Currently in Australia the law relating to online gaming is called the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, which prohibits the provision of online gambling services to customers in Australia, but does not outlaw Australians from accessing online gambling services. Nor does it prevent Australian based companies from providing online gambling services to (non-Australian) customers in other countries. Online wagering, betting and lotteries are exempt from the law.

The Productivity Commission recommended in their 2010 report that the Australian Government, with consultation with state and territory governments amend the section on online poker card games in the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 making online gambling more accessible.

The Federal Government is now considering allowing online gambling to be more accessible to Australians. There are a number of reasons why this is a really bad idea:

1. There is no ability to provide effective safeguards over online gambling, as the vast majority of online gambling companies are located in tax havens where the Australian government has no ability to enforce any standards;
2. Relaxing the law on online gambling will allow these companies to more aggressively market themselves to Australians, which will increase the number of people gambling on these sites and increase the number of people with gambling problems;
3. Online gambling companies are mainly located in tax havens around the world, meaning they will find it easy to avoid paying any tax to the Australian Government. They will get to cause harm in Australia without having to contribute to the costs of dealing with the harm they cause. Any Australian gambling company set up online will also demand that it should pay little tax and should not be required to provide effective safeguards to gamblers in order to be able to compete with the majority of online gambling companies located in tax havens. Online wagering companies in Australia have already been making these arguments to the Australian Government.
4. Being located in tax havens means it is easy for online gambling companies to be run by organized crime gangs and assist in money laundering. This is because tax havens provide secrecy as to who the real owners of the company is. The US government is currently prosecuting a number of large online gambling companies that are accused of being involved in money laundering related to online poker.