This page explains the cookies and similar storage used on golden-bet-australia.com: what they are, which ones we set, how long each one lives, and how to refuse the optional ones in every browser Australians actually use. Nothing hides behind vague phrasing about “enhancing your experience” — the categories are named and the switch-off instructions are step by step.
Cookies sit inside the broader picture of what we do with reader information, set out in our privacy policy and governed by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. Your acceptance of this cookie usage policy forms part of the site terms you accept by browsing.
What cookies are and how they work
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store on your device. It holds a short identifier, the domain that set it, and an expiry date. Load another page on the same site and the browser sends the relevant cookies back, which is how a site recognises that this request came from the same visitor as the last.
Cookies cannot execute code, read files on your device, access your camera or microphone, or see what you do on sites that do not share the same domain. They are labels, not programs. The privacy question is not what a cookie does on its own — it is what the organisation reading the label chooses to build from it.
Two distinctions matter before you read the table. A session cookie is deleted the moment you close the browser; a persistent cookie survives until its expiry date or until you clear it. A first-party cookie is set by the domain in your address bar; a third-party cookie is set by another domain whose script is loaded into the page, such as an analytics provider.
Cookies and storage used on this site
We run a deliberately small setup. There is no login, no cart and no personalised feed to maintain, so the site needs very little state. The table lists every category in use, what it is for, how long it lasts and whether you can turn it off.
| Cookie type | Example purpose | Typical lifetime | Can you disable it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Load balancing across servers, keeping a form submission attached to the right session, blocking automated abuse | Session, up to 24 hours | Not through our banner. You can block them in the browser, but pages may fail to load or forms may stop submitting |
| Security and anti-spam | Detecting bot traffic and repeated abusive requests from the same source | Session to 30 days | No — removing them would leave the site exposed |
| Preferences | Remembering your cookie choice so the banner does not reappear on every page; storing display settings such as a light or dark preference | 6 to 12 months | Yes. Clearing it simply brings the banner back on your next visit |
| Analytics (first-party identifier) | Counting unique versus returning readers, measuring which guides are read to the end | Up to 13 months | Yes — decline analytics on the banner or block the cookie in your browser |
| Analytics (third-party script) | Aggregate reporting on traffic sources, device mix and page performance | Session to 24 months depending on the provider | Yes — decline on the banner, or block third-party cookies in your browser settings |
| Local storage entry | Holding the record of your consent decision on this device | Until you clear site data | Yes — clear site data for this domain |
Strictly necessary cookies
These keep the site upright. They handle routing between servers, tie a contact-form submission to the session that started it, and support the filtering that stops automated traffic from hammering the site. They carry no advertising identifier and build no profile of you.
Because they are essential to delivering a service you asked for, they are set without a consent prompt. That is the standard position in most privacy regimes, and it is why the banner offers choices about analytics rather than about whether the site should work at all.
Preference cookies
Preference cookies remember decisions you have already made so you do not have to make them again. On this site the main one records your answer to the cookie banner. If you clear it, the banner treats you as a new visitor and asks again — exactly what you want if you change your mind and withdraw consent for analytics.
Analytics cookies
Analytics tells us which pages earn attention and which are ignored. That shapes editorial work: a guide read to the end gets expanded, a page abandoned in the first screen gets rewritten, a layout that breaks on a particular phone size gets fixed because the device report made the problem visible.
What analytics does not do here is identify you. Reports are aggregated, IP addresses are truncated or anonymised where the platform supports it, and we do not link an analytics identifier to a name or an email address held in the contact inbox. Analytics is optional, and declining it costs you nothing in site functionality.
Local storage and your consent record
Alongside cookies, this site uses your browser’s localStorage — a small key-value store on your device that, unlike a cookie, is not transmitted automatically with every request. We use it for one thing: recording the choice you made on the cookie banner so it does not reappear on every page load.
That entry holds a decision and a timestamp. No name, no email address, no browsing history. It persists until you clear site data for this domain, at which point the consent record disappears and the banner returns. Every browser section below includes the path to clearing site data, which removes localStorage along with the cookies.
Third-party scripts
Where a third-party script is loaded — an analytics library, a font or a security service — that provider receives the technical information any web request carries: your IP address, your user agent string and the address of the page loading the script. It may set its own cookies under its own domain, subject to your banner choice and your browser settings.
This site runs no advertising network, no retargeting pixel and no social media tracking widget. The privacy documents of the providers we do use govern what they do with the data they receive, and those documents are not ours to vary.
How to manage or refuse cookies in your browser
The banner controls the optional cookies we set. Your browser controls everything, including cookies from any other site you visit, and its settings override ours. Menu wording shifts between versions, so treat the paths below as the shape of the journey rather than a literal transcript.
Google Chrome
Open the three-dot menu, then Settings, then Privacy and security, then Third-party cookies to choose how third-party cookies are treated. To remove what is already stored for this site, go to Settings, Privacy and security, Third-party cookies, See all site data and permissions, search for the domain and delete its data — this clears cookies and localStorage together. On Android, the same options sit under Settings, Site settings, Cookies.
Apple Safari
On macOS, open Safari, then Settings, then the Privacy tab, where you can enable Prevent cross-site tracking or block all cookies, and use Manage Website Data to remove entries for a specific domain. On iPhone and iPad, open the iOS Settings app, scroll to Safari, and use Block All Cookies or Clear History and Website Data. Safari also applies Intelligent Tracking Prevention by default, which caps how long many first-party analytics identifiers survive.
Mozilla Firefox
Open the menu, then Settings, then Privacy & Security. The Enhanced Tracking Protection section offers Standard, Strict and Custom modes — Custom lets you block cookies by category. Under Cookies and Site Data, choose Manage Data to search for a domain and remove its stored cookies and site data, or tick the option to clear cookies automatically each time Firefox closes.
Microsoft Edge
Open the three-dot menu, then Settings, then Cookies and site permissions, then Manage and delete cookies and site data. From there you can block third-party cookies outright, add exceptions, or use See all cookies and site data to search for a domain and delete its entries. Tracking prevention sits under Privacy, search and services with Basic, Balanced and Strict levels.
Do Not Track and global privacy signals
Some browsers send a Do Not Track header with every request. There is no agreed standard for how a site must respond to it, and most major browsers have retired or deprecated the setting because it changed nothing in practice. We do not treat DNT as a consent decision, since it carries no reliable meaning.
What we do respect is the choice you make on our banner and the settings you apply in your browser. Decline analytics and no analytics identifier is set for this device. If your browser blocks cookies for this domain, that block is final regardless of what our banner says — the browser wins.
What happens if you disable everything
Blocking optional cookies costs you nothing here. Articles, tables and navigation work identically, and no content is gated. The visible effect is that the consent banner reappears on each visit, because the record of your decision is the thing you deleted.
Blocking strictly necessary cookies is different. Forms may fail silently, security filtering may treat you as suspicious traffic, and some pages may not load correctly. If the site behaves strangely after a settings change, check that first.
Updates to this cookie policy
We revise this page whenever the cookies or storage on the site change — a new analytics provider, a retired script, a different retention period. The effective date at the top reflects the current version, and material changes reset the consent banner so you can decide again with the new information in front of you.
Contact
Questions about cookies, storage or consent go to [email protected]. Tell us which browser and device you are using if you are reporting behaviour that looks wrong — it makes the problem far easier to reproduce. When you are done here, visit GoldenBet Australia for the reviews and guides themselves.