Australia is commonly known for amazing wild nature, giant flying spiders, the Sydney Opera House, and all these memes about antipodes. But there are more cool facts about this country, for sure! Did you know that the total gambling expenditure is more than $1,250 per adult here?! By this parameter, Australia is the worldwide leader in various rankings. Australians love gambling and enjoy it regularly in land-based casinos, hotels, and nightclubs. But when it comes to Australian online venues, they face some frustrating challenges.
The government prohibited almost all forms of online gambling and listed huge penalties for operators and advertisers. It’s still formally legal to access pokies casino sites but, obviously, companies don’t want to provide such services in Australia. Thus, gamblers have to look for offshore websites.
Is this the one and only solution? How can cryptocurrencies help in this case? And why is the list of crypto pokies developers constantly expanding? Let’s figure it out!
Australian Gambling Laws
Australia is a federated nation with several autonomous states and territories. Similarly to the USA, not the country’s government but local state authorities decide on a lot of regulatory matters, including the legality of gambling. That’s why different territories have different approaches to legislation, taxation, and exact lists of allowed/prohibited Bitcoin games.
However, this info is more about brick-and-mortar casinos. Online gambling is a national issue so the Commonwealth handles it on its own via various bills and decisions. Long story short, the current state of online wagering in Australia is regulated by two official documents published in 2001 and 2017, respectively.
IGA 2001
The main defining document is the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. It focuses on two major restrictions for Australian companies and individuals:
- They can’t provide online gambling services for Australians and foreign citizens.
- They can’t advertise online gambling services.
These rules cover all gambling activities except for betting on sports events, horse/auto races, and lotteries. Nonetheless, live dealer bets on all events, instant-win and scratch cards are banned. For companies that provide prohibited services, there are fines up to $1.1 million per day of functioning. Individuals face fines up to $220,000 per day.
You still can access sites like Bitstarz, Playamo, Joe Fortune Casino or Uptown Pokies powered by the leading software companies, e.g. Microgaming, NetEnt, Yggdrasil, Betsoft Gaming and Pragmatic Play.
IGAA 2017
The next bill is called the Interactive Gambling Amendment Act 2017. It specified the previous rules and made them even stricter for operators and advertisers. First, the IGAA 2017 mentions that all online gambling activities that aren’t officially legalized are prohibited. This statement closes all possible loopholes for best Bitcoin pokies. Additionally, the paper requires that overseas operators get Australian licenses to deliver their services.
Still, the most important takeaway from all these official statements is that Australian citizens are free to play in any online casino. There aren’t penalties for players. Hence, the main question for locals is: how to find a reputable website that accepts Australian players and has quality pokies and table games?
A lot of companies do not allow Australians to gamble online because they don’t want to be penalized. Moreover, various offshore casinos do not support AUD. That’s why we can offer an innovative alternative – cryptocurrency online casinos!
The Essence of Cryptocurrency Casinos
Okay, now it’s time to dive into definitions a bit. If you know the difference between Bitcoin and blockchain, can name the most distinctive features of cryptocurrency gambling, and remember its rules, feel free to skip this section. For other readers, here are the basics.
Info About Crypto Gambling Sites
A cryptocurrency is a form of digital-only money protected with cryptographic algorithms. As a rule, cryptocurrencies are based on blockchains – specific peer-to-peer decentralized systems. They don’t have any central storages because all the information is stored and processed by computers of the network users. As well, they don’t have extra regulators or intermediaries because all users are equal and directly connected to the network. The first and the most famous cryptocurrency is Bitcoin – a system used for cross-border payments with low fees and quick speed.
Types of Cryptocurrency Casinos
Don’t overload yourself with tech details now. Mainly, it’s enough to remember that the concepts of blockchain and cryptocurrency are also widely used in the gambling industry. There are two types of modern casinos that work with cryptocurrency:
- Centralized sites. These are traditional platforms that accept cryptocurrency.
- Decentralized casinos. These sites are built on blockchains and also accept cryptocurrency.
The main difference is that the list of cryptocurrency games in centralized casinos includes all the traditional ones that simply integrate extra payment methods. Instead, blockchain devs deliver a brand new way to play. We will talk about the features of both approaches in the next section.
Betting Bitcoins in Australia
Generally, it’s almost impossible to gamble online regardless of the desired banking method because local companies don’t want to face governmental penalties. It means that Aussie players have to look for overseas platforms, use a VPN to access them, and find the most suitable ways to deposit/withdraw money. Cryptocurrency and blockchain tech simplify these processes.
Traditional Cryptocurrency Gambling Sites
The main idea of cryptocurrency is to get rid of unnecessary payment processors and set direct links between the client and the provider (particularly, gambling operators). Hence, cryptocurrency casinos transact within next-gen payment channels that do not rely on banks or other third-party services. Put simply, you should create a Bitcoin wallet, buy some BTC, and then connect this wallet to the chosen Bitcoin casino site. All the minimum deposits and withdrawals will be performed on blockchain without governmental oversight.
Overall, centralized casinos that accept cryptocurrency have a few major advantages over platforms that work with fiat money only:
- Low fees. With traditional banking options, players have to pay to various middlemen. With cryptocurrency, only the blockchain network issues a minor fee.
- Privacy policy. No banks or regulators can relate on-chain money transfers to real identities of gamblers. That’s why the authorities can’t penalize casinos.
- Blockchains are highly protected with modern crypto algorithms, so data is secure. In addition, gamblers don’t have to share their credit card details (Visa, MasterCard, etc.).
- While wire transfers can take up to a week, cryptocurrency transactions are finalized in a few minutes, usually.
For Australians, cryptocurrency or Bitcoin pokies are great. Such sites can’t be officially banned because cryptocurrencies are in the grey zone of legislation now. As well, this approach removes the need to work with AUD because all operations are in BTC or other cryptocurrencies.
Decentralized Casinos
If you want even more innovative experience and freedom, consider accessing blockchain gambling platforms. These are the sites built on top of decentralized networks. In addition to all the above mentioned, they offer:
- Even higher speed. Usually, players don’t have to register an account as they can gamble via private cryptocurrency wallets.
- Near-perfect security. Blockchains feature fewer vulnerable points that can be compromised by fraudsters in order to get the gamblers’ money. Governments also have fewer monitoring options.
- Provable fairness. Games based on blockchain feature up-to-date information about RNGs, so users can always check that projects are unbiased.
As a result, you don’t even have to use VPN to access these real money casinos because they can’t be blocked by governments. Sadly, decentralized sites are still pretty rare as they are only at the beginning of their development lifecycle. These platforms often feature a low number of casino games and plain interfaces but you should try them to understand how things work.
A Word About Responsibility
At the end of the day, Bitcoin online options are already integrated into the underground online gambling market in Australia. Players can easily find worldwide networks that accept cryptocurrency. Moreover, they can gamble at decentralized and fully independent platforms.
If you use cryptocurrencies for gambling, please, remember that this niche is highly unregulated now. There are no licensing agencies or official bodies that can solve gambling issues in this case. What’s more, customer support teams aren’t so experienced too. In addition, blockchain and cryptocurrency best Bitcoin casinos pose a higher risk of underage gambling.
That’s why you should always be aware of responsible gambling principles, anti-money laundering rules, and general protective measures. Read reviews of casinos, games, Bitcoin features, match bonuses, terms & conditions, and other important stuff.
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