Law

The Credit Card Gambling Ban in Australia: What It Covers

Last updated 23 October 2026 · by the Aussie Top Casinos editors

Licensed Australian betting sites can no longer take credit cards or crypto. What the 2023 law covers, what it does not, and why it is not about casinos.

Card payment terminal with its screen and keypad — Photo: VulcanSphere / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

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Since 11 June 2024, licensed Australian wagering providers have not been allowed to accept bets paid for with a credit card or with cryptocurrency. The ban came from a 2023 amendment to the Interactive Gambling Act and is enforced by ACMA. It is narrower than many people assume: it targets licensed online and phone wagering, not every form of gambling, and it does not make offshore casinos legal for anything. This guide explains what the law says, what it covers, what it leaves out, and how it sits next to the separate ban on online casinos.

The law behind the ban

The ban was introduced by the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Credit and Other Measures) Act 2023, Act No. 114 of 2023. It received assent on 11 December 2023. Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Act, headed "Prohibiting the use of credit", commenced the day after the end of six months from assent, which is how 11 June 2024 became the start date.

The Act inserts new rules into the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 that apply to a "regulated interactive gambling service that is a wagering service". In other words, the ban is aimed at licensed online and telephone betting, the services that can lawfully take bets from Australians.

Penalties

The new section 15C makes accepting a prohibited payment both a criminal offence and a civil penalty provision. The Act sets the criminal penalty at 500 penalty units and the civil penalty at 750 penalty units. These penalties fall on the provider, not the customer.

Having both a criminal offence and a civil penalty gives ACMA a choice of enforcement route. The civil penalty is the larger of the two in penalty units, and civil proceedings do not need the criminal standard of proof. For a licensed bookmaker, the risk to its licence and reputation adds to the fine itself.

What payment methods are banned

ACMA's credit ban page summarises it in one line: "From 11 June 2024, you won't be able to use a credit card or digital currency to place bets." It lists three categories that providers cannot accept:

A credit card.
Funds linked to a credit card, including digital wallets loaded from a credit card.
Digital currency, such as cryptocurrency. The Act uses the meaning of digital currency from the GST Act.

ACMA also says it is illegal for wagering providers to provide credit to customers or to help them access credit from third parties, such as payday lenders. That closes the route of an operator offering its own "bet now, pay later" line.

Which services it covers

Service	Covered by the credit ban?	Source
Licensed online sports and race betting	Yes	ACMA credit ban page
Telephone betting	Yes	ACMA credit ban page
On-course bookmakers taking online or phone bets	Yes	ACMA credit ban page
Lotteries	No	ACMA credit ban page
Online casino games (pokies, roulette, blackjack) offered to Australians	Not licensed at all; already prohibited services under the IGA	ACMA, About the Interactive Gambling Act

Land-based venues are not part of this federal measure. Rules for pokie rooms, clubs and casinos are set by the states and territories, so any card restrictions there come from separate state law.

What the ban does not do

It does not ban debit cards or bank transfers

The categories are credit cards, credit-linked funds and digital currency. Debit cards and payments from your own bank account remain available to licensed wagering providers. If you want to block those as well, you need a bank-level gambling block or self-exclusion; our guide to responsible gambling covers the options.

It does not legalise offshore casinos

The credit ban changes how licensed wagering providers can be paid. It says nothing to make online casinos lawful. ACMA's page About the Interactive Gambling Act lists online casinos, in-play sports betting, unlicensed sports betting and betting on lottery outcomes among services that are banned from being offered to people in Australia, and says more than 220 illegal services have withdrawn from the Australian market since 2017.

That has a practical side. Because offshore casinos sit outside the licensing system, the credit ban's consumer protections do not reach them in the same way: ACMA's enforcement against them is about blocking and withdrawal from the market, not supervising how they take payments. Many offshore sites still list credit cards and crypto as deposit methods. Seeing Visa or Mastercard on a casino cashier page is not a sign that the site is licensed in Australia.

It does not stop your card issuer acting on its own

Banks run their own gambling blocks, separate from the law. Some let you switch off gambling transactions on cards in the app. Those tools vary by bank, and they apply to all merchants coded as gambling, licensed or not, so they can catch offshore payments the credit ban never touches.

Key point: from 11 June 2024, licensed Australian online and phone wagering providers cannot accept credit cards, credit-linked wallets or cryptocurrency, and cannot offer credit. The ban does not cover lotteries, does not cover debit cards, and does not make online casinos legal. Offshore casinos accepting cards or crypto are already outside Australian law, not exempt from it.

Why the ban was introduced

The reasoning is straightforward: betting with borrowed money adds interest and debt to gambling losses. Treating credit cards and crypto together closes the obvious workaround of buying crypto on a credit card and depositing that. Banning providers from arranging third-party credit closes another.

What it means at the cashier

For someone with an account at a licensed Australian bookmaker, the change shows up in the payment options. A credit card that was saved to the account can no longer be used to fund bets. A digital wallet works only if the money behind it is not drawn from a credit card. Crypto deposits are not available at all. Debit cards and direct bank payments remain, which means bets are funded from money you already hold rather than money you borrow.

The ban works on the provider's side, so it does not depend on you remembering it. Because section 15C makes accepting a prohibited payment an offence for the provider, the onus is on the operator to identify and refuse those payment methods. A punter who tries to pay by credit card is refused, not fined.

Common mix-ups

"Crypto is fine because it is not credit." The Act bans digital currency in its own right, as ACMA's summary makes clear, so a crypto deposit at a licensed wagering site is caught whether or not credit was involved.
"A prepaid or wallet top-up gets round it." ACMA lists funds linked to a credit card, including digital wallets, among the banned methods. The source of the money is what counts.
"Lottery tickets online are banned too." ACMA says lotteries are not covered by the credit ban.
"The ban is aimed at casinos." It is aimed at licensed wagering services. Online casinos were already prohibited from offering their games to Australians before 2024.

What comes next

The credit ban was one step in a longer reform programme. ACMA's page on the Interactive Gambling Act reports that the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 passed Parliament on 19 August 2026. ACMA describes it as covering advertising restrictions, an opt-out register, limits on inducements (including to people who left the BetStop register in the previous three months), a stronger BetStop, and more enforcement against illegal services. ACMA says most of those reforms commence on 1 January 2027.

For payments, the practical picture today is:

At a licensed Australian wagering site: debit card, bank transfer and similar methods. No credit card, no credit-linked wallet, no crypto.
Offshore casino sites: not licensed for Australians, whatever payment methods their cashier lists. Our pages on legal online casinos and online gambling in Australia explain where the lines are.
To stop gambling payments from your own accounts: bank gambling blocks and BetStop, both covered in our responsible gambling section.

FAQ

When did the credit card betting ban start?

On 11 June 2024. It was introduced by the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Credit and Other Measures) Act 2023, which received assent on 11 December 2023.

What payment methods are banned?

ACMA lists credit cards, funds linked to a credit card such as digital wallets, and digital currency such as cryptocurrency. Providers also cannot offer credit or help customers get credit from third parties.

Does the ban cover lotteries or debit cards?

No. ACMA says lotteries are not covered, and debit cards are not among the banned methods.

Does the ban make offshore casinos legal?

No. Online casinos remain banned services under the Interactive Gambling Act whatever payment methods they accept.