Action on interactive gambling: April to June 2020

Of the 146 enquiries and complaints we received, 119 (82%) were valid complaints that we could investigate under the IGA.

The number of valid complaints received was up on the previous quarter. January to March 2020 saw a large fall from previous quarters, relating to the early stages of the COVID-19 restrictions (55 valid complaints received).

However, the number for April to June 2020 is in line with the period October to December 2019 (115 valid complaints received). The average number of valid complaints received per quarter over the 2019–20 financial year was 93.

Make a complaint about a service you think is illegal.

We completed 38 investigations that involved 60 gambling sites. We found one or more breaches of the IGA in 35 investigations. There were 61 findings of breaches:

• 55 for providing a prohibited interactive gambling service to Australian customers
• 6 for providing an unlicensed regulated interactive gambling service to Australian customers.

Types of breaches

Learn more about protecting yourself from illegal gaming and wagering services.

We raise awareness of the IGA and make sure people are following it. To do this, we work with many different bodies. These include:

• international and national regulators
• licensing authorities
• service providers
• sporting and racing bodies
• other federal government agencies.

We continued our consumer awareness campaign, which ran from May to the end of June 2020. It aimed to:

• alert consumers to the risks and lack of protections when using illegal offshore gambling sites
• raise awareness that the offshore gambling sites on offer to Australians are provided illegally.  

The campaign directed consumers to information on our website. This included details about online gambling services, legal operators and the risks of using illegal gambling providers.

We have continued website blocking of services found to be in breach of the IGA.