How Australia And New Zealand’s Complex Gambling Laws Have Differentiated From Each Other
Although various socially accepted forms of gambling activities are legally permitted in Australia and New Zealand, many are still prohibited, which means people living in these two regions often find it far more difficult to access the world’s best iGaming platforms.
Both countries are governed by their own set of laws and regulations, which, although they are designed to protect their citizens and ensure fair play, have had the opposite effect.
Australia and New Zealand both have what are considered ‘restrictive’ and ‘complex’ gambling laws, especially when compared to many other jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, most European countries, and many other regions.
With that said, let’s dive straight in and take a closer look at the current gambling laws in Australia and New Zealand to see how they compare.
What Are the Core Gambling Laws in Australia and New Zealand?
New Zealand isn’t hugely famous for its iGaming market (commonly better known for Lord of the Rings) as it’s a relatively recent introduction to the country. In New Zealand, several forms of betting are legally permitted and regulated on a national level, and it all comes under the watchful eye of an official government authority.
The Gambling Act of 2003 is the main legislation that oversees/governs all online and offline gambling activities here, which is separated into four different categories, including the Lotteries Act, the Casino Control Act, and the Racing Act.
Australia permits several different betting forms, ranging from lotteries and sports betting to casino games. Each region has its own set of laws and regulatory bodies, meaning the responsibility of regulating gambling activities here lies with state and territory governments.
The Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 is the main legislation that oversees/governs all online and offline gambling activities here, which permits pre-match betting (not live/in-play betting) on professional sports. However, it made it illegal for operators to offer ‘real-money’ online gambling services to Australian citizens/residents.
To sum up, gambling activities in Australia and New Zealand are strictly regulated and largely prohibited to ensure fair play and to eliminate/significantly reduce things like underage gambling and the problems/harm that are often associated with excessive gambling.
However, loopholes in the current laws in both countries mean that players living here can still play on hundreds of fully licensed and regulated casino sites.
How Have These Legal Frameworks Evolved in the Last Decade?
Both countries have distinctive gambling laws that continue to evolve at a relatively slow pace. Australia and New Zealand also share similarities in their approach to the regulation of their respective gambling industries, particularly when it comes to the management of the iGaming (real money online gambling) sector.
In Australia, the 2011 Interactive Gambling Act (IGA) clearly stated that online casinos were prohibited from accepting real money wagers from Australian players. Although the newly implemented law made provisions for the licensing of online sports betting, it caused the vast majority of casino/sports betting operators to pull their Australian operations.
This mass exodus led to further amendments being made to the IGA in 2017 to address the situation, and then just two years later, in 2019, additional updates were brought in to further protect players. These days, players have essentially been left with no other option but to play at offshore casino sites because of the restrictive gambling laws here.
A similar thing has happened in New Zealand. Since 2003, when the Gambling Act was introduced, online casinos in New Zealand were prohibited, but no laws have ever been put into place that prosecute citizens for playing at offshore casino sites.
This means that, although the 2003 act prohibits remote interactive gambling based in New Zealand, it does not prevent players living here from signing up to offshore (foreign-controlled) iGaming platforms, which fall outside of New Zealand’s jurisdiction, like the online casinos currently featured on the casino.org/new-zealand/ review site.
In 2024, New Zealand’s government announced plans to introduce the regulation of online casinos, but full details have yet to be confirmed, despite rumours circulating that a handful of licenses that would allow businesses to operate such sites here legally could be available by 2026.
Further updates in 2025 hinted that players may soon have full access to the iGaming’s biggest, safest, and most well-established casino brands (many of which they already have access to), but the difference is that these businesses would legally be able to operate in New Zealand.
What Are the Biggest Differences in Online Casino Access?
The biggest difference between online casino access in Australia and New Zealand and players in other countries is that most players sign up to foreign-controlled sites, not ones that are licensed by their own country’s official governing bodies/gaming commissions.
Additionally, some offshore casino sites accept players from both countries, whereas others may only accept real cash wagers from players living in Australia but not New Zealand, and vice versa.
Are Consumers in Both Countries Equally Protected?
Consumers in both countries are equally protected, but at the same time, players who are left with no other choice but to turn to offshore casinos are often left vulnerable to scams.
The reason for this is because some of these sites are either completely unlicensed and unregulated (the worst kind of sites that must be avoided at all costs) or they are licensed by what many people refer to as bottom tier or rubber stamp licensing authorities and regulators who carry out little or no background checks over their licensees, or they impose very few controls of them.
If anything happens at an unlicensed casino site that doesn’t run an honest day-to-day operation, such as data breaches, problems with transactions, bonuses not being awarded, withdrawals not being processed, and so on, and if the operator of a ‘rogue’ casino isn’t transparent in its funding or doesn’t comply with local or international laws, such as data protection and Anti-Money Laundering (ML) laws, Australian and New Zealand players would be far less likely to get those issues resolved, and wouldn’t have the necessary legal backing they are entitled to should anything like this ever occur.
Although the intentions are good from both governments, it has meant that players in Australia and New Zealand have less protection than players in other well-regulated markets with far more mature legal frameworks.
What Could Future Reforms Look Like in Each Region?
Future reforms in both regions could lead to citizens having access to the industry’s safest online casino websites that do more to protect players, not just in terms of data protection, payment protection, and other standard cybersecurity protection, but also in terms of responsible gambling and fair play.
If government authorities in both regions look to how other regions regulate online gambling, such as the United Kingdom and many US states, and then introduce similar reforms, players living in Australia and New Zealand would be far better protected and would have access to the world’s safest sites with the best games, bonuses, player support, cybersecurity, data protection, and so on.