The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is making the prosecution of rogue affiliates working for unlicensed, offshore casinos a priority as it moves forward into 2023. It’s a move that highlights how seriously Australian officials take black market gaming operations, and the affiliates that support them.
In a report titled, Online gambling affiliate services: Compliance priority 2021–22 report, ACMA officials outlined how they’ve maintained the status quo for regulated gaming in Australia – and its plans for the future. Those plans include a serious crackdown on rogue affiliates.
“In 2021–22, our focus is on affiliate services that promote and drive traffic to illegal online casinos. These sites often appear as independent reviewers of gambling services. They give direct links to illegal gambling services, regularly receiving a commission for click-throughs,” the report reads.
Over the course of 2021-2022, the ACMA investigated dozens of suspected rogue affiliate sites for breaches of the country’s Interactive Gaming Act. During the period from July to September alone the ACMA launched 20 separate investigations on affiliates.
Though many of its recent affiliate investigations are still underway, officials say that 11 formal warnings were recently issued to casino affiliates. Eight of the affiliates investigated did, in fact, make changes to help bring them back into compliance with the IGA. That said, nine of the sites investigated were blocked by the ACMA, while another three remain under investigation.
Blocking, it turns out, is a very effective strategy in the fight against unregulated casinos. The ACMA reports that blocked sites see a 90 percent reduction in traffic.
The ACMA is making it clear that Australia is very serious about fighting unregulated operators, and the affiliates who support them.