GTA Online's Casino Gambling Features Suddenly Disabled in Australia

Rockstar has unexpectedly blocked in-game gambling features in GTA Online for players accessing the game from Australia. Australians can no longer activate gambling mini-games at the Diamond Casino, including blackjack, slots, poker, roulette, or the Inside Track horse racing mode. The free-to-spin Lucky Wheel is also disabled.

These mini-games had been operational in Australia for the past seven years, since the casino location was introduced in GTA Online with The Diamond Casino & Resort update on July 23, 2019. Other casino-related functionality and missions remain intact and playable.

The sudden block comes as a curious move in July 2026, several months after the country's new online safety code was introduced in March, which forced companies to implement age verification to protect minors from certain adult content. It also follows almost two years after new mandatory minimum classifications for gambling-like content in video games were introduced in September 2024.

For context, the new guidelines state that any video games containing simulated gambling—such as casino games—must be classified R18+, legally restricting them to adults. This includes "video games that have interactive activities such as slot machine simulators, roulette wheels or other age-restricted gambling or betting services as part of a broader game." The guidelines cite an example of an RPG "which features a slot machine that players can interact and play with." However, GTA Online is already rated R18+ in Australia—indeed, Grand Theft Auto V was rated R18+ upon its 2013 release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. On paper, the shift in classification guidelines represents no net change for GTA Online's rating. As such, it's unclear what prompted the change this week.

IGN has reached out to Rockstar for clarification.

For now, Australia joins a surprisingly long list of around 50 countries where GTA Online's casino betting mini-games are not functional, including Portugal, Poland, Argentina, Greece, Luxembourg, South Africa, South Korea, China, Malta, and many more.

Online casino gaming—including slots and table games like roulette and blackjack—is illegal in Australia, and has been for the last quarter of a century under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. Of course, GTA Online's Diamond Casino is not a real casino, and likely isn't the type of activity this legislation intended to target. In GTA Online, players purchase casino chips using in-game currency earned by playing the game and completing tasks. While players can buy in-game currency with real money, that purchased currency is treated separately and cannot be used to buy casino chips. Additionally, GTA Online has no functionality to convert in-game winnings into real-world money.

Regardless of the broader conversation around Australia's otherwise world-leading addiction to gambling, a high-profile case like GTA Online is likely to generate considerable cynicism, given it's not the real thing. In per capita terms, Australians are the world's biggest gamblers, with losses equivalent to over $1,500 per adult every year.