ACMA orders blocking of more illegal igaming and affiliate sites

The authority determined that Golden Crown Casino, Sol Casino, PowBet, ExciteWin, Sportaza and Gamble Online all breached the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 by offering their services to players in Australia.

As such, it requested that Australian internet service providers (ISPs) block each of the websites.

Since the ACMA made its first blocking request in November of 2019, a total of 447 illegal gambling sites have been blocked in the country.

In addition, a further 160 illegal services, including operators and affiliate businesses, have pulled out of the Australian market since the ACMA began enforcing new illegal offshore gambling rules in 2017.

“Website blocking provides a valuable opportunity to alert the public to illegal gambling services through the messaging that appears when there is an attempt to access the site,” the ACMA said.

“The ACMA is reminding consumers that even if a service looks legitimate, its unlikely to have important customer protections. This means Australians who use illegal gambling services risk losing their money.”

The blocking orders come after the ACMA this week also announced that it had commenced civil penalty proceedings in Federal Court against three parties over allegations of illegal online gambling.

Each case relates to the provision of prohibited online gambling services through “PPPfish”, a service that was later rebranded as “Shuffle Gaming” and later “Redraw Poker”.

Rhys Edward Jones is alleged to have provided these prohibited online gambling services to Australians between March 2020 and March 2021, while Diverse Link Pty delivered these services from March 2021 to the present.

Brenton Lee Buttigieg was also named by the ACMA, with the organisation saying he was involved in promoting and referring customers to those services.