Australian Gambling After 2025: What Should Players Expect in 2026

While players didn’t always notice it immediately, 2025 saw a wave of regulatory changes targeting Australian operators. In NSW, over 670 late-night pokies venues were required to power down pokie machines by 4 am, closing a loophole that had let gambling continue through the night.

Meanwhile, the Northern Territory Racing and Wagering Commission tightened its code of conduct and actively started asking for operators to step up their responsible gambling measures, including monitoring high-risk players more closely.

The numbers show that overall gambling participation in Australia slightly declined in 2025, with about 58.8% of adults reporting they gambled at least once during the year. On the surface, that might suggest Australians are stepping back, but there’s a catch: online gambling continued to grow, with over half (56.1%) of players doing most of their gambling on online platforms.

Even as participation dipped slightly, the number of players at risk actually increased. Based on a recent report, 19.4% of adults admitted to gambling behaviour that could lead to problems, the highest in six years. Meanwhile, the share of problem gamblers climbed to 2.9% of adults, up from 2.4% in 2024. When you include those at moderate risk, that’s around 16.2% of adults potentially facing gambling-related harm, it all works out to more than 600,000 Australians.

Money spent on gambling also remained higher than in almost any other nation in the world. Estimates suggest Australians lost between A$1,400 and A$1,600 per player on average in 2025, and the total gambling turnover across the country topped A$30 billion. Most of this spending flowed through online pokies, other casino games, and sports betting.

Although pokies continued to dominate headlines in 2025, the game scene itself saw some interesting moves that gave players more variety throughout the year.

As expected, flagship titles from providers like Pragmatic Play, BGaming, and Relax Gaming dominated the market, with some of the most popular titles being Gates of Olympus Super Scatter, Elvis Frog in Vegas, Bill & Coin 2, etc. However, we also saw new formats such as Chicken Road (a crash-style game) and many other arcade-style games.

One of the biggest highlights was the launch of Plinko+, an instant-win title from Pragmatic Play that marked a shift away from traditional pokies and live dealer games for the largest provider in the Australian Market. It was the first of its kind from the developer, and more arcade games, like Spire+ and Mines+, are expected to follow in 2026.

One of the biggest stories of the year wasn’t even directly tied to the gambling industry at all, but it shows how decisive the government can be when it comes to big questions that affect a large percentage of the nation. It was the introduction of Australia’s under-16 social media ban, which went into effect on December 10, 2025.

This world-first policy requires major platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more to stop children under 16 from creating and accessing accounts. Platforms that fail to comply will be heavily fined.

The law was framed by the federal government as a necessary step to protect children from online harm, including bullying, addictive behaviours, and exposure to damaging content. It marked a shift toward stricter regulation of ‘big tech’ in Australia and placed substantial new responsibilities on digital platforms to police age limits.

However, the rollout and enforcement of the ban also led to a new debate and concerns from tech companies. Some warned that enforcing age verification could push teens into less regulated digital platforms.

Heading into 2026, players can expect more of the same. We expect the debate over stricter regulation to continue, but major changes are unlikely.

We’re yet to see whether any major changes will actually land in Australia, but despite all the talk, it’s hard to see the government acting decisively against an industry this large and deeply embedded in the life of Australians.