Two-up on Anzac Day: when games start, where they're legal and how the day runs

What time does two-up start on Anzac Day?

Only Tasmania puts hours in writing. In NSW the Gambling (Two-up) Act 1998 covers the whole of 25 April. The noon rule people remember applies to Remembrance Day, when games are lawful only after 12 noon (s 4A). Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, the ACT and the NT set no hours in their Acts, and WA writes them into each permit.

Tasmania’s Liquor and Gaming Commission declared Anzac Day two-up an exempt game from 6 am to 6 pm on 25 April. Separately, s 4A(2) of the Anzac Day Observance Act 1929 (Tas) bars gaming between 4 am and 12:30 pm on Anzac Day. We haven’t found a ruling on whether that covers the exempt game, so if you’re in Tasmania, ask the club when its game starts.

In practice the game follows the march. ANU lexicographer Bruce Moore notes that “returned soldiers played two-up after the Anzac Day march”. On Time Out’s 2026 Sydney list, 27 of 33 venues started at noon and the rest at 10 or 11 am or 1 pm. In Brisbane, Howard Smith Wharves ran its game from 12 pm to 4 pm in 2026, according to its own site.

What time does two-up finish?

Where the law is silent, the finish is the venue’s call. Tasmania’s declaration ends at 6 pm. In 2026 Time Out listed Caulfield RSL in Melbourne at 12 pm to 6:30 pm and the Palace Hotel in South Melbourne at 12:30 pm to 4 pm. Casino Canberra’s own rules for 25 April 2024 ran its game from 3 pm to 9 pm.

Treat past times as a guide and check the venue’s page in the week before. Anzac Day 2027 falls on a Sunday, 25 April 2027, and venues set their hours for each year. In NSW the Act covers the whole day, so the finish time is up to the venue.

Where you can play on Anzac Day, state by state

The rules differ more than most people expect. In NSW and the ACT almost any venue can host a game; in the other states the RSL, ex-service organisations or permit holders run it. The table sets out who can run a game and what each law says about hours. The Acts and sections behind it are on our page explaining why two-up is illegal on other days.

Some states add days either side of 25 April. NSW also allows games on 15 August, Victory in the Pacific Day, and after noon on 11 November. In Victoria an RSL sub-branch can run a game at a commemorative function up to seven days before Anzac Day (s 2.2.4(2)). The NT Act covers 25 April even in a year when Anzac Day is publicly marked on another date.

Who runs the games: RSLs, pubs and clubs

NSW needs no paperwork. Liquor & Gaming NSW says “you can conduct two-up without a permit”, and its inspectors visit venues on the day, asking them to “fully understand and observe the traditional rules”. Pubs take part as well as clubs: The Rocks precinct listed the Glenmore Hotel’s game from 12 pm in 2026.

Victoria runs everything through the RSL. The regulator says “RSL Victoria must approve all Two-up games in Victoria”. Hotels and clubs can host only on Anzac Day itself, and applications for 2026 closed on 27 March 2026. In WA the Minister issues permits to RSL clubs each Anzac Day, and to other organisers when the event is connected to the day. Applications close on 1 March, with no fee.

In Queensland a game is run by an RSL or services club on premises it holds the liquor licence for. Anyone else needs written approval from an RSL sub-branch, at a function on licensed premises. The rules must be available to players and no minors may take part (s 179). In South Australia the game belongs to RSL branches and Defence Force premises (s 19).

Where the money goes: no commission

On Anzac Day the game is punter against punter. NSW s 7 bans any entry fee to play and any “commission on, percentage of, or fee for, bets or winnings”, and South Australia’s s 19(2) says the same. In the ACT the prize pool is every bet placed, with nothing deducted (s 21).

Charity is the one exception. In NSW a registered club can charge or take a commission only if all of it goes to charity and none into club funds (s 8). The ACT allows a charge with the owner’s consent, if players are told why and it all goes to a charitable purpose (s 22).

Queensland puts it plainly: the proceeds go back to the players as winnings, and any entry fee goes to the RSL (s 179). According to Time Out’s 2026 lists, many venues also collect for Legacy and the ANZAC Appeal on the day.

Cash, age and etiquette in the ring

Bring cash, because bets change hands as notes. Players must be 18 or over under the NSW rules (rule 17), the Queensland and ACT Acts (ss 179 and 21) and WA’s two-up policy. Side bets are even money between two players, and nobody takes a cut, as GambleAware NSW describes the game.

The ring has its own order. The spinner’s centre bet is matched in full before any side bets are made (rule 14). To back tails, hold your note above your head until someone takes the bet. When the ringkeeper calls “come in spinner”, betting closes, and only the spinner stands inside the ring (rule 15).

The ringkeeper’s decision is final (rule 3). A toss is void if the pennies don’t rise at least two metres above the spinner’s head or if one lands outside the ring (rule 13). The full sequence, from the kip to three heads in a row, is on our page of two-up rules.

Set your limit before you walk in and stick to the cash you brought. Two-up is gambling, and Gambling Help Online answers on 1800 858 858, free and confidential, 24 hours a day. Our page on how to gamble responsibly lists the other free services.

Why is two-up played on Anzac Day?

Because the diggers played it. Two-up was “the most popular game in the A.I.F.”, according to a soldiers’ glossary compiled at the Australian War Memorial in 1921–24. The Memorial also holds a photograph of Australians playing behind the ruins of Ypres on 23 October 1917.

By the mid-1930s, the Memorial writes, “dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, two-up games” were firmly established as part of the day. Returned soldiers played after the march, and legal recognition of the custom came decades later, state by state.

The game went to war again in the Second World War. In the Middle East soldiers called it “swy”, the Memorial notes. Bruce Moore dates the call “come in spinner” to those years; before that, the toss went up on the cry of “fair go”. The story of the game’s words is in our two-up history and glossary.

How to find a two-up game near you

Start with the RSL, and check the notices of your local sub-branch or RSL club in the weeks before 25 April. In Victoria every game needs RSL Victoria’s approval, so the RSL knows where the rings are. Pubs and clubs announce games on their own event pages, and council Anzac Day event lists can help in regional towns.

Past lists are a guide rather than a timetable. Venues change their hours, and some listings we found dated from 2022. Check the venue’s own page in the week before, and confirm the start time, any entry rules and whether the game raises money for charity. In Victoria and WA, a venue with an approval or permit can tell you so.

Outside Anzac Day, Broken Hill has a year-round legal game at the Palace Hotel, described on our Broken Hill two-up page. In WA, Tourism Western Australia lists regular Sunday games at the Kalgoorlie two-up shed, where published days vary.