How to Enjoy Online Gambling in Australia
Gambling has been part of Australian culture for many years.
With new updates to technology and a wealth of opportunities available on the internet, can Australians play their favourite casino games online? Let’s take a closer look at the situation surrounding online gambling in Australia and how you can find the games you love the most here.
A Brief History of Gambling in Australia
Many forms of gambling were brought over to Australia by settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries. In particular, Chinese settlers brought many types of card games when they moved to the country. Gambling offered a place of competition and socialization.
The first attempts to control the Australian love for gambling came in 1852, with the mouthful of a law called the “Act to Restrain the Practice of Gambling and the Use of Obscene Language”. Restrictions stayed in place until the 1970s. Shifting attitudes to gambling in this decade saw new regulations emerge. Australia’s first casino was then opened in Hobart in 1973.
In the 1990s, online casinos and poker sites began to emerge. These were not just limited to players in one particular country, but often allowed people from all over the world to sign up. The Australian government, therefore, passed the Interactive Gambling Act in 2001 to try to limit the impact of these casinos on Australians.
Despite several amendments over the years, online gambling has still remained a favourite activity Down Under. It is thought that at least 70% of Australians dabble in gambling in some way. Whether you are searching for a new site to play at, or you want to give it a go yourself, here are some of the best games you could try.
Pokies
They are known as slots in many other countries, but in Australia they call them pokies. This is thought to have come from “poker machines”, or what many others call video poker games. This shortened to pokie and the rise of popularity in slots made the name stick.
Pokies are one of the easiest types of game to try. They can be extremely complex or they can be simple and easy to spin. Sites like 5starpokies can teach you all about pokies and what they can offer players.
One of the best things about pokies is the incredible number of themes that they cover. If you can think of it, there is probably a pokie themed about it. Some of the most common pokie themes are bound up in the concept of good fortune so you will often see games filled with leprechauns and shamrocks or laughing Buddhas and lucky coins. Other common themes take on ancient mythologies. You can often spin amongst the gods from Ancient Egypt, Olympus, and Asgard too. Even our favourite movies and TV shows have been translated into the world of pokies.
If you are new to the world of casinos, pokies are a great place to start. Find one that appeals to your tastes and give it a spin!
Poker
If they aren’t spinning pokies, Australians are probably playing poker. Poker is popular for several reasons. One reason is that it comes in many different forms. If you like the game but not the variation you are playing, you can very easily switch over to find something else.
Texas Hold’em is one of the most popular forms of poker. No matter what type of poker site you head to, you are going to find some form of Texas Hold’em available for you to play. You can also often find 5-card stud and Pai gow poker. There are so many types of poker available for players to try.
The World Series of Poker also offers tournaments around Oceania. You could practice your skills in internet poker rooms and then enter a live tournament once you have an idea about how to best play the game! Poker is a great game to play socially too. Even novices can quickly pick up the rules and begin to master the art of bluffing.
Tables Games
If you aren’t tempted by pokies or poker, there are also plenty of table games you could try. Two of the most common games are blackjack and roulette.
Blackjack is a simple game where you play the dealer and try to make a hand as close to but not exceeding 21 with your cards. Learning how the different combinations work lets you gain even more knowledge about how this game works.
Roulette is one of the most iconic games in a casino. Enter any brick-and-mortar location and there will always be people gathered around one of these tables. There are two major types of roulette: American and European. European roulette tends to offer slightly better odds since it only has one 0 pocket as opposed to American roulette that has a 0 and a 00. If you want to give a roulette wheel a spin, make sure you learn what the different bets are so you can place as good a wager as possible.
Other common table games include baccarat and craps. Both of these are great fun if you want something a little different. Baccarat is a card game where players try to get as close to 9 as possible. Craps is most comparable to roulette except instead of a wheel determining the outcome of the bet, it is a pair of dice.
All of these games can be enjoyed at online casinos through preprogramed games similar to pokies. Some online casinos offer live table games where you can interact with a real dealer as you play.
Find the Right Casino for You
With so much on offer at online casinos, it can be difficult to know where to start. More often than not, you should look into pokies. They are easier to play than table games but they offer some brilliant fun for all types of players. No matter where you happen to be in Australia, the right online casino is waiting out there for you to find it.
