title: Australia — Outlook: What is coming? | advennt.io canonical: https://advennt.io/jurisdictions/australia/outlook/ [Jurisdictions](https://advennt.io/jurisdictions/) [Australia](https://advennt.io/jurisdictions/australia/) Outlook Australia · Question 11 of 11 # Outlook: What is coming? Mixed · Confirmed · Expert approved · 7 post-review updates · Not reviewed · In expert review scope · [Back to full Australia report →](https://advennt.io/jurisdictions/australia/) Key section parameters | Jurisdiction | Australia (AU) | |---|---| | Regulator | Recorded in register | | Favourability | Mixed | | Confidence | Confirmed | | Review status | Expert approved · 7 post-review updates · Not reviewed · In expert review scope | | Last collected | 18 Oct 2026 | Summary answer Bingo: Not applicable. Online bingo is generally regarded as illegal under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cth) (IGA) and the authors do not consider this position is likely to change in the near term. Casino: Not applicable. Online casino product is illegal under the IGA. From a land-based casi… Not reviewed Information added after the 29 Jul 2026 expert review — published for currency and labelled not reviewed. 18 Oct 2026 Not reviewed The Australian Communications and Media Authority has named implementation of Australia's gambling-advertising reforms one of its main regulatory focuses for the 2026-27 year, signalling sustained rather than one-off scrutiny of the advertising restrictions announced by the Australian Government in April 2026. Those restrictions, as announced, would cap gambling advertising at three advertisements per hour, prohibit advertising on sports jerseys, exclude advertising during the hours of 6:30am to 8:30pm plus school pick-up and drop-off periods, and ban advertising that features celebrities or athletes or displays odds. Neither the specific legal instrument implementing this reform nor its commencement date has been independently verified; the reform remains at an unconfirmed-instrument stage. What has changed is not the reform's legal status but the regulator's own stated intention to prioritise its implementation over the coming year, which operators and broadcasters should read as an indication that enforcement attention to advertising placement and content will intensify once the instrument takes confirmed legal effect. 28 Sep 2026 Not reviewed The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 is enacted and pending commencement on 1 January 2027, with the Australian Communications and Media Authority expected to issue implementation guidance in the interim, particularly on the online lottery and keno prohibition provisions where detailed drafting was not yet available this cycle. The reform Act implements only some of the 31 recommendations of the 2023 Murphy Review and notably omits a total advertising ban, a gap already drawing criticism from reform advocates. This suggests the current Act may not be the final word on advertising restriction, and a further legislative round addressing the omitted total-ban recommendation is a plausible medium-term development. 21 Sep 2026 Not reviewed The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 passed Parliament on 19 August 2026 and commences 1 January 2027 on a phased three-year rollout. It implements a partial version of the 2023 Murphy Report's 31 recommendations, notably stopping short of a total advertising ban, a compromise outcome that leaves room for further reform pressure in coming parliamentary terms. Companion cost-recovery levy bills were enacted in the same legislative package. This is the dominant durable development of the cycle across the entire advennt module set for Australia. 19 Sep 2026 Not reviewed The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 moved from proposed to enacted this cycle, passing both houses on 19 August 2026 with commencement set for 1 January 2027 — a materially changed forward regulatory trajectory. Notably, the Murphy Report's recommendation of a full, multi-year phase-out of gambling advertising was not adopted; instead a narrower time, venue and persona-restriction package passed following a reported Senate committee-brokered compromise. This characterisation of the compromise currently rests on a single lower-tier source, but the underlying fact of enactment is confirmed at Tier-1. The reform horizon for the coming cycle centres on implementation detail ahead of the January 2027 commencement date, and on whether the shelved full-ban recommendation resurfaces in a future legislative term. 1 Sep 2026 Not reviewed Under the base case, the enacted Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 continues to phase in as reported, with further advertising caps and bans arriving from January 2027 and a fuller prohibition following in October 2027, tightening the promotional environment for all operators on a predictable timeline. A more adverse trajectory would see the primary-source confirmation of these dates reveal an accelerated timeline or a broader prohibition scope than currently secondary-sourced, further compressing operators' marketing options with less lead time to adapt. A more favourable trajectory would see the January 2027 and October 2027 milestones confirmed as narrower in scope than currently reported, or delayed, giving operators more runway to adjust marketing and compliance programmes around the new opt-out register and advertising rules. 26 Aug 2026 Not reviewed The reform horizon is dominated by two Commonwealth bills introduced to Parliament on 2 July 2026: the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026, currently before a Senate committee inquiry, and the National Self-exclusion Register (Cost Recovery Levy) Amendment Bill 2026. Together they combine an advertising ban, BetStop funding reform, and illegal-market enforcement provisions targeting offshore unlicensed operators, with commencement expected on 1 January 2027. The Gambling Reform Bill also narrows the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 trade-promotion exemption used by subscription-based lottery-style products. Both bills remain live legislative proposals rather than settled law, meaning their final scope could still shift during committee scrutiny before commencement. The pipeline represents the most significant tightening of federal wagering regulation in the current reform cycle, and its passage should be the primary compliance-planning trigger for the sector over the coming cycle. 12 Aug 2026 Not reviewed The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 and the companion National Self-exclusion Register (Cost Recovery Levy) Amendment Bill 2026 were both introduced into Federal Parliament on 2 July 2026, with the Interactive Gambling Amendment set to commence 1 January 2027. The Bill extends the regulatory perimeter to online content services, including social media and streaming, and imposes new blocking obligations on financial institutions and digital infrastructure providers. Political contestation continues around the adequacy of this package: the Liberal-National Coalition has criticised the Bill as undercooked and not strong enough relative to the 2022 Murphy Review's 33 recommendations. This contestation introduces some execution risk to the stated 1 January 2027 commencement timeline, though it does not currently indicate the reform package will be withdrawn or substantially narrowed. ## Full section analysis Bingo: Not applicable. Online bingo is generally regarded as illegal under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cth) (IGA) and the authors do not consider this position is likely to change in the near term. Casino: Not applicable. Online casino product is illegal under the IGA. From a land-based casino perspective, significant regulatory reform has occurred over recent years following highly-publicised responsible gambling, money laundering control and other compliance failings. At the time of writing, the licences of one of the country’s largest casino licensees are being managed by a Special Manager appointed by relevant regulators. Lottery: The outlook is positive. Online and offline lotteries (licensed in Australia) are considered very acceptable and give rise to limited harm minimisation concerns. Importantly, the Federal government’s proposed ban on the use of credit cards and credit related products in the online gambling space does not extend to lotteries, including the activities of not-for-profits, charities and newsagents. We note that at the time of writing, keno and foreign-matched lotteries are subject to a federal review. In announcing the review, the Federal Government commented that the review will allow the Government to better understand the impact of these types of lotteries on the community and explore whether changes to regulations are required. Poker: Not applicable. Online casino product (including poker) is illegal under the IGA. The authors do not see a driver for regulatory change in the near term. Skill games: In the absence of regulatory guidance or any concerted push by operators to progress skill-based gaming in the jurisdiction, there will be continued uncertainty as to how skill-based games with no element of chance are regulated under various State and Territory laws. Software/B2B: The outlook continues to remain relatively positive. There have been a number of new entrants in the marketplace supporting wagering over recent years. Although industry wagering turnover has fallen from its peaks during e COVID-19 years, the sector has historically proven resilient. Prediction markets are likely to attract increasing regulatory scrutiny in Australia as their use and commercial significance continue to grow. A key issue will be where the regulatory boundary is drawn between products that are properly characterised as wagering and those that constitute financial products. In our view, prediction markets that substantially resemble wagering, particularly markets based on sporting, political or other event outcomes, are more likely to be regulated within existing State and Territory gambling frameworks, while ASIC may have a greater role where a product has the characteristics of a genuine financial product or derivative. The present uncertainty around that boundary is likely to require further regulatory guidance or intervention as the market develops. There also appears to be scope for compliant prediction-market offerings to develop within Australia under existing wagering licensing frameworks, subject to the structure of the product and applicable approvals. As prediction markets become a more meaningful competitor to traditional sportsbooks, regulators are likely to focus increasingly on consumer protection, responsible gambling, market integrity and risks such as manipulation and misuse of inside information. A purely prohibitive approach may also prove difficult to sustain where Australian consumers can continue to access offshore platforms, which may strengthen the case over time for a clearer regulated pathway for appropriately structured prediction-market products. PLEASE ADD OPINIONS ON PREDICTION MARKETS, CRYPTO GAMBLING AND FREE PLAY / SWEEPSTAKE PRODUCTS.