Is Online Gambling Legal in Queensland? Updated June 2026

Star shareholders subsequently approved the takeover, providing the company with a path to continued operations under new ownership. In Star's case, voluntary administration was ultimately avoided when Bally's Corporation — an American casino operator — agreed on April 7, 2025 to acquire a 56.7% controlling stake through a multi-tranche subordinated debt arrangement. The company's Star Sydney licence was already under suspension, making the regulatory path for any buyer complex and time-consuming. Once appointed, administrators have broad powers over the company's assets and operations. Voluntary administration is a formal insolvency procedure under Australian corporate law in which an independent administrator takes control of a financially distressed company to assess its options. Online sports betting is widely available from operators licensed in any Australian jurisdiction, though retail wagering is a monopoly held by Tabcorp. It agreed in April 2025 to take a 56.7% controlling stake in Star Entertainment through a multi-tranche subordinated debt structure.
The NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority has approved funds manager Blackstone’s suitability to hold a casino licence in NSW, paving the way for the company to become the operator of Crown Sydney casino. All jersey sponsorships, stadium signage, and field-of-play logo placements for wagering operators are completely illegal under national reforms. Existing points could still be redeemed, though members were advised to stay alert to any programme changes as the new ownership restructures the business. Operations continued under an external manager appointed by the NSW Independent Casino Commission. The cost of remediation, legal defence, and regulatory penalties then piled onto an already challenged business.
Casino players in Australia are not, strictly speaking, depositors in the same way bank customers are. The Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) scheme provides a federal government safety net for workers who lose entitlements in insolvency events. Under Australian corporate law, employees are priority unsecured creditors in any administration or liquidation scenario, meaning their entitlements — including accrued wages, annual leave, and long service leave — rank ahead of most other creditors. With approximately 9,000 staff employed across its casinos, hotels, restaurants, and corporate functions, the question of what happened to Star's workforce was one of the most pressing issues throughout the crisis. A new board was established, Bruce Mathieson Jr was appointed CEO, and the company moved to decentralise management by placing property-level CEOs at each of its three casinos. The three possible outcomes are a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) — allowing restructuring and continued trading — sale of the business as a going concern, or liquidation. The resulting AU$100 million fine in December 2022 was accompanied by a 90-day licence suspension — though that suspension was deferred multiple times to allow remediation, ultimately being pushed back to at least late 2024.
Work then started to redesign the regulatory structure of NSW casinos, with a view to introducing legislative changes to parliament in mid-2022. In August 2021 the Government agreed to support all 19 recommendations from the Bergin Inquiry Report on the regulation of casinos in NSW and the suitability of Crown Resorts to hold a restricted gaming licence. Both came through bruising regulatory inquiries; both now operate under enhanced compliance regimes. Australia's metro casinos are run by two operators. The minimum legal age for all forms of regulated gambling in Queensland, including aussie payid casinos, electronic gaming machines ('pokies'), lotteries, and sports betting, is 18 years old. For recreational players, winnings from lotteries, sports betting, or casino games are considered the result of luck and are not subject to income tax in Australia. The rules operators must follow are on the operator page.
This is prohibited by the federal Interactive Gambling Act 2001, and these sites offer no consumer protection. What you can expect from a licensed site's offers in Queensland. Verify with the local regulator and your ad-platform account manager before launching. Programmatic networks must enforce distance buffers around school properties and youth centers. Commercial runs are legal but heavily restricted by ACMA standards. Native architectures must integrate robust geo-tracking software to respect federal land exclusions. Unlicensed sites may take deposits but offer no consumer protection if a payout dispute arises.
In any administration scenario, these amounts would have been treated as unsecured creditor claims, sitting behind secured lenders, employees, and regulatory creditors. The company used Australia's "safe harbour" provisions — designed to allow directors to pursue restructuring without personal liability for insolvent trading — while racing to secure a refinancing deal. For much of early 2025, the spectre of voluntary administration loomed over Star Entertainment. Queensland's inquiry mirrored these findings for the Star Gold Coast and Treasury Brisbane properties.
A second Bell Inquiry was commissioned, and its 2024 report found that Star had still not achieved suitability in NSW. Star was found to have allowed customers linked to organised crime to gamble, including individuals already excluded by NSW Police. Australia's casino regulators moved decisively against Star Entertainment across both of its major operating states. 💎 100% bonus up to $750 + 150 free spins when you join Australia's best online casino alternative to Star Casino Introduction to the regulatory framework and licensing for casinos in NSW.
The AU$3.6 billion Queen's Wharf Brisbane development, while ambitious, had added to the company's financing obligations. At the heart of Star's downfall was a culture that prioritised revenue — particularly from high-rolling VIP and junket operators — over compliance with Australia's strict anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws. Regulatory failures, a crippling debt load, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and intensifying competition all played roles. Players who had not redeemed accumulated points by the time any formal programme changes were announced may have seen their value adjusted or transferred to a successor scheme. Players with outstanding credits were encouraged to contact Star directly if they held balances at the time of the crisis. For players with tournament buy-in credits, promotional balances, or funds lodged in electronic gaming accounts, the situation was less clear-cut. Unlike regulated online gambling in some jurisdictions, Australian land-based casinos do not typically hold large pools of ring-fenced player funds.
While Star's casinos continue to operate under Bally's ownership, the instability of recent years has prompted many to explore alternatives. When regulators finally acted — following investigative journalism that exposed Crown Resorts first, then focused attention on Star — the company was found to have been running these practices for years. Star's loyalty programme — Star Rewards — allows members to accumulate points through gaming, dining, and hotel stays.