Australia’s federal court has ordered the “providers and promoters” behind three illegal online poker platforms to pay A$24.2m (£12.6m) in fines, concluding enforcement action first launched by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in 2022.
Brisbane Poker Pty was hit with a A$15m fine, with Rhys Edward Jones handed a A$9m penalty and Brenton Lee Buttigieg given a A$240,000 sanction for contraventions of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA).
The online poker providers in question operated under the names PPPfish, Shuffle Gaming and Redraw Poker.
The court found the services allowed Australians to play the vertical against others using virtual chips which could be exchanged for real money. Online poker has been illegal in Australia under section 5 of the IGA since the act was signed into law in 2001.
Online sports betting and horseracing are legal in Australia. All forms of online casino, including poker, remain banned.
Buttigieg was found to have been the administrator behind private Facebook groups which were used to promote the illegal sites.
Buttigieg also referred customers to the sites, providing instructions on how to access the services and how to use the brands.
The breaches occurred over a five-month period, with the Facebook group expanding to 2,200 members during that timespan.
Court filings showed Buttigieg made a profit of A$44,400 for his part in promoting the poker sites. In comparison, Jones and Brisbane Poker made A$7.2m in profit.
The court noted that between October 2020 and March 2021, there were almost 30,000 deposits made to PPPFish bank accounts, totalling A$7.3m.
Nerida O’Loughlin, ACMA chair, welcomed the ruling: “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.
“Illegal gambling services put Australians at risk, and the ACMA will continue to take action against those who target these services at Australian consumers.”
Jones and Brisbane Poker were originally found by the court to have provided prohibited interactive gambling services in November 2025, with Buttigieg found to have aided and abetted the process.
All defendants were given five-year restraining orders related to their offences, and Jones and Brisbane Poker were ordered to pay ACMA’s court costs, which totalled A$663,290.
The new fines form part of longer proceedings, begun by ACMA against the defendants in April 2022, which include a A$5m penalty given to Diverse Link Pty in March 2023.
Originally, Jones, Buttigieg and Diverse Link Pty were accused of breaching the IGA between March 2020 and April 2022.
The trio of fines come weeks after ACMA ruled against public broadcaster SBS for breaching gambling advertising rules during its coverage of the 2025 Tour de France.
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Australia’s media regulator says the ruling sends a “clear warning” after the court fined the operators and promoters of three offshore poker sites for breaching the Interactive Gambling Act 2001
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