On the live stream, Haque interacts with viewers in the chat room, wiling away the time until the lottery is to be drawn. It is a handy hint — a quick Google search of "VPN" returns pages and pages of results offering the exact product needed to bypass Shuffle’s geo-blocker. Many streamers demonstrate signs of disordered thinking around gambling, says Dr Johnson, as do the viewers commenting in their live chatrooms. They ride the real online casino australia highs and lows, yelling over the microphone as they win and lose. Some regularly complain that they can not afford to pay rent and beg their audience for more money to gamble with. And yet key executives at Shuffle are gambling on the company’s own live broadcasts, plainly located in Australia as they do so.
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BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register™ is a safe and free Australian Government initiative to block yourself from all licensed Australian online and phone gambling providers. This puts Shuffle among the top five "crypto casinos" globally, just two years after its launch. The largest, Stake, processes roughly as many bets as Ladbrokes’ global parent company Entain.
It’s easy to check if the gambling operator is legal in Australia on the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) website. If you don’t find its name on the register of licensed interactive gambling providers, then you know it’s operating illegally. The three streamers who were invited to Melbourne for Shuffle’s fake prison game show were all based in the US, where online "crypto casinos" are also banned. Mark R Johnson, a gaming culture researcher at the University of Sydney, has watched dozens of hours of gambling live streams across various online casinos.
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Despite the restrictions imposed by the IGA, many Australians continue to access offshore online casinos and pokies. These platforms, often licensed in jurisdictions outside Australia, provide a loophole for Australian gamblers to play their favorite games. While this practice is not directly illegal for players, it carries risks, including lesser protection from fraud, problematic gambling, and other security concerns. Players are advised to exercise caution and do thorough research to ensure the platforms are reputable and offer fair gaming. In Australia, the legality of online casinos and pokies hinges on several factors, including licensing and the specific type of gaming offered. While the operation of online casinos based in Australia is prohibited, Australians can legally play at offshore sites that accept Australian players.
Shuffle is accepting around $2 billion worth of deposits each month, according to analytics service Tanzanite. Most Friday afternoons, Haque is at Shuffle headquarters in Melbourne’s CBD, hosting the company’s weekly lottery. Ishan Haque has been central in the casino’s marketing efforts, which have included recruiting an army of what he calls "micro-influencers". Shuffle accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to place bets, bypassing banks and other institutions that could provide oversight and transparency to its operations.
The banned lottery
However, these offshore casinos must not violate the Australian Interactive Gambling Act. It’s a complex legal area that often confuses players, but in essence, playing online pokies and casino games is not illegal for individuals. Online sports betting and lotteries occupy a special place in Australia’s legal gambling landscape. Unlike online casino games and pokies, these forms of gambling are legal under Australian law, provided they are offered by licensed operators within the country. Lotteries, including traditional drawings and instant-win scratch cards, are widely available and regulated by state and territory governments. The legal landscape for online casinos and gambling in Australia is intricate, shaped by years of legislation and regulations.
