BetStop at Three Years: What Part 7B Covers, and the Pokies and Casino Games It Cannot Reach

Last reviewed: 29 September 2026. As at this date, BetStop, the National Self Exclusion Register, has operated for a little over three years under Part 7B of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cth). It covers licensed online and telephone wagering, and nothing else. Its design follows the federal line drawn by section 15: because no Australian licence permits online casino games, there is no licensed online casino provider for the register to bind, and state regulated venue pokies sit outside it entirely.

Federal: what Part 7B establishes

BetStop was created by amendments that inserted Part 7B into the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cth), and became operational on 21 August 2023. It is a single register that a person joins once, rather than a set of provider by provider exclusions.

Its reach is defined by the providers it binds: licensed interactive wagering service providers, around 150 of them according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). It does not replace the self exclusion programs individual providers already run; it sits alongside them.

The regulator: ACMA's operating rules

ACMA administers the register and oversees provider compliance. Under the scheme as ACMA describes it, once a person is registered, a covered wagering provider must:

  • close all of that person's betting accounts;
  • not let the person place a bet;
  • not let the person open a new account;
  • not send the person marketing messages.

Exclusion periods run from a minimum of three months to lifetime. A registration can be extended at any time but not shortened. A person cannot be removed during the first three months, and removal after that requires a statutory declaration confirming consultation with a qualified counsellor, psychologist or doctor, with removal taking effect seven days after a valid application.

What the first year showed

ACMA's first year figures, published in August 2024, are the most recent verified numbers used here.

MeasureFirst year result
RegistrationsMore than 28,000
Aged 30 and underAlmost half
Aged 40 and underAround 80%
Chose lifetime exclusionAround 40%
Chose the three month minimumFewer than 20%
Already extended or reactivatedMore than 14%

Two readings follow. The register's users are young, with four in five aged 40 or under. And the lifetime share suggests that for many registrants, BetStop is a decision rather than a pause.

State and territory: what the register cannot reach

Land based gambling is regulated by the states and territories. Pokies in pubs and clubs, and table games and pokies in casinos, fall under state legislation and state regulators, with venue level exclusion schemes of their own. BetStop does not extend to them.

This is the structural gap worth stating plainly. The register binds licensed online wagering, while venue pokies remain under separate state schemes. A person registered with BetStop is excluded from their betting apps but not, by virtue of that registration, from the pokies room at their local club.

Operators: the online casino gap

For online casino games, the gap runs the other way. Section 15 of the Act prohibits providing online casino services to people in Australia, so there is no licensed provider in that category for Part 7B to cover. Offshore sites offering those games are operating illegally and are outside the register by definition. BetStop's protection against online casino play is therefore indirect: it depends on the section 15 prohibition and ACMA's enforcement against illegal offshore operators, not on the register itself.

Regulatory change: the 2026 amendments

The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 passed Parliament on 20 August 2026, as reported by Gaming Intelligence. The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts describes the package as strengthening BetStop's operation, with the reforms to begin from 1 January 2027.

One BetStop related change reported at passage is a prohibition on direct marketing of inducements for three months after a person deregisters from BetStop. That targets the point of highest risk in the current design: the moment a registration ends. Detailed operational changes to the register itself were not specified in the department's announcement, and this article will be updated as ACMA publishes implementation detail.

Assessment

BetStop is a well designed instrument for the market it was built for. Its limits are not failures of design but consequences of Australia's divided regime: federal law governs online wagering and prohibits online casino games; state law governs venues. The register sits exactly on the federal side of that line.

Sources

ACMA, "BetStop, the National Self Exclusion Register," for provider obligations, coverage of around 150 providers, exclusion periods and removal conditions.

ACMA, "Young Australians embrace national online gambling self exclusion register" (August 2024), for first year statistics.

Lexology, "Australia's Gambling National Self Exclusion Register BetStop: expiry of initial excluded customers," for Part 7B and the 21 August 2023 start date.

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts, "Gambling Reforms 2026," for the reform package and the 1 January 2027 start.

Gaming Intelligence, "Australian Parliament passes Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill," for the 20 August 2026 passage and the post deregistration marketing rule.

Responsible Gambling

Gambling in Australia is for adults 18 and over, and online casino games are not legally offered by Australian licensed operators. The specific risk this analysis points to is assuming a BetStop registration covers every form of gambling; it covers licensed online and phone wagering only, and venue pokies need a separate exclusion arranged with the venue or state scheme. Gambling Help Online provides free, confidential support on 1800 858 858, and registration with BetStop is available through betstop.gov.au.

Popular posts from this blog

1,751 Sites Blocked Since 2019: How ACMA Website Blocking Works Under the Interactive Gambling Act, and What It Cannot Reach

Last reviewed: 14 October 2026. As of the Australian Communications and Media Authority's June 2026 announcement, 1,751 illegal gambling and affiliate websites had been blocked in Australia since the first blocking request in November 2019, and a further update in July 2026 took the total to 1,774. The mechanism is federal, it sits under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, and it works by asking internet service providers to stop resolving a site for Australian users. It is the most visible enforcement tool in the offshore space, and also the one with the clearest limits. The Federal Layer: What Is Being Enforced Website blocking enforces federal law, not state law. The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 is a Commonwealth statute, and the conduct it targets is the provision of gambling services that are either prohibited outright or offered without the licence they need. Two categories matter here. Prohibited interactive gambling services. Section 15 of the Act makes it an offence...
Read more

The Credit Ban at Two Years: Section 15C of the Interactive Gambling Act, the ACMA's Powers and the Review Now Due

Last reviewed: 8 October 2026. Since 11 June 2024, an Australian licensed online wagering service has been prohibited from accepting payment by credit card, linked credit account or digital currency from a customer physically present in Australia. The rule sits in section 15C of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, as amended by the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Credit and Other Measures) Act 2023, and the ACMA enforces it. As at the date above, the statutory review the amending Act requires after two years of operation is due, and this analysis does not assume its outcome. What the federal provision actually does Before the 2023 amendment, section 15C already restricted credit in interactive wagering, but it carried a carve out: payment by way of an independently issued credit card was permitted. The amending Act removed those words from section 15C(1)(b)(ii) and 15C(3)(b) and replaced section 15B with a provision headed "Credit must not be provided to customers of certain in...
Read more