How BetStop Self-Exclusion Actually Works

A TAB betting agency in South Perth. TAB is one of the licensed wagering providers whose online and phone betting BetStop covers. Photo: Orderinchaos, CC BY 4.0

What the register is and who runs it

BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register, is a free Australian Government service that lets a person exclude themselves from every online and phone wagering provider licensed in Australia in one go. The service's About page says Dataworks Group Limited operates the register on behalf of the ACMA, and that the ACMA monitors compliance with the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 and the Register Rules. According to the ACMA, the register launched on 21 August 2023, after a 2019 change to the law allowed it to be created.

The ACMA's register page puts the reach at approximately 150 licensed wagering providers. You cannot pick and choose among them: registering excludes you from all of them at once. Providers check customer details against the register before letting someone bet.

Covers / does not cover

What the register reaches, based only on what the official pages state.

Lotteries and keno are not addressed on the BetStop or ACMA pages we read, so we have not placed them in either column. If either matters to you, ask the operator directly.

The illegal-operator row matters more than it looks. The register has no reach over an offshore casino site that is already breaking Australian law, which is one more reason the ACMA keeps warning players about those services. Our overview of how Australian gambling law treats online pokies sets out the wider picture.

How long an exclusion lasts

The minimum exclusion period is 3 months and the maximum is a lifetime. You can extend the period at any time, but you cannot reduce it. You are notified before the period ends, removed from the register when it does, and free to register again whenever you choose.

The ACMA's statistics for the fourth quarter of 2025–26 show how people actually use those options. To 30 June 2026, 65,430 people had registered; 40,160 exclusions were still active and 25,270 had been completed or cancelled. Of all registrations, 30,081 came from people aged 30 or younger.

Registrations by chosen exclusion period, 21 August 2023 to 30 June 2026 (ACMA counts, our percentages).

The shares are our own working: each count divided by 65,430. For example, 25,155 ÷ 65,430 = 0.384, or 38.4%, and 40,160 ÷ 65,430 = 0.614, so 61.4% of everyone who has ever registered was still excluded at the end of June 2026. Lifetime is the single most common choice, just ahead of the 3-months-to-2-years band.

Registering, step by step

1. Get your details ready. The BetStop FAQs list a mobile phone number, an email address and one form of ID: an Australian driver licence, an Australian passport or a Medicare card. If you have none of those, call 1800 238 786 to discuss other ways to verify your identity.
2. Register yourself. Nobody can sign another person up, however worried they are about them.
3. Choose your exclusion period. Anything from 3 months to a lifetime. You can lengthen it later but not shorten it.
4. Nominate support people if you want them. This is optional. You can name up to 5 people, with their consent, and they are told about key events such as an application to leave early.
5. Decide whether the register should remember your details. The option keeps your information on file so a later re-registration is quicker.
6. Watch what happens to your accounts. Licensed providers must close existing accounts, refund any credit, refuse new accounts and bets, and stop direct marketing. If a provider lets you bet or markets to you anyway, lodge a complaint about the breach.

Leaving early: the revocation rules

Early exit is possible, but the rules are built to slow it down:

• You cannot apply to be removed during the first 3 months of an exclusion.
• After that, the application must include a Commonwealth statutory declaration confirming you have had counselling or advice. The ACMA names a qualified counsellor, psychologist or doctor; the FAQ describes seeing a counsellor or a general practitioner.
• Support people are notified.
• Removal happens 7 days after a valid application is received, and you can withdraw the application during that time. The FAQ's own example: apply on a Monday and you are removed early on the Tuesday of the following week.

When an exclusion ends, old wagering accounts are not switched back on. Providers had to close them, so anyone who wants to bet again has to open a new account.

The rules are about to tighten. The ACMA's summary of the Interactive Gambling Act says Parliament passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 on 19 August 2026. Among other changes it restricts direct marketing of inducements to people who have deregistered from BetStop in the last 3 months and strengthens how the register operates. Most of the reforms commence on 1 January 2027.

Pokies rooms and casinos: the state route

Because the national register stops at online and phone wagering, venue gambling needs a separate exclusion. The support tools page says programs for venues with poker machines and casinos differ depending on where you live. Two examples from state regulators:

New South Wales

Liquor & Gaming NSW requires all gambling venues to offer a self-exclusion scheme. You can exclude yourself from the gaming areas of a hotel or club, or from the whole venue. The minimum period for hotels and clubs is 6 months; there is no minimum term at the casino. Schemes must stop a participant withdrawing within six months, and the venue must be able to identify participants, for example by a recent photograph.

Victoria

The VGCCC explains that with venue exclusion you choose the venues and sign an agreement not to enter them for a minimum period. Hotels take requests through venue staff, and the Australian Hotels Association can handle several venues at once. Clubs run exclusion through Community Clubs Victoria on (03) 8851 4949, and the casino through Crown PlaySafe on 1800 801 098. If staff see you in a poker machine room you excluded yourself from, they will ask you to leave.

Someone trying to stop both betting apps and pokies therefore needs two registrations: the national one for wagering accounts and a venue scheme for the rooms. Our pokies guide covers how the machines work, which is worth knowing when deciding whether one exclusion is enough.

Support alongside the register

Self-exclusion works better with other support. The National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858 is open 24 hours a day, and Gambling Help Online runs 24/7 chat. The support tools page also suggests asking your bank to block gambling transactions, lists the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. Our page on gambling responsibly collects other tools that work alongside an exclusion.