Australians love to gamble, but if you're going to try your luck, please don't get lured in by illegal online gambling sites.
That's the message from one of Australia's biggest telecommunications companies, which is ramping up its fight against "scambling".
Scambling, or scam gambling, is one of the fast-growing threats faced by people going online, where they already lose about $2.2 billion a year to hundreds, if not thousands, of different financial swindles.
These gambling games, which mirror casinos, poker machines and even scratchies, have been illegal in Australia since 2021, but that hasn't stopped scammers reaching their targets.
Telstra has blocked close to 1,800 high-risk gambling-themed domains since the start of 2026, stopping more than two million attempted visits by people lured in by promises of big wins or prizes.
