Terms and conditions of use

These terms cover how Australia Golden Bet (AustraliaGoldenBet.com) publishes information about offers in a market where the product has no Australian licence, what that publishing does and does not mean, and the limits of what appears on these pages. The one thing to understand before reading anything else is this: this site publishes. It does not operate a gambling service, it is not an agent for any operator, and it is not a party to any transaction between a reader and an operator.

What this site is

Australia Golden Bet is an independent publishing site. We write about offers that are aimed at readers in Australia in a market where the product being offered has no Australian licence. We describe those offers, we model what they cost and return under stated assumptions, and we cite the provisions that bear on how such offers sit against Australian law. That is the whole of what we do.

We are not a casino. We are not a booking agent, a payment agent or a representative for any operator. We do not take deposits, hold funds, open accounts or process withdrawals, and we have no access to any account held by a reader with any operator. When a reader follows a link from this site to an operator and then deals with that operator, the reader and the operator are the only parties to that arrangement. We are not one of them.

The gates in the market we cover are defined in section 4 of the Interactive Gambling Act. Under paragraph (e) of that definition, a "gambling service" includes a service for the conduct of a game played for money or value, of chance or mixed chance and skill, where a customer gives or agrees to give consideration. Online pokies, slots, roulette, blackjack and live dealer tables all sit inside that definition. Our coverage assumes that definition and does not argue around it.

The only gaming exclusion in that Act is place-based. Section 8B(1) requires that customers be at a particular place, using electronic equipment made available at that place, available for use by any customer there, and that the provider hold a State or Territory licence authorising provision at that place. That is a description of a physical venue with licensed machines, not of anything a reader can reach through this site. Our writing reflects that distinction throughout.

The sequence in the paid block on this site is sold. An operator, or a party acting for one, pays for a position in that block. That is how the site is funded, and the arrangement is disclosed on How this site is paid. A reader should treat a position in the paid block as an advertisement, because that is what it is.

Paid placement does not alter the editorial comparison rows. The figures in those rows are produced by our own modelling, applied the same way to each entry, and no payment changes a number in them. Paid placement also does not alter any statutory provision described on the site. Where we set out what the law says, what we set out is the provision as published, and a commercial arrangement has no bearing on it.

We do not name a sponsored operator in our editorial prose. Where an operator appears in the paid block, the reader sees it there, marked as paid. Where an operator appears in an editorial row, it appears because the comparison put it there.

Accuracy and its limits

This site models, calculates and cites. It does not play. It does not test an operator's software, its payment handling or its support. It does not verify an operator's terms first hand. Everything we publish about an operator comes from what that operator publishes itself, or from the law, or from arithmetic applied to the first two.

Where a term is not published by the operator, we say so. We do not estimate it, we do not fill the gap with a plausible number and we do not carry a figure over from a comparable operator. A gap in the published terms is reported as a gap. That is a deliberate policy and it means some rows are thinner than they would be if we guessed.

A figure on this site can be wrong or out of date. Operators change wagering requirements, contribution rates, time limits and maximum bet rules without notice, and a page here can lag behind such a change. Arithmetic can be misapplied. A citation can be overtaken by amendment. Where any figure on this site differs from what an operator publishes, the operator's own terms govern, and the reader should work from those terms and not from our pages.

We describe the civil penalty framework where it is relevant to a provision. Section 15(2A) sets a civil penalty of 7,500 penalty units for the contraventions it covers. We cite the penalty units. We do not convert them, because a conversion is arithmetic and not a published figure. A reader who wants a monetary figure should read the provision and the current value of a penalty unit at the source.

We do not assert that an agreement between a reader and an operator is enforceable, and we do not assert that it is unenforceable. That question is open. Where it matters to a reader, it is a question for a lawyer with the full facts, and this site takes no position on it either way.

We do not tell a reader whether they have, or do not have, rights under the Australian Consumer Law against an operator based outside Australia. That depends on facts and law we do not have and do not assess. The site does not answer that question in either direction, and nothing here should be read as an answer to it.

No advice

Nothing on this site is legal, financial, tax or gambling advice. The pages describe offers and set out provisions. They do not tell a reader what to do, and they are not a substitute for advice tailored to a reader's circumstances.

A reader deciding whether to take an offer should rely on the operator's own terms, read in full, and not on a summary here. Where money or law is concerned, a reader should rely on their own adviser: an accountant, a lawyer or another qualified professional, as the question requires. We are none of those things and we do not act as any of them.

Our modelling rests on assumptions, and those assumptions are stated where they are used. The margin we assume is set out on The margin we assume, and a reader who wants to check our arithmetic should start there. A model output is an illustration under stated assumptions, not a prediction and not advice.

Acceptable use

A reader may read this site, link to it and quote from it with attribution. A reader may not scrape it to rebuild a competing site. Systematic copying of our comparison rows, our modelling output or our prose for republication elsewhere is not permitted.

Automated harvesting of the site, whether by crawler, script or any other means, is not permitted where it imposes load on the site or extracts content in bulk. If you want data from this site for a legitimate purpose, write to the desk and ask.

A reader may not attempt to interfere with the operation of this site. That includes attempts to gain access to parts of the site not meant to be public, attempts to alter content, and any action designed to degrade or disrupt availability for other readers.

We may restrict access where these limits are breached. We will do so in a way that is proportionate to what has happened, and we will not treat a reader who quotes a paragraph with attribution as though they had scraped the site.

Changes and corrections

These terms may be revised. When they are, the current version governs, and the version on this page at the time a reader uses the site is the version that applies to that use. We do not keep a public archive of earlier versions, but a reader who needs to know what these terms said at a past date can write to the desk and ask.

Corrections are welcome. If a figure here is wrong, if a citation is out of date, or if we have described an operator's term in a way the operator's own published terms do not support, write to the desk at Write to the desk and say what is wrong and where. A correction that is supported by the operator's own published terms or by the provision itself will be made. We would rather be corrected than be quietly wrong.

What this site stores when a reader visits, and for how long, is described on What this site stores. That page forms part of how this site operates alongside these terms.

Does this site operate a gambling service?
No. This site publishes information about offers. It does not conduct a game played for money or value, does not take consideration from a customer and does not hold funds. It is not a casino and not an agent for one.
If I follow a link and open an account, who am I dealing with?
The operator, and only the operator. Any arrangement is between the reader and that operator. This site is not a party to it and has no access to the account, the deposit or the withdrawal.
Are the paid positions marked?
Yes. The sequence in the paid block is sold and is disclosed as paid, and the arrangement is set out on the payment disclosure page. A paid position is an advertisement, not an editorial finding.
Can a figure on this site be wrong?
Yes. Operators change terms without notice and arithmetic can be misapplied. Where a figure here differs from what an operator publishes, the operator's own terms govern and the reader should work from those.
Do you estimate a term the operator has not published?
No. Where a term is not published by the operator, the site says so. We do not fill the gap with an estimate or carry a figure over from another operator.
Is anything here legal, financial, tax or gambling advice?
No. Nothing here is advice of any of those kinds. A reader deciding whether to take an offer should rely on the operator's own terms and, where money or law is concerned, on their own adviser.

Licensing note

This site is a publisher and holds no gaming licence, because it provides no gambling service. The product it writes about has no Australian licence, and the market it covers sits against the definition in section 4 of the Interactive Gambling Act, including paragraph (e), which brings online pokies, slots, roulette, blackjack and live dealer tables inside the term "gambling service". The only gaming exclusion in that Act is place-based: section 8B(1) requires customers to be at a particular place, using electronic equipment made available at that place, available for use by any customer there, and the provider to hold a State or Territory licence authorising provision at that place. Where the civil penalty framework is relevant, section 15(2A) sets a civil penalty of 7,500 penalty units. We cite the units and do not convert them to a currency figure, because a conversion is arithmetic and not a published figure.

Where to go next