Australian internet users will have six fewer offshore gambling sites to access after the communications regulator added another batch of illegal operators to its national block list.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has asked internet service providers to block Play Jonny, ACO96, TCL99, Waboom77, Wonaco and WooSpin after investigations found the sites were operating in breach of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001.
It is the latest reminder that Australia’s legal gambling market and the online casino world are still not the same thing. Sports betting is heavily regulated, lotteries have their own rules, and land-based casinos operate under state oversight. Online casino-style gambling, however, remains prohibited for Australian consumers unless it falls within a very narrow legal framework. Many offshore sites still try their luck anyway.
ACMA has now requested the blocking of 1,708 illegal gambling and affiliate websites since it made its first such request in November 2019. More than 230 illegal services have also withdrawn from the Australian market since the regulator began enforcing tougher illegal gambling rules in 2017.
Why Offshore Gambling Sites Remain a Risk
The latest six names are not likely to be the last. Offshore gambling sites can appear polished, run bonuses that look familiar to local punters, and use payment methods that make them seem more accessible than they really are. That is exactly where the risk begins. A website can look legitimate without being licensed, and if it is not licensed, Australian players have far fewer protections when something goes wrong.
ACMA made that point again in its latest notice, warning consumers that illegal gambling services are unlikely to offer the same safeguards as licensed operators. That can leave players exposed if winnings are withheld, accounts are closed without explanation, or deposits disappear into support queues that never quite support anyone.
For legal operators, the continued blocking campaign is useful but not a complete fix. Website blocking slows down access and creates friction, but it does not erase offshore demand by itself. Illegal operators can rebrand, change domains, or target players through search, social media, affiliate pages and private messaging. The regulator’s block list is growing because the supply is persistent.
That makes the enforcement numbers important. The total of 1,708 blocked gambling and affiliate sites shows the scale of the job. It also shows how much of the online gambling ecosystem sits outside the glossy brand names Australians see during sports broadcasts. Affiliate pages, mirror sites and offshore casino brands can all feed into the same problem: players being pushed towards services that are not accountable under Australian law.
What Australian Players Should Check First
The timing also fits into a wider shift in Canberra’s gambling agenda. The federal government has already flagged a broader reform package from 2027, including tighter controls on gambling advertising, stronger action against illegal offshore operators and a ban on online keno-style “pocket pokies”. ACMA’s latest blocking order is therefore not an isolated clean-up job. It sits inside a bigger push to reduce the visibility and reach of gambling products considered high-risk or outside the law.
For everyday players, the practical advice is simple: check before depositing. ACMA keeps a register of wagering services licensed to operate in Australia, and the regulator continues to urge consumers to use it. That step may not be glamorous, but it is a lot easier than trying to recover money from a site based outside the country and outside the local dispute system.
The blocked sites named this week are unlikely to be household names, which is part of the point. Illegal gambling does not always arrive wearing a giant red flag. Sometimes it arrives as a clean homepage, a large welcome bonus and a payment page that works just well enough to get money in.
Getting money back out is where the story can change.