Australia

There is one thing that is certain; Australians love to gamble. That makes the country no different than a lot of other places. What also makes it no different is the fact that the government takes an official stance that it does not want involvement in the online gambling industry. People play the games anyway.

Casinos in Australia

As it stands right now, you cannot be an Australian-based gaming enterprise and deal with Australian players. The fact is, no online casinos, whether they are located inside OR outside of Australia, are allowed to serve the Australian public, an edict that came into effect with the passage of the Interactive Gambling Act of 2001. That did NOT, however, prohibit those gambling companies who were already offering their services to the Australian public.

Whether grandfathered or not, the thing is that no one in Australia is going to be arrested simply for playing at an online casino. And because of that, there is not necessarily any serious step undertaken to crack down on businesses who are serving the public, and in effect (though politicians may deny this) the public interest.

This is good news for Australians, who are very enthusiastic about their casino games. And there are groups within the country who want to institute some form of licensing so that companies can come in and operate under the law. This is obviously something that is opposed as a matter of policy by the land-based casino interests in the country (and there are many), unless they are the only ones who can get in on the action. In fact, the law does allow for online sports betting and lotteries, but they must first be involved with a land-based casino business in Australia.

Some online casinos are going to be better for Australians than others, because they have outstanding slot games, which are known as "pokies" within the country. Generally the companies that are most prominent in this area are Microgaming, Playtech, Net Entertainment and Cryptologic. If you are located in Australia, casinos powered by these companies are worth checking out. Also, it is advisable that Australians need to do some homework and find out which casino deposit options are going to be available for people within their jurisdiction by the various casinos. Some of them are very user-friendly when it comes to opening up an account with Australian dollars, and they maintain a responsible level of privacy when it comes to their patrons.