Australia's Online Keno Ban Delayed After KenoGo Wins Injunction

Australia’s ban on online keno will not take effect on 1 January as planned. Lottoland’s keno arm, KenoGo, has won a Supreme Court injunction that holds the law back until its constitutional challenge is finished.

According to NEXT.io, Justice David Hammerschlag granted the request in a ruling on 22 October, and it was unopposed. GamblingNews also reports that the court paused the measure, so operators can carry on after the start of the year, at least for now.

What does the injunction change?

The ban targets online keno only. Keno played in venues stays legal. NEXT.io says the country’s three online operators can keep trading past 1 January without interruption.

The three are Lottoland, The Lottery Corporation and Annexio Australia, which NEXT.io says have built profitable businesses on the product. The reprieve is temporary, since the law stays on hold only until the challenge has concluded.

Why is KenoGo challenging the ban?

KenoGo argues the law protects pubs and clubs from competition rather than players from harm. According to NEXT.io, it is challenging the split between online and venue-based keno under Section 92 of the Australian Constitution, the clause that protects interstate commerce.

Its lawyers put it this way in a legal brief:

[The law] will make inter-State trade in keno games unlawful, by making it an offence to supply keno-type lotteries online even when licenced under State law, while leaving intra-State trade in the same games lawful if supplied in a venue.

KenoGo’s lawyers, legal brief

The company adds that if the government is worried about fast-paced keno, it could ban the quick version in venues too. Alternatively, it could use harm-reduction tools such as spending limits, time controls and self-exclusion. In KenoGo’s view, the speed of the game is what causes harm, whether it is played online or in person.

Australia’s answer, as NEXT.io reports it, is that online and land-based keno are different products, that cross-border keno is rare anyway, and that the law exists to protect people, not pubs.

Has KenoGo lost anything along the way?

Yes. On 5 November KenoGo failed in an attempt to obtain documents held by political advisers to the prime minister and the communications minister. NEXT.io says the government argued the papers were not relevant and that ordering discovery would only slow the case down.

What is at stake financially?

The money is real. NEXT.io says The Lottery Corporation has already booked an A$57m (€35.1m) impairment on its ACT keno licence in its FY2026 accounts because of the expected ban. GamblingNews says a failed challenge would hurt Lottoland and Annexio Australia as well.

For New Zealand readers, the case is a reminder of how differently the two markets treat online products. Our look at how gambling habits compare between the countries gives some background, and the local online keno options sit under a separate regime. No date has been reported for a hearing on the constitutional question, so the ban stays on hold with no end point in sight.