ACMA Blocks New Vegas Casino + 10 Other Gambling Sites
On Dec. 13, 2023, the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) announced that it had blocked another group of supposedly illegal gambling sites.
The ACMA has frequently asked Australian Internet Service Providers to block citizens' access to gambling websites that it deems to be operating illegally. This time around, the ACMA has blocked eleven online casino gambling sites.
The ACMA Enforces the Gambling Laws and Regulations
The ACMA is responsible for enforcing online gambling regulations as stipulated in the Interactive Gaming Act 2001 (IGA). The IGA essentially prohibits any offshore gambling operators from offering casino gambling services to Australian consumers.
The ACMA regulates internet gambling in AustraliaEleven Sites Have Been Blocked
In this most recent ACMA enforcement action, the agency announced that it has blocked eleven supposedly illegal online casino gambling sites. The following sites were blocked:
- PayID Pokies
- Sector 777
- Digits 7
- Golden Lion
- Thunderpick
- New Vegas
- Candyland Casino
- Betibet
- Jeetcity
- Slotman
- Greenspin
All of these sites are quite similar in how they operate. If we take a look at one of the most popular of these sites, New Vegas, we can get a glimpse of what they have to offer. Generally, these sites consist of online casino games, like slots, table games, keno, and video poker.
New Vegas online casinoSites Join a Long Blacklist
The ACMA first began blocking sites in this manner back in 2019. Since that time, a total of 893 supposedly illegal online gambling and gambling affiliate websites have been blocked.
Additionally, many services pre-emptively withdrew from the Australian market after the IGA was amended in 2017. 220 gambling services have voluntarily withdrawn from serving Australians dating back to 2017.
The ACMA Continues Blocking Sites
As we have touched on, this kind of enforcement action is not especially novel or unique. The ACMA has been blocking sites with solid regularity over the past few years. Back in September of this year, the ACMA blocked ViperSpin Casino and a few other online gaming sites.
Back in August, the ACMA blocked Crown Pokies and Play AUD. Earlier in 2023, the ACMA blocked twelve casino sites.
Despite the consistent and ruthless enforcement by the ACMA, the ACMA's tactics are marginal and unsuccessful. Consumers can easily circumvent these bans by adjusting DNS settings. Additionally, the sites themselves can easily create new URLs to bypass their original URL being blocked.
This situation seemingly creates an endless game of cat and mouse in which the ACMA isn't making much of a real impact at all. Perhaps the ACMA is making things a bit trickier, but Australians can still gamble and play poker online without issue.
Another concern is that the ACMA often blocks some of the most popular and reliable sites. Consequently, consumers may end up signing up at sketchier, potentially inferior gambling sites where their funds may actually be at risk. It seems that the ACMA is simply creating more difficulties for its constituents rather than delivering anything desirable with all of its efforts to block sites.
Online Poker and Casino Gambling Still Present in Australia
Although the ACMA has certainly complicated the online gambling landscape, rest assured that safe and legitimate online gambling and poker providers still exist and cater to Australians.
Ignition is one of the best online poker and casino sites that currently serves Australian customers, and it boasts a full suite of casino games and an excellent poker room. New players can receive a 150% signup bonus up to $3,000 when registering through the signup link below.
To learn more about Ignition, feel free to peruse this detail-oriented Ignition Casino review. To learn more about other online casino sites serving Australians, you may want to check out this Australian online casinos guide.
Poker players may also want to learn more about the poker options in Australia. Browse over to this extensive Australian online poker guide to find out more about all of the most reliable and trusted online poker providers catering to Australians.