Australia has just updated its gambling laws, with the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 receiving Royal Assent on 26 August.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Photo: Australian Government / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
The new bill was introduced by the Albanese Government in the House of Representatives on 2 July, before passing the House on 18 August and the Senate the following day. Royal Assent came on 26 August, with most of the new rules coming into effect on 1 January 2027.
The Act will bring about changes for gambling advertising, illegal gambling services, trade promotions and certain online lottery products in Australia, but what does all this mean for sweepstakes casinos here?
At the moment, it doesn’t look like the new laws will fundamentally change the sweepstakes model, although the offering of keno could be affected. Let’s get into the details below.
Why Are Sweepstakes Casinos Unlikely to be Affected?
Australia’s two main sweepstakes casinos, Roo Vegas and Sweep Las Vegas, look a lot like online casinos. Both offer slots and other casino-style games, with a promotional currency that can eventually be redeemed for real cash prizes – Spin Coins (SC) in the case of Roo Vegas and Sweet Cash (SC) in the case of Sweep Las Vegas.
Under Australia’s main federal gambling law, the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, paragraph 4(e) of the definition of “gambling service” covers a game where:
“the game is played for money or anything else of value”
“the game is a game of chance or a game of mixed chance and skill”
and
“a customer gives or agrees to give consideration to play or enter the game.”
In simple terms, Australian law says a game is gambling where it’s played for something of value, involves chance and the customer provides consideration (payment) to play.
A conventional online casino has all three – you pay to play a game of chance for the opportunity to win something of value. However, sweepstakes casinos are designed to remove the middle part of that equation: consideration.
Roo Vegas homepage/lobby
Players obtain promotional currency – like Spin Coins (SC) – technically for free, either as part of bonuses or because they’re bundled in for free in coin packs. The operator can therefore argue that the customer hasn’t given consideration to play or enter the game.
The eventual cash redemption of winnings is also separate from playing the game, so the currency used to play can be described as promotional credits rather than cash.
In our guide to sweepstakes casinos in Australia we called this a “grey area workaround”, and it’s the key distinction between the sweeps model and a conventional online casino.
Back to the 2026 Act – it introduces new restrictions around gambling advertising and inducements, stronger measures against illegal gambling services and new rules covering certain online lottery products. But it doesn’t remove the consideration requirement from paragraph 4(e), or introduce a blanket rule saying that anything that looks like an online casino is automatically gambling.
That means the basic legal argument behind the no-purchase sweeps model remains unchanged. If a sweepstakes casino’s structure means it doesn’t meet the definition of a gambling service, the new gambling restrictions won’t apply to its broad model in the first place.
What About Keno?
However, there is one part of the new law that could have some overlap with sweepstakes casinos, because Schedule 4 brings online keno into the prohibited gambling framework from 1 January 2027.
Online keno is essentially a numbers game: players pick numbers, numbers are randomly drawn and prizes depend on how many numbers match.
A keno game currently available at Sweep Las Vegas
This is potentially relevant to sweepstakes casinos because Sweep Las Vegas offers keno games as a small part of its wide-ranging lobby, and that could be a problem under certain interpretations. Yes, the new Act specifically defines a “keno-type lottery” and brings online keno into the prohibited gambling framework.
That’s important because online keno will now be dealt with under the lottery provisions of the Interactive Gambling Act, rather than simply being treated as another game under paragraph 4(e). The consideration argument we mentioned earlier therefore doesn’t necessarily resolve the question for keno.
So while this doesn’t mean the entire Sweep Las Vegas library of games suddenly becomes illegal, its keno titles could be affected by the new law if they meet the statutory definition of a keno-type lottery.
The Verdict
So, will Australia’s new gambling laws affect sweepstakes casinos? Keno aside, not too much.
The new Act is a significant change to Australia’s online gambling framework, but it doesn’t introduce a blanket ban on sweepstakes casinos or remove the consideration requirement that sits at the heart of the sweeps model. The new rules around online lotteries also don’t appear to automatically capture casino-style sweepstakes games.
There are still state and territory laws to consider, and this is far from an official government stamp of approval for sweepstakes casinos. The exact legal position can also depend on how an individual operator structures its games, currencies and redemption system.
But based on this new federal legislation, we don’t currently see anything that suddenly puts the standard no-purchase sweepstakes model in the same category as a conventional online casino.
For now, Australia’s fledgling sweeps industry appears to have dodged this particular bullet, for the most part.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. We are not lawyers, and the information above should not be taken as a definitive interpretation of Australian gambling law. If you need advice about the legality of a gambling service in Australia, speak to a qualified Australian lawyer.
Author: Oliver Dickinson
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