Australia's Federal Court Sets A$24.24m Poker Penalties, Taking the Case Past A$29m

The Federal Court of Australia has ordered AU$24.24 million (about US$16.8 million) in penalties against the operators and promoters of prohibited online poker services run under the names PPPfish, Shuffle Gaming and Redraw Poker, the Australian Communications and Media Authority said. The orders push total penalties in the long-running case to AU$29.24 million, one of the largest enforcement outcomes recorded under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. The result closes a matter the regulator first took to court in April 2022.

The court split the latest penalties three ways. Brisbane Poker Pty Ltd was fined AU$15 million, its operator Rhys Edward Jones AU$9 million, and Brenton Lee Buttigieg AU$240,000 for aiding and abetting the service. Those figures build on the AU$5 million penalty imposed on Diverse Link Pty Ltd in March 2023, which was the first civil penalty ever secured under the Act for offering online poker to Australians. Jones and Brisbane Poker were also ordered to pay the ACMA's legal costs.

The penalties follow findings handed down in November 2025 that Jones and Brisbane Poker contravened section 15(2A) of the Interactive Gambling Act, which bans the provision of prohibited interactive gambling services to people in Australia. The court found the services let members of the public play poker against each other using virtual chips that could be bought and sold for real money. On the ACMA's account of how the operation worked, players joined poker clubs through a mobile app, bought chips from separate websites by bank transfer or bitcoin, then redeemed winnings back into money or bitcoin. The same investigation traced one continuous business that rebranded from PPPfish to Shuffle Gaming and later to Redraw Poker.

Beyond the money, the court restrained Jones from providing a prohibited interactive gambling service and restrained Buttigieg from aiding or abetting one, each for five years from the judgment. "This decision sends a clear warning that offering online poker to Australians is illegal and there are serious consequences for those who breach the law," ACMA chair Nerida O'Loughlin said.

Why online poker sits on the wrong side of the line

Australia runs one of the more restrictive online gambling regimes in a developed market. Licensed online sports betting is legal and widely advertised, but online in-play betting, online casino and online poker are all prohibited under the 2001 Act. That leaves poker in the same banned category as slots, which is what turns a card game with a global legal footprint into a civil-penalty matter locally. The 2017 amendments to the Act gave the ACMA the tools it used here: civil penalties, court-ordered website blocking, and cooperation with overseas regulators against offshore operators.

The scale of what those tools are up against is the part operators and affiliates should read closely. A 2025 report by H2 Gambling Capital, commissioned by Responsible Wagering Australia, estimated Australians lose about AU$3.9 billion (US$2.7 billion) a year to illegal offshore sites, with channelisation into the licensed market falling from 74% in 2021 to 64%. Against that backdrop, the ACMA has leaned on blocking as its blunt instrument, ordering internet service providers to cut access to more than 1,700 gambling and affiliate websites since 2019. Court penalties like this one are the rarer, sharper tool aimed at named operators rather than URLs.

What it signals for operators and affiliates

The enforcement pattern here is not aimed only at faceless offshore brands. Jones, Buttigieg and Brisbane Poker were domestic actors, and the five-year restraint orders reach individuals, not just companies. That distinction matters for anyone providing marketing, payments or software support to a poker product touching Australian players, because Buttigieg's AU$240,000 penalty and his ban were for aiding and abetting rather than operating. Affiliates and payment intermediaries sit squarely in that aiding-and-abetting zone. The ACMA's willingness to name individuals mirrors a wider Australian trend, seen in the executive bans and personal fines handed to former Star Entertainment leaders over anti-money-laundering failures.

The case also fits a global tightening around illegal and black-market gambling supply. In the UK, authorities are pressing large platforms over black-market ads rather than waiting on consumer complaints. Asia-Pacific enforcement bodies are moving on the same offshore layer, including police who recently dismantled a HK$320 million betting syndicate. For licensed operators, the read is straightforward. Australia's channelisation number is moving the wrong way, and the ACMA is answering with both blocking at scale and penalties large enough to matter. Between October and December 2025 the regulator completed 23 investigations covering 45 gambling sites and recorded breach findings in every one.