Australia Bans Online Betting with Credit Cards & Crypto

As a seasoned crypto investor and someone who has seen the volatile nature of this space firsthand, I welcome the Australian government’s efforts to protect consumers from potential harm caused by online gambling. While I understand the appeal of betting and the convenience it brings, I have also witnessed how quickly things can spiral out of control when it comes to financial risks.


The Australian administration has declared a prohibition on placing bets online using credit cards and digital currencies as part of their efforts to restrict gambling activities. Their objective is to minimize online gambling by imposing restrictions and forbidding the use of credit cards linked to digital wallets for this purpose.

Industry members are given a six-month window to adhere to the ban, beyond which non-adhering businesses may be subjected to penalties worth up to 4,750. The communications regulatory body holds the authority to impose these sanctions.

As a researcher studying gambling regulations in Australia, I strongly advocate for the expansion of the current ban on credit cards for gambling transactions to include online lotteries. This is essential to ensure consistent consumer protection and mitigate potential risks associated with unregulated alternatives.

As a data analyst, I’ve observed the implementation of recent gambling reforms, such as the betting self-exclusion register, which has already been utilized by over 22,000 individuals. Moving forward, starting in September, computer games containing gambling-like content will face more stringent classification standards.

As a crypto analyst, I’ve come across a significant incident where Stake, a popular crypto gambling site, reported a loss of approximately $41 million due to an unauthorized withdrawal from their hot wallets. PeckShield, a renowned on-chain analysis firm, confirmed this finding and revealed that the stolen assets were distributed to numerous wallets and subsequently swapped on decentralized exchanges (DEX). The attacker currently holds the ill-gotten gains predominantly in Ethereum, Binance Coin (BNB), and Polygon‘s MATIC.

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2024-06-12 06:12