Australia

Note, the Casinos above Offer “Free to Play Games“, not real play games. The bonus offers do not apply for Australian citizens.

Australia’s cities regularly top the “Best Places to Live” lists. Just ask anyone who lives in Melbourne, Sydney or Perth if they are thinking of moving any time soon. The answer is likely to be “no thanks, mate”.

If you are an Australian roulette player you’ll have probably heard that the law has been changed, or rather clarified, making it illegal for offshore companies to provide online casino services to Aussie players. You can still play demo games for free at a couple of sites though- we list them below.

Casinos in Australia

If you live in Australia, and want to head to a decent land based casino, you’re spoilt for choice. The Crown in Melbourne has been building a solid reputation thanks to its world-class hotels, dining, shopping and gaming. It’s a World leading premier entertainment complex.

James Packer’s other big bet in Australia is the Crown Perth, which is also a big casino complex in the west of the country.

And of course, if we look to the future, James Packer hasn’t been sitting on his hands, as his next project in Oz is the Crown Sydney. The Crown Sydney will be a 6-star casino and hotel resort that is pending planning approval for construction in Barangaroo, Sydney, Australia. It’s opening date is planned 2019, and will be the second legal casino in Sydney after The Star. The Crown Sydney casino will operate with VIP membership restrictions (like the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore). With 70 floors and a height of 275 m, it will be Sydney’s tallest building,

So if you are not heading to one of James Packer’s casinos, where else do Australians like to play pokies when they are not online? Well, it’s not that far to Singapore, of course, and many players head to the Marina Bay Sands on the island, or to the Genting Casino on Sentosa Island.

But closer to home, there’s quite a bit more choice. There’s the Adelaide Casino, Lasseter’s Hotel Casino in Alice Springs and, of course, The Star Casino in Sydney which is the second biggest entertainment complex on the continent after The Crown in Melbourne.

Is Online Gambling Legal in Australia?

In August 2017 Australia officially passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016. The revised legislature made the provision of online casino games, including roulette, illegal, which prompted most reputable operators – such as 32Red Casino and Betway Casino – to leave the market.

Prior to that, The important legislation affecting online casino players in Australia was The Interactive Gambling Act 2001.

The IGA is targeted at operators. There was nothing in the IGA that made it illegal for an Australian resident to access or use online gambling services. There were plenty of overseas companes that accepted Australian roulette players- the biggest downside of the Australian regulatory model (versus say the UK one), was that the sites you could use were not regulated within Australia, but were licensed and regulated in another online gambling jurisdiction where it’s legal to operate.

That has all changed, of course. At this point in time we wouldn’t recommend playing online casino games from Australia. You will need to wait until the government (hopefully) fully regulates the market. The government is going down that prohibition route and playing “Whack-a-Mole” by blocking all casino operators through the ISPs.