GTA Online Update Bans Australians From Gambling

Australian Players Have Been Blocked From Gambling In GTA Online Casinos Published Jul 29, 2026, 6:43 AM EDT George is the Lead News Editor for TheGamer, and has been working in the industry since 2021 after graduating from the University of South Wales with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. He has also previously written for RPG Site, WhatCulture, and PlayStation Lifestyle. George is an expert on platformers, action games, and fighters, but tends to play as many releases as possible. This hands-on experience lets him dive into gaming communities and follow the latest trends. Some of the games George has extensively covered first-hand include Dead Rising, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and Ninja Gaiden 4. Sign in to your TheGamer account GTA Online has suddenly banned the casino’s gambling features for Australian players, despite it still being legal with the game’s age rating. As we’ve seen with everything that’s happened to loot boxes, online gambling in video games has become a lot more regulated and restricted than ever before. In recent years, players have been given a lot more information about what they’re actually spending their money on, and the chances they have of making it worthwhile. While GTA Online doesn’t have lootboxes, it does have literal online gambling in the form of the game’s casinos, which let you spend GTA$ (which can be purchased with real money) on chips to potentially win big. It seems that Australia is getting stricter with its online gambling laws, as Rockstar has suddenly banned the casino gambling features for Aussies. GTA Online’s Gambling Is Now Banned In Australia This Is Despite It Still Being Legal With A R18+ Classification As reported by PC Gamer, Australian GTA Online players have recently discovered that they’re unable to access the gambling games, such as Blackjack, Lucky Wheel, and Slots, featured in the game’s casinos. According to those players, any attempts at gambling have been met with a new notification saying ‘this feature is not available for you”. Since the Casinos are pretty much just gambling hubs in GTA Online, they’re now next to useless for Australian players. GTA insider and dataminer Tex2 looked into the game’s files and confirmed that blockers have been introduced that specifically stop Australian players from being able to gamble. This is interesting considering Australian law requires a game to have an R18+ rating for simulated gambling, which GTA Online has always had. This suggests that Australia is clamping down harder on online gambling, especially when nothing of actual real-world value can be earned from it. Since GTA$ can’t be converted back into real money and any winnings in a casino are kept within GTA Online, that seems to be the reason behind the sudden ban, with Rockstar seemingly trying to get ahead of stricter guidelines. GTA Online Released October 1, 2013 ESRB m Developer(s) Rockstar North Publisher(s) Rockstar Games Engine rockstar advanced game engine, euphoria Multiplayer Online Multiplayer Franchise Grand Theft Auto Genre(s) Racing, Shooter, Action-Adventure