides/are-online-casinos-legal-in-australia/)

## Taxes

Australian tax law disregards capital gains and losses from gambling, under section 118-37 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. The betting taxes are paid by the bookmakers: point-of-consumption taxes of 15% to 25% of their net wagering revenue from customers in every state and the ACT, while the Northern Territory has none. See [gambling taxes in Australia](https://safebet.ai/au/guides/gambling-taxes-australia/).

## How to check a betting site

1. **Is it on ACMA's register?** At the exact web address you're using. Our [legality check](https://safebet.ai/au/sports-betting/licence-check/) searches the register and ACMA's blocked list.
2. **Does it offer casino games, pokies or online in-play bets on sport?** Then it isn't legal in Australia, whatever licence it shows.
3. **Does it take credit cards or crypto?** Licensed bookmakers can't.
4. **Does it link to BetStop?** Every licensed bookmaker must.

Free, confidential help is available 24/7 from the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858; see our [guide to gambling help in Australia](https://safebet.ai/au/guides/gambling-help-australia/).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is it legal to bet on sports online in Australia?

Yes, with a bookmaker licensed by an Australian state or territory, if you're 18 or over. ACMA's register lists every licensed provider and its website; check any site with our [legality check](https://safebet.ai/au/sports-betting/licence-check/).

### Why can't I bet in-play online in Australia?

Because the Interactive Gambling Act bans online bets on a sporting event, or on anything that may happen during it, once the event has started. Licensed bookmakers can take those bets only by phone, in a live voice call: a recorded or synthetic voice doesn't count. Bets on horse, harness and greyhound races can still be placed online after the start.

### Can I bet on elections in Australia?

Yes, where the regulator that licenses the bookmaker has approved the event: the Northern Territory, NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania all allow bets on elections. Prediction markets such as Polymarket aren't licensed in Australia, and polymarket.com is on ACMA's list of blocked sites. See [prediction markets in Australia: the legal alternatives](https://safebet.ai/au/prediction-markets/).

### Are online casinos legal in Australia?

No. Online casino games, online pokies and online poker can't be offered to people in Australia, whatever licence a site shows, and ACMA has internet providers block the sites that do. See [are online casinos legal in Australia?](https://safebet.ai/au/guides/are-online-casinos-legal-in-australia/)

### Can I use a credit card or crypto to bet?

No. Since June 11, 2024, licensed online bookmakers can't accept credit cards, payments through an account or wallet linked to a credit card, or digital currency, and they can't lend you money to bet. A company that breaks the ban faces civil penalties of up to $1,365,000 for each day.

### Do I pay tax on betting winnings in Australia?

Australian tax law disregards capital gains and losses from gambling (section 118-37 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997), and the betting taxes, point-of-consumption taxes of 15% to 25%, are paid by the bookmakers. See [gambling taxes in Australia](https://safebet.ai/au/guides/gambling-taxes-australia/).

## Sources

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