Australian communications regulator, ACMA, has ordered net table service providers to city block online cassino ThePokies.net after information showed it attracted 30,000 Australians from each one month. The regulator said it had received reports from customers who claimed weren’t being paid their profits or that the site was withholding deposits.

Online casino-style games are illegal inward Australia, which only when permits sports betting on the internet.

That’s because it already has plenty of the unrecorded variety. In 2017 thither were 187,000 slots, or “pokies,” inwards pubs and clubs throughout the country. That represents 76 percent of the world’s expansion slot machines stationed in non-gaming venues. Australia has 0.3 percent of the world’s population, but 18 percent of its expansion slot machines. This has contributed to high levels of job gambling in the country.

Switching the Blame

ThePokies.net is licensed inward Curacao, a jurisdiction where regulatory lapse is almost non-existent. That gives customers minuscule resort to reimburse their funds if they sense they make been improperly withheld.

The site’s terms and conditions commonwealth that players may only if participate in its games if “you are from those countries and geographical regions where online gambling is allowed by law.”

But the cassino makes sure to switch the responsibleness from manipulator to player.

You are solely responsible for(p) for determining whether your approach to the website is compliant with applicable gambling laws inwards your realm of residence,” says ThePokies.Net.

In its “Frequently Asked Questions” under “Can I exercise a VPN to catch around part out of use(p) games?” the operator replies:

“Yes, you can! Unlike our competitors we sense it is your compensate as a participant to have access to the a la mode(p) games and providers and if they have got out of use(p) your regions access, we see to it in that location beingness no harm through with(p) past using a VPN to short-circuit these blocks. This is what makes us different to most casinos out there.”

Fine Threat Ineffective

Online casinos can face a $1.1milliion amercement for offering their services to Australia, but inwards most cases the owners are undiscoverable and beyond the grasp of government regulators.

“We make received to a greater extent complaints virtually thepokies.net this yr than any other illegal gambling website, and it is clear doing a lot of harm to the Australian community,” ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said inward a statement.

Complaints make ranged from people who make missed important amounts of money through to the site refusing to pureness deposits and winnings,” she added.

Australia has been ISP-blocking online casinos since 2019, but operators are usually able to resurface with modified urls, meaning regulators are occupied inwards an eternal gritty of whack-a-mole.

Australian visitors to ThePokies.net are currently automatically redirected to a mirror site, ThePokies11.net.