ACMA Requests ISP To Block More Offshore Illegal Gambling Sites in Australia

Published: 20/08/2020

Reading Time: 3 Min

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Following the investigation regarding online gambling, the Australian Communications and Media Authority suggests ISP to block the access of offshore illegal gambling sites.

A few weeks back ACMA received a number of complaints about the website’s services in terms of poor customer treatment, and withholding winnings. This enforcement action is taken in response to violation of Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 made by illegal sites.

Customers to Withdraw Their Funds

During the investigation, ISP found eight illegal websites including Spintropolis, Planet 7 Oz, Nordicasino, Enzo Casino, Ace Pokies, Times Square Casino, Reeltastic and Royal Spinz. Now, the users of Australia will be soon requested to withdraw their money from their respective gambling sites. They will have to withdraw their money before the ISP blocks access to these sites.

As users registered a complaint about receiving poor treatment and withholding winnings by the website operators, ACMA exert its legal power under Telecommunications Act of section 313. This was performed to prevent other sites from conducting such practices and further protect the players of Australia.

According to the Minister of Cyber Safety, Paul Fletcher, these offshore gambling operators are defrauding the Australian gamblers. Website blocking is one such measure in which ACMA has carried out effective supervision on unauthorized offshore gambling operators alongside delivering gambling advice.

Whenever a player will attempt to visit any of these gambling sites, a notification will pop up and redirect them to the valuable information on the website of ACMA. Moreover, the official ACMA’s website recommends the users about some of the legal alternatives. It presents a list of licensed gambling websites from which a gambler can opt for a website as per their choice.

ACMA Aims to Protect Australian Gamblers

Website blocking is a great way to alert users about illegal gambling operations via a message that highlights whenever any user makes an attempt to access them.

In order to protect its customers against accessing any of the illegal or unauthorized gaming sites, ACMA investigated and found over a hundred illegal websites since 2017. It has made blocking requests to ISP in November 2019 by suggesting to block access to these websites.

In July, the Independent Commonwealth regulatory body announced a list of 11 offshore gambling operators. Those 11 illegal websites include Rich Casino, Happy Hugo, Kahuna Casino, Mucho Vegas Casino, Box 24 Casino, Fruits 4 Real, JokaRoom, Slottica, Omni Slots, XPokies and Bondi Bet. Now, these 11 illegal sites are blocked by ISP.

In May 2020, another group of ten illegal offshore websites providing access to gambling were advised to be blocked by ISP. Those ten websites cover Raging Bull Casino, Red Dog Casino, Cherry Gold Casino, True Blue Casino, Slots Empire, Grand Fortune Casino, BoVegas, Free Spin, Wild Joker and Two Up Casino. The list of these casinos was further sent to ISP for blocking.

Furthermore, in January nine illegal websites were found by ACMA. Those nine offshore operating websites include AU Slots, Roo Casino, Top Bet, Ignition Casino, Wager Beat, XBet, GW Casino, Casino Dingo and Joe Fortune. An overall 38 websites are blocked till now by the ISP.

According to ACMA, it is crucial to aware gamblers and the public about unauthorized websites in order to ensure their safety and prevent them from harmful gambling practices. The official website of ACMA includes a complete list of licensed gambling services. This way the players can get a chance to gamble from those licensed websites.

They also have rights to complain about them if any of the country’s gambling regulations are violated or disobeyed.