Player Fund protections - Taking the NT for example, licensees are required to provide a bank guarantee (typically of A$250,000) which will be applied to protect player funds in the event of default. Funds also typically need to be held in segregated bank accounts. Payments - Payment and remittance limitations: Payment and remittance limitations are generally self-imposed by a Corporate Bookmaker Licence holder to manage money laundering and terrorism financing risk in accordance with its AML/CTF Program. A Corporate Bookmaker Licence holder will be providing “designated services” to its customers and will be required to be registered with the Commonwealth AML/CTF regulator, the Australian Transactions Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), as a reporting entity and comply with the requirements set out in the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) (AML/CTF Act), the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules Instrument 2007 No.1 (Cth) (AML/CTF Rules) and any other rules or regulations made pursuant to the AML/CTF Act. Legislation has recently taken effect which bans the acceptance, or offer, of payment using specified payment methods, including credit cards, credit-related products and digital currency, in connection with certain interactive wagering services (including online wagering). Ease of access to banking, hosting, power, and other ancillary services: New entrants applying for a Corporate Bookmaker Licence with no presence in Australia can expect the establishment of a bank account to take up to one month or longer. Some local banking institutions no longer service the sector. Localisation Licences will permit sales throughout Australia and into overseas jurisdictions where it is legal to do so. Local practice is for all wagering to be transacted in Australian dollars. Capitalisation, bank guarantees — Applicants for a Northern Territory licensee must provide a bank guarantee of generally AU$250,000 and also satisfy the licensing authority that they have satisfactory financial resources available to them. This may be in the form of cash, debt or equity financing (or a combination thereof). The regulator will review this information and interview licence applicants prior to making a decision regarding suitability. An important recent payments development is the Reserve Bank of Australia's confirmed ban on card surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard, and Visa transactions from 1 October 2026, accompanied by interchange cap reductions. Looking forward, the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act 2026 (Cth), which received Royal Assent on 8 April 2026, will bring certain digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms within Australia’s existing financial services licensing framework from April 2027. Separately, providers of regulated virtual asset services in Australia are subject to AUSTRAC registration and applicable AML/CTF obligations. However, the direct relevance of these regimes to Australian wagering payment arrangements is limited by the existing prohibition under the IGA on the use of digital currency, including cryptocurrency, as a payment method for online and telephone wagering services. Credit cards are also unable to be used to fund betting accounts.
Australia · Question 06 of 11
Payments and banking: Can we move player money?
Mixed · Confirmed · Expert approved · 4 post-review updates · Not reviewed · In expert review scope · Back to full Australia report →
Key section parameters
| Jurisdiction | Australia (AU) |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Recorded in register |
| Favourability | Mixed |
| Confidence | Confirmed |
| Review status | Expert approved · 4 post-review updates · Not reviewed · In expert review scope |
| Last collected | 18 Oct 2026 |
Summary answer
Player Fund protections - Taking the NT for example, licensees are required to provide a bank guarantee (typically of A$250,000) which will be applied to protect player funds in the event of default. Funds also typically need to be held in segregated bank accounts. Payments - Payment and remittance…
The 2026 reform Act imposes a new statutory duty on authorised deposit-taking institutions and payment-system participants to take reasonably practicable steps to prevent payments or fund transfers connected to designated interactive gambling services in certain circumstances. The Act does not require blocking of winnings paid to Australian customers by illegal operators, narrowing the duty's practical reach somewhat. Critically, "funds" is defined to include digital currency, meaning the payment-blocking duty extends beyond conventional banking rails into crypto-denominated settlement paths. This is a material expansion of accessory-liability exposure across the payments chain, reaching banks, payment participants, and by extension any wagering operator whose payment flows route through parties now subject to this blocking duty.
This cycle's payments-and-money-flow-relevant development is the Gambling Reform Bill's ban on commissions to staff or affiliates calculated on customer activity, sourced to the Senet Group's Tier 3 summary of the Bill's marketing-restriction package. This touches the incentive-structure layer of payment and remuneration compliance for operators, requiring a shift away from activity-linked commission models for both internal staff and external affiliates. No further payments-specific findings were identified this cycle.
The 2026 Reform Act introduces a new statutory requirement that banks and payment systems in Australia block transactions to illegal, unlicensed gambling operators. This is a material addition to the payments and money-flow environment, giving ACMA and the payment system a joint mechanism to restrict the financial channels available to offshore and unlicensed operators. The requirement is corroborated by independent industry reporting, though it currently sits at a lower source tier than the Act's core advertising provisions and should be treated as a probable rather than fully verified mechanism pending clearer primary statutory text becoming available.
No payments-specific evidence, such as permitted payment methods, withdrawal obligations, or capital-control measures, was located this cycle beyond the general financial-institution blocking obligation introduced under the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2026. That Bill imposes positive obligations on financial institutions and digital infrastructure providers to block illegal gambling services, a provision with direct relevance to payment flows even though it is captured structurally under the Bill's operational-obligations and licensing scope rather than under a dedicated payments framework. Financial institutions servicing licensed Australian wagering operators should expect to build screening and blocking capability against illegal offshore gambling services ahead of the Bill's 1 January 2027 commencement.