Welcome to Live Dealers Australia

Gambling has been an integral part of Australian culture for more than 200 years. The very first horserace occurred in 1810 in Sydney’s Hyde Park, the first Australian lottery took place in 1881 at the Sydney Cup, 1956 saw the first legal poker machines, and in 1973 Wrest Point in Hobart was opened as the first Australian casino.

Nowadays there are 20+ casinos operating all over the country, plus hundreds of smaller establishments offering pokie machines – the most popular type of gambling among local players.

The regulation of gambling activities in Australia is done on two levels, with the central government responsible for the supervision and adding or amending laws, and several regional authorities regulating the market at the state and territorial level.

For decades, gambling laws in Australia have been rather liberal. However, seeing that over 80% of Australian adults participate in gambling activity of one type or another (the highest gambling rate in in the world!), and hundreds of thousands experience related problem behaviour, the Government has decided to take certain measures with the intention of protecting their residents from harmful effects of online gambling.

The Interactive Gambling Act, passed by The Australian Commonwealth Parliament in 2001, made it an offence to offer and advertise real-money gambling services to Australian citizens. The Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill of 2016, primarily aiming to stop unlicensed sports betting operators from servicing Australian customers, had the unfortunate side effect of banning online poker.

However, the limitations deal mainly with gambling operators and the Act does not prohibit individuals from wagering online. Even if the available options are not as plentiful as they once were, one can find quite a few foreign operators willing to offer their services to Aussie gamblers, and playing their games with real cash is completely legal.

Most Popular Games In Australia

It’s definitely online pokies, but table games do have some following too. Sadly due to the current legislative state you won’t be able to play live dealer games from many of the top providers.

However, there are a couple of casinos like BitStarz, that seem to offer the very best live dealer games from EVO, Vivo Gaming and Lucky Streak to Aussie players.

Payment Methods Frequently Used in Australia

Players from Down Under will normally fund their online casino accounts either with credit cards such as Visa or MasterCard, Bitcoin or Wire Transfer.

Visa / MasterCard – are two of the most trusted and frequently used online payment methods. Both are listed as available deposit and withdrawal options at gaming sites around the world, they’re simple to use, and exceptionally secure.

Transactions are fast and reliable, limits often higher than with other payment options, and withdrawn funds instantly accessible via ATMs.

Bitcoin – is a digital currency with multiple benefits which make it many of online gamers’ favorite option. Transactions take place faster than with the more traditional banking methods, and the user remains completely anonymous. There’s no need for currency conversion, and no waiting for an international transaction to go through.

One has to start by opening a Bitcoin Wallet and topping it up at a Bitcoin Exchange, a process which is fairly quick and straightforward. Having registered at an online casino, the player will be asked to provide a wallet address and deposit the desired amount at a specific address.

When they win, winnings are automatically transferred to their accounts. More often than not, gaming sites will process Bitcoin payments without charging any additional fees.

Wire Transfer – is basically a transfer of funds from a bank account to another account, and can be used for making both deposits and withdrawals. This is a good option for players who either don’t have a credit card or dislike using it for online payments.

Wire Transfer will save you from having to give out personal and bank account information to an online vendor and thus risk identity theft. It may be a somewhat slower alternative to those mentioned above and will more frequently have a fee attached, but is highly secure.