Why Online Casino Games Are Prohibited in Australia: Section 15 of the Interactive Gambling Act Explained
Last reviewed: 11 September 2026. As of this date, online casino games, including pokies, blackjack and roulette, remain prohibited under federal law from being offered to a person in Australia, regardless of who is offering them or from where. That prohibition has not changed since the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 came into force, and no current federal proposal would change it. What has changed, repeatedly, is how aggressively the prohibition gets enforced against operators who ignore it. Federal: Section 15 and What Counts as Prohibited The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cth) creates its core offence at section 15: a person commits an offence if they intentionally provide a prohibited interactive gambling service with an Australian customer link, carrying maximum penalties in the order of $220,000 per day for an individual and $1.1 million per day for a corporation, following the 2017 penalty increase. Section 5 defines a prohibited interactive gambling service broadly enough to...