Moved from the UK to AU, all my usual sites are blocked - what do you even use here and is it legal??

daveselbow

daveselbow

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Right so i moved from Manchester to melbourne about 2 months ago for work. Loving it mostly, except I went to put a bet on at the weekend and every site i used back home goes "not available in your region". Tried stake on a mates recommendation, same thing, blocked.

So whats the deal down here? Is online casino actually legal in Au or not? Half the internet says its banned,the other half is plastered in aussie casino ads. And more importantly am i gonna get a knock on the door if i find one that works? kinda confused...
Cheers ppl
 
Gday mate, welcome over. short version is online casino is banned here. Interactive Gambling Act makes it illegal for operators to offer pokies/casino to aussies. BUT - and this is the important bit - the law goes after the operators, not the punters. So theres no penalty for YOU just for playing n thats why everything you can actually use is offshore
so no, no knock on the door. you're fine to have a punt. just know what you're walking into
 
yeah nah its all offshore mate, everyone just uses the overseas ones. your not gonna get nicked for havin a punt on ya phone, they're after the big companys not blokes like us. been doin it for years no dramas
 
online casino is legal here huh?? lol lol there's aussie casino ads on the telly during every footy game
 
Awesome_mo said:
online casino is legal here huh?? lol lol there's aussie casino ads on the telly during every footy game
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nah mate that's the trap. those ads are SPORTSBOOKS and lotto, thats the legal stuff, licensed here. online pokies and table games are banned. every actual casino site is offshore, and ACMA (the regulator) has been blocking them for years. don't confuse the sportsbook ads with casino, they're not the same thing legally
 
to add the technical side: ACMA orders the ISPs to block the domains. theyve blocked something like 1700 odd sites by now. so the offshore casinos just spin up mirror domains, or people use a VPN/different DNS to reach them. cat and mouse, has been for years
flip side - that ACMA blocklist is actually a useful signal. and before you deposit anywhere, check the license claim is real and look the site up on the ACMA register. blocked doesnt always mean scam (loads of legit offshore sites are blocked just for operating here) but its a data point
 
Dave mate, listen to me before you do anything. there's a REASON Australia bans this stuff. the second you go offshore there's no regulator, no ombudsman, nobody you can complain to. you win big, they decide to sit on it, and you have the exact same recourse that poor sod Phant0m had in the no-KYC thread. which is to say, none. read that thread before you deposit a cent
 
yeah i actually saw that thread lurking before i posted, the 8k bloke is brutal. so what you're telling me is my options are basically;
a) play nothing
b) play offshore with zero safety net?
 
Thats exactly it, and goodoldfiat has it right. The offshore Curacao/Malta sites will happily take an Australian player and you are not personally breaking any law by using them. But you are completely outside Australian consumer protection. No dispute body, no enforced payout.

One extra thing people dont realise: Australia has a national self-exclusion register called BetStop, but it only covers the LICENSED Australian operators. It does nothing on offshore sites. So all the harm-reduction tools that exist here simply dont apply where youll actually be playing. Access vs zero protection. Thats the trade, go in with your eyes open.
 
i've used a couple of the bigger established offshore ones for a few years now mate, mostly been fine, withdrawals come through. just check it isn't freshly ACMA blocked for fraud reasons and actually read the withdrawal terms before you put money in.
but @HarryvdV s spot on, if it ever goes pear shaped down here you're completely on your own. no aussie authority can get your money back from a curacao company. i' ve accepted that, you might not want to
 
ha, fair shout. been to the beach, its great. still want a punt on the footy and a few spins of an evening though, sue me. can't change a leopards spots chapman
 
well yup mate and welcome to my world. for us in indonesia its always been offshore or nothing, never had any other option. you get used to it - keep records of everything, never trust any of them with a big balance, withdraw the second you can. treat it like the wild west and you'll be ok. expect it to be a nice regulated experience and you'll get burned
 
Gonna say something from the other side of all this freedom everyone's talking about. I put myself on BetStop last year. had to, was getting bad. and for the licensed aussie sportsbooks its great, they literally cannot let me in, locked out, exactly what I needed.

But the offshore casinos? They don't know me from a bar of soap. BetStop means nothing to them. Signed up to one of em on a bad night a few months back and did my money all over again, because nothing was stopping me,so when everyone goes on about offshore being "freedom",just remember the other side of that coin is there's no brakes either. So be careful with it Dave!
 
deegee said:
Gonna say something from the other side of all this freedom everyone's talking about. I put myself on BetStop last year. had to, was getting bad. and for the licensed aussie sportsbooks its great, they literally cannot let me in, locked out, exactly what I needed.

But the offshore casinos? They don't know me from a bar of soap. BetStop means nothing to them. Signed up to one of em on a bad night a few months back and did my money all over again, because nothing was stopping me,so when everyone goes on about offshore being "freedom",just remember the other side of that coin is there's no brakes either. So be careful with it Dave!
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thats a heavy one mate, appreciate you saying it. and its true - offshore means no deposit limits, no self exclusion that actually sticks, no cool off, none of it. people only ever talk about the upside. hope you're travelling alright
 
ok im a bit lost reading this. its illegal, but your allowed to do it, but you cant get in trouble, but theres no protection?? how is that the actual rule lol my head hurts
 
bitvadol said:
how is that the actual rule
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Because the law bans the OPERATOR from offering the service to Australians. It does not ban the PLAYER from using it. So the offshore casino is breaking Australian law by serving Aussies, but the individual Australian playing is not committing an offence. Messy and a bit absurd, but that is genuinely how it is written.
 
yes this is always how is the gambling law because the government they want to stop it but they cannot stop the internet so they block the website but the website come back tomorrow with a new address and the people use the vpn and the government know this but cannot do nothing so they make the law against the company instead but the company is offshore so they dont care and the player is technically free but with no protection so in the end is the player who carry all of the risk and none of the safety and is exactly the same in every country not only australia the law is always many years behind the technology so really nothing is solved only moved
 
ok so realistically - of the bigger offshore ones that actually take aussies, which are LEAST likely to do me dirty on a withdrawal? not asking for a magic safe option, i get there isn't one. just the more reputable end of a dodgy street
 
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