Online poker in Australia appears to be drawing its last breaths

[The Buzz]

The last-ditch effort of Australians to fight for legal online poker appears to have fallen short.

According to a report from PokerNews.com, the Australian Senate passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 on Wednesday, effectively fencing the country in from regulated operators of online poker. The bill was initially meant to close off loopholes that allowed in play sports betting but also has the side effect of making it impossible for regulated online poker to be offered.

The passage comes on the heels of a final push from online poker players and advocates, led by the Australian Online Poker Alliance and Australian Sen. David Leyonhjelm. After the bill's initial movement late in 2016, things looked grim for online poker Down Under. However, the AOPA formed in response to the bill and Leyonhjelm took up the cause, initiating an inquiry to highlight what he and others saw as a foolish and hypocritical law.

Poker players responded and the group presented their case before at an Aug. 1 hearing. Joseph Del Duca of the AOPA said the support was all he could have hoped for.

"The Australian poker community should be very proud of how they have held themselves through the campaign," he said. "We have rallied together as a strong community. The inquiry has received so many submissions from people who want to save our game that they haven't been able to keep up with the work load."

Read the entire story here: https://www.pokernews.com/news/2017/...oker-28725.htm

[MMM]

same was said about USA in 2006.

[Cash Bonus]

They always say these rumours and they have never come true and I know for a matter of fact never will either!

[PROFRBcom]

What's going to happen is that all the big, "name brand" sites that Australian players are accustomed to playing at are going to disappear. 888 left Australia poker market back in January. PokerStars will leave as well and in fact PokerStars already sent a letter about it out to players a couple days ago. PartyPoker will soon follow. In fact, any company that is publicly traded on a stock exchange somewhere, expect them to pack up and leave Australia's online poker scene.

Who will step in? Offshore poker sites will. The same sites that provide games to American players will step up to the plate and enter the newly gray markets in Australia. Some sites already have as a matter of fact, like Ignition Poker's Aussie announcement. Another network jumping on the bandwagon is Horizon. Lead by Intertops they have begun offering special Aussie poker tournaments. Now, they haven't taken off and have had huge overlays, but I suppose that is part of the allure. Spend a little now to entice the players over. Winning Poker Network is also not going anywhere and they'll continue accepting Aussie business. They won't accept credit cards from them and will likely be heavily pushing them into bitcoin, but they'll take their business.

Another consequence is that ewallets like Skrill, Neteller, and EcoPayz might not continue to be options for Aussie players. Maybe not right away because they tend to be slow to act, but one would think it would be difficult to continue to process "gambling" transactions on sites that offer poker rooms. Incidentally, again, bitcoin will be the new choice rooms push and this is another mildly bullish thing in bitcoin's favor.

What isn't going to happen is the end of Internet poker in Australia. There are too many people and there's too much money at stake. Offshore and gray market operators will provide games in lieu of the public and highly regulated companies.

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http://professionalrakeback.com is a poker site who's secondary goal is to provide accurate and up to date information about real money Australia online poker sites.

[Topboss]

I am not sure if I am way off track here but everything I have read about the Australian Amendment to the Bill is that it seems to be aimed towards online Poker and Sportsbetting, so what about normal casino games - i.e slots etc.?

Couldn't the casinos still offer these games to Australians and just block the online poker and sportsbetting?

[PROFRBcom]

If they could do this, I'd expect that 888, Party, and PokerStars would have stayed in the market. Instead, they have all announced they are leaving or already left. One would think their high priced attorneys would have made the most profitable call, but what do I know.

[TheGooner]

I am not sure if I am way off track here but everything I have read about the Australian Amendment to the Bill is that it seems to be aimed towards online Poker and Sportsbetting, so what about normal casino games - i.e slots etc.?

Couldn't the casinos still offer these games to Australians and just block the online poker and sportsbetting?

No - you are not correct about online casinos being allowed to continue..

While Poker and Sportsbetting are more popular and obvious examples used by the media, the "online pokies" (slot games) are clearly intended to be in the firing line of this legislation.

It's called the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill for a reason - it's targetting all "short duration" (interactive gambling).

All providers must have Australian licenses, and Australia only offers licenses for Sportsbetting - no online casino - no online poker.

Read the official summary here - rather than hopeful blogs :
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_...sult?bId=r5755

[josh01]

Anyone know what this means for online lottery - the likes of lottoland etc?

[Ozpoker]

No effect - locally licensed

[Former Member 14]

What isn't going to happen is the end of Internet poker in Australia. There are too many people and there's too much money at stake. Offshore and gray market operators will provide games in lieu of the public and highly regulated companies.

Somewhere in the Bill, there's recourse for the AU Gov., to force AU ISP's to filter (block) off shore gambling sites. Also, not sure if this was passed but was included in the amendments, the Fed Gov., also has the power to force AU banks etc., NOT to process off shore gaming transactions (both in and out of accounts). This would include wires, Visa/Mastercard Credit and Debit.

There's also this marketing pearler, which, targets any AU citizen promoting off shore gambling to Australian's. Previously, it disallowed any AU citizen to accepts bets/wagers from another Australian. With this new "marketing" law in place, it carries an insane payload - a AU$1Mil per/day fine.

Looking thru Google searches, there are still a number of .au domains actively promoting off shore gaming. A couple of these domains have been aquired thru Trademark registration. So I'm not sure how this will pan out. I would think these domains being .au country specific, maybe running the gauntlet, and we may see a repeat of the USA black Friday scenario.

I'm actually quite surprised the GIA was passed. History has proven prohabition does NOT work.

As you've commented PROFRBcom, there is too much money at stake here, I'm sure off shore entities (if they want to continue to enjoy pie here) they will find a way around anything the AU Gov., enforces.

All this law does is make the legitimate off shore sites leave en masse. In their place, the rogues and clip joints florish.

P.S. Apprently there was a large, and growing number of complaints received by the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) from Aussies who had fallen victim to not being paid winnings. I'd assume these were from a cross section of gaming entities. Though, with most bonus terms being as they are these days, it's just another case of the off shore gaming industry being its own worst enemy.

[PROFRBcom]

New developments! This could be good news for Aussies:

In a surprising development, Australian Senator David Leyonhjelm released a statement saying that the recently enacted online gambling prohibitions may be altered to exempt online poker. Leyonhjelm, leader of the Liberal Democrat party, has been one of the strongest opponents of the Interactive Gambling Amendment 2016, which passed earlier this year and had the effect of prohibiting poker played over the internet from Australia. This led to the exit of 888poker, PokerStars, PartyPoker, and many other real money gaming firms from the country.

http://professionalrakeback.com/can-...stralian-poker

[Ozpoker]

Its really not new .... the IGA was rushed through late BECAUSE the recommendations from the poker inquiry were likely to favour regulation. As did the previous productivity commission report from 2011.

Also make no mistake that the only ones getting licences will also be entities associated with brick and mortar casinos. This was the end game from the beginning.

Remember that all Australian brick and mortar casinos which are majority owned by Tabcorp and Packer relied on Asian (China) high rollers. When they dried up they needed to secure existing potential revenue sources and ring fence those they had.

The rest makes sense once you understand the politics/interests behind it.

[Poker-Australian]

Please sign the petition and get the latest news on the current state of the ban on onilne poker in Australia
https://online-poker-australia.com