Australia is one of the few countries in the world where a third of the adult population holds cryptocurrency. And at the same time, it’s one of the few where using that very same crypto for online wagering is officially prohibited.
According to the Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI) 2025, 31% of Australians held some form of digital currency — up from 28% the year prior. Awareness reached 95% among adults: virtually every Australian knows what Bitcoin is, even if they don’t hold any themselves.
31% isn’t a niche crowd of enthusiasts. It’s millions of people who are used to storing savings in crypto and using it as an everyday payment method. A significant portion of them are punters. According to ACMA data from June 2025, 38% of Australian adults had participated in online wagering in the preceding six months. Meanwhile, licenced operators within the country are not permitted to offer pokies and card games — and those who seek out that kind of entertainment turn to offshore sites. Some of these — such as Vegazone Casino — operate under foreign licences and technically do not breach local law.
Australians have crypto. There’s demand for online casino-style gaming. But the regulated market has deliberately left a gap between the two.
| Metric | Figure |
| Hold cryptocurrency (2025) | 31% of adults (IRCI) |
| Crypto awareness | 95% of adults |
| Participated in online wagering (H1 2025) | 38% of adults (ACMA) |
| Crypto ban in licenced wagering | From 11 June 2024 |
| Year-on-year crypto adoption growth | +3% (from 28% to 31%) |
How the Ban Works
On 11 June 2024, amendments to the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA) came into effect: licenced operators were prohibited from accepting payments via cryptocurrency and credit cards. The reasoning was straightforward — bring online wagering into line with land-based venues, where credit cards had already been banned earlier.
The key detail: the ban is directed at operators, not punters. An Australian who logs into an offshore site like https://vegazonepokies.com/ and deposits in Bitcoin is not, technically speaking, breaking the law. Penalties are aimed at the companies. That’s why ACMA — the Australian Communications and Media Authority — works differently: it blocks sites at the internet service provider level. From 2019 through to early 2026, more than 1,455 sites have been shut down, with around 220 operators voluntarily withdrawing from the market following those blocks.
The result is paradoxical. The regulated market lost a convenient payment method. The offshore market felt nothing. Crypto keeps flowing where it’s been banned — just beyond Australia’s jurisdiction.
Where the Demand Goes
Banning something doesn’t kill demand. It redirects it.
In November 2025, H2 Gambling Capital published a report for Responsible Wagering Australia (RWA): the country’s offshore gambling market had reached AU$3.9 billion per year — double the 2019 figure. Thirty-six per cent of all online wagering in Australia takes place on overseas sites. One in every three bets goes beyond Australian jurisdiction.
Who are these people? Not outliers or solo tech enthusiasts. They’re a mainstream audience — aged 25 to 44, city-based, above-average income, who have held crypto for years and treat it as a natural way to pay. For them, an offshore wagering site isn’t circumventing the law — it’s simply a convenient way to do what they want to do. Transaction anonymity, fast withdrawals, no bank blocks: those are the three reasons cited most often.
The regulator blocks sites. Punters use VPNs. Operators register new domains. The cycle repeats — and the market keeps growing. AU$3.9 billion isn’t a failure of regulatory policy. It’s a direct consequence of it.
Why Crypto Has Become the Go-To Tool for Offshore Wagering
Banks are the first reason. According to IRCI 2026, 30% of Australian crypto investors had experienced their bank blocking or delaying payments to crypto exchanges. Among those spending more than A$10,000 per month on crypto, that figure reaches 55.6%. When the banking system routinely gets in the way of people managing their own money, they look for workarounds. An offshore wagering site with a crypto deposit option is one of them.
Speed is the second argument. A bank transfer in Australia takes one to three business days. A Bitcoin transaction goes through in minutes; USDT in seconds. For a punter who wants to top up their account now — not the day after tomorrow — the choice is obvious. Most major offshore operators support five to seven cryptocurrencies simultaneously: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Solana, stablecoins.
Third: anonymity. A crypto transaction doesn’t go through bank compliance — the process of checking financial transactions against regulatory requirements. There’s no record on a bank statement, no questions from the bank. That’s precisely why crypto payments in offshore wagering continue to grow even where the regulator is actively bearing down on the market.
| Method | Deposit Speed | Withdrawal Speed | Anonymity |
| Bitcoin | 10–30 minutes | 10–60 minutes | High |
| USDT | 1–5 minutes | 1–10 minutes | High |
| PayID | Instant | 1–3 days | Low |
| Bank transfer | 1–2 days | 3–5 days | Low |
What This Gap Means for the Australian Market
The crypto ban in licenced wagering hasn’t stopped crypto. It hasn’t stopped gambling. It’s simply pushed both beyond Australian jurisdiction — to a place where the regulator no longer has any control.
The offshore market has doubled since 2019, reaching AU$3.9 billion. Over the same period, crypto adoption has climbed to 31%. Two trends running in parallel — and it’s no coincidence. The tighter the domestic restrictions, the more attractive offshore wagering with crypto becomes as a way around bank controls.
ACMA keeps blocking sites — but new domains are appearing faster than the regulator can respond. The audience is tech-savvy, VPNs have long been part of everyday life, and crypto transactions leave no trace on a bank statement. Regulatory pressure creates inconvenience. It doesn’t create a barrier.
In 2025, the Australian Government was actively debating extending prohibitions to include online wagering advertising. In April 2026, new requirements came into force for crypto platforms: mandatory Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) authorisation and compliance with banking-standard asset custody requirements. The regulatory environment is tightening on both sides — for wagering and for crypto alike.
But demand isn’t going anywhere. A punter who wants to play poker on a Sunday evening and pay in Ethereum will find somewhere to do it. As long as the gap between what people want and what they’re allowed to do remains — that AU$3.9 billion figure will only keep climbing.