Where's the Gold online: how to find the real Aristocrat game and what the law says

Official online release

Announced by NYX and Aristocrat, May 2013, for regulated European markets

Rules of the online version

1 to 25 lines, 3 to 5 Dynamite scatters, character pick

Online casinos in Australia

Not licensed; offering online pokies to Australians is prohibited (IGA 2001)

Offshore sites blocked by ACMA

More than 1,700 by May 2026

Player penalised?

No: the law targets providers and advertisers

Tax on recreational winnings

None (ATO ruling IT 2655)

Did Aristocrat release Where’s the Gold online?

Yes. On 14 May 2013 NYX announced a deal with Aristocrat to take its games to “certain regulated online gaming markets” in Europe, and named the first titles: “Zorro, Queen Of The Nile 2, Lucky 88 and Where’s The Gold” [1].

That online version is still served by NYX’s game server, with a help file marked © Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited 2014 [2]. It is the classic prospector game, not one of the newer versions such as Jackpot Carnival Deluxe, which the Aristocrat page sets out one by one.

How to recognise the real game in a lobby

Casino lobbies are full of gold-rush pokies, and some borrow the name. Four checks separate Aristocrat’s game from a look-alike:

1. The help screen names Aristocrat. The real one carries ”© ARISTOCRAT TECHNOLOGIES AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED” in its rules.
2. The line count is 1 to 25. The help file says “Play 1 to 25 lines” [2].
3. Dynamite is the scatter. Three, four or five scattered Dynamite start the feature.
4. The feature is a character pick. You select a character and win up to 10 free games and up to 3 wild gold symbols.

If a game fails any of these, it’s a different game using the name. That doesn’t make it unfair by itself, but nothing on this site describes it.

What the law says for Australians

• Online casinos are not licensed in Australia. Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, offering online casino games and online pokies to people in Australia is prohibited, and so is advertising them [3].
• The law targets providers and advertisers, not players. ACMA says so on its own page about the Act [3].
• ACMA blocks offshore sites. Since November 2019 it has asked internet providers to block illegal gambling websites, more than 1,700 of them by May 2026, and the list keeps growing [4]. A casino you use today can be blocked tomorrow, and your balance sits with a company licensed abroad.
• Winnings aren’t taxed. Recreational gambling winnings are not taxed in Australia (ATO ruling IT 2655) [5].
• Australian protections stop at the border. BetStop blocks licensed Australian betting providers; it doesn’t reach offshore casinos [6]. Disputes go to the casino’s own licensing body overseas.

We tell you this before anything else because it decides what you can do if a withdrawal goes wrong.

How we’ll grade a casino

A casino only appears on this page with a button after it passes three tests we run ourselves, with an Australian connection and our own money:

1. PayID withdrawal time, from the request to the money landing in the bank account.
2. Whether the lobby shows the game’s return for the version it runs.
3. The lowest deposit in Australian dollars the cashier accepts.

As of 28 September 2026, no casino has been through these tests, so no casino is listed yet. The full method is on how we grade casinos, and how links may earn us money is on how we make money.

Playing it without money in the meantime

Two free social apps, Heart of Vegas and Cashman Casino, name Where’s the Gold in their App Store listings, and the demo of the online version still runs. Details are on free play and the Where’s the Gold app page.