Application and annual fees are set at state/territory level (e.g. Northern Territory bookmaker licensing). There is no single federal licence fee. Capitalisation/guarantee requirements vary by state but are modest relative to revenue scale.
Jurisdictions › Australia › Licence fees
Australia · Question 04 of 11
Licence fees: What do the licences cost?
Mixed · Probable · Not reviewed · 5 post-review updates · Not reviewed · Back to full Australia report →
Key section parameters
| Jurisdiction | Australia (AU) |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Recorded in register |
| Favourability | Mixed |
| Confidence | Probable |
| Review status | Not reviewed · 5 post-review updates · Not reviewed |
| Last collected | 18 Oct 2026 |
Summary answer
Application and annual fees are set at state/territory level (e.g. Northern Territory bookmaker licensing). There is no single federal licence fee. Capitalisation/guarantee requirements vary by state but are modest relative to revenue scale.
Not reviewed Information added after the 29 Jul 2026 expert review — published for currency and labelled not reviewed.
The 2026 reform Act introduces two identifiable new cost-recovery levies affecting wagering operators. The first funds ACMA's administration of the national Wagering Advertising Opt-out Register established under Part 7E, modelled on the existing Do Not Call Register. The second is a dedicated cost-recovery levy Bill -- the National Self-Exclusion Register (Cost Recovery Levy) Bill 2026 -- funding the strengthened operation of BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register. Both levies are additive to existing licence-fee and compliance costs, and both are structured as recurring rather than one-off charges. The specific levy quanta were not available in the material reviewed this cycle, so operators should treat the direction of cost travel as confirmed-upward while awaiting quantified detail, likely to emerge via delegated instrument ahead of the 1 January 2027 commencement date.
Two new cost-recovery levy bills were enacted this cycle as companions to the Gambling Reform Bill: the National Self-Exclusion Register (Cost Recovery Levy) Bill 2026 and the Interactive Gambling (Cost Recovery Levy) Bill 2026. Both are confirmed, durable statutory instruments imposing new levy obligations on operators, sourced to the Department of Infrastructure. These levies sit alongside the marketing-restriction and operational-obligation package taking effect from 1 January 2027, compounding the near-term cost-to-operate picture. No AML/CFT or technical-certification cost findings were identified this cycle for advennt's own analysis; the cost movement this cycle is concentrated in statutory levy and marketing-compliance infrastructure.
Two companion cost-recovery levy bills — the National Self-Exclusion Register (Cost Recovery Levy) Amendment Bill 2026 and the Interactive Gambling (Cost Recovery Levy) Bill 2026 — passed alongside the main 2026 Reform Act, establishing a new industry-funded cost base to support ACMA's administration of the Parts 7D/7E regime and of BetStop. This finding currently carries uncertain confidence, reported by a single legal-industry source without independent second-tier corroboration this cycle, so precise levy quantum is not yet reliably known. Beyond the levy itself, operators face a compliance-implementation cost concentrated in the run-up to the 1 January 2027 commencement: reworking marketing systems around the new advertising windows, redesigning inducement and bonus mechanics, and removing loss-linked staff commission structures.
The cost-of-non-compliance profile for Australian gambling reporting entities rose this cycle. The maximum civil penalty per contravention under the AML/CTF Act 2006 civil penalty regime increased to $33 million for corporations, effective 31 March 2026 — a figure sourced to a compliance-advisory aggregator and not yet independently corroborated by AUSTRAC's own primary text, and treated here as an uncertain-tier figure accordingly. The tipping-off offence under the same Act carries a separately durable maximum sanction of AUD 39,000 or up to two years' imprisonment. Beyond direct penalty exposure, entities must now factor in the practical cost of reviewing any AML/CTF programme drafted before 31 March 2026 against the amended Rules, and of restructuring marketing budgets ahead of the incoming ban on wagering advertising during live sport broadcasts and sports venues, which compresses the compliance runway ahead of the reform package's expected 1 January 2027 commencement.
No headline tax rate, licence-fee schedule, or effective-rate change was evidenced for Australian wagering operators this cycle; the cost-to-operate picture is instead shaped by compliance lift rather than by duty rates. AUSTRAC's maximum contravention penalty rose to A$33 million per corporation effective 31 March 2026, and Tranche 2 AML/CTF obligations for newly designated entities commence 1 July 2026, with AUSTRAC enrolment open from 31 March 2026, together raising the practical compliance floor for wagering and casino operators. A further cost dimension arrives through player-protection infrastructure: BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register, has received an additional A$28 million in funding to expand its capabilities, an investment operators must integrate against. The new marketing-restriction package, carrying ACMA penalties of up to A$2.75 million per breach, adds a further operational compliance layer ahead of the 1 January 2027 commencement.