Online Poker Officially Banned in Australia

[Debi]

Australian Online Poker Officially Banned Down Under

Bad news for Australians though I guess they have know it was coming. 888 Poker pulled out a while back and pokerstars will mostly likely leave the AU market very soon.

I just don't get it - still angry about what happened in the US 6 years ago.

 

[OzExorcist]

FWIW online poker has technically been banned here since about 1999 - it's just a ban that hasn't ever been enforced.

I think this latest news is more just confirmation that they're finally going to start enforcing it, and that they won't make an exception for poker.

There's been a handful of people doing a lot of good work trying to get an amendment through that would allow poker, and they got a number of independent and minor-party politicians on board. But unfortunately unless they get one of the two major parties to change their minds it won't go anywhere.

Anywho yeah, the writing has been on the wall for a little while now. Hopefully we can get it changed at some point in the not too distant future: there's no question that Australians love gambling, sports betting is 100% legal and huge business over here, so it seems insane that poker is the exception to the rule.

https://www.facebook.com/AustralianOnlinePokerAlliance/ and http://australianonlinepokeralliance.com.au/ if anyone wants to learn more or get involved.

 

[chicopaw]

It's ridiculois, just as in the USA. if a person likes to play ,it should up to themselves,what's next?? will they make all online gaming illegal ,makes me mad, guess we are lucky here in canada

 

[OzExorcist]

Yeah the other thing about Australia that's not really reported is that most of our brick and mortar casinos have government-granted monopolies on offering casino games.

For example I live in Melbourne, the second-biggest (but most best, obv) city in the country. We have exactly ONE casino in the whole of the state, and their deal with the government guarantees they'll continue to be the only one until at least 2050. Which is insane. It also means they can do lousy things like charge for time AND rake every pot in cash games, because they're the only game in town and they can do what they like.

I don't know if that's a driving force behind this - I do know that back when some of those deals were initially made, the internet was barely a thing, and online gambling almost certainly wasn't.

But I strongly suspect that the brick and mortar casinos are the ones with the most power here. If they decide they want to open their own online poker sites, they could probably make it happen. If they decide they don't want to compete with online poker sites, we're probably screwed.

 

[RidersFan]

Your thoughts on Australia banning online poker?

Australia has banned online poker and live sports betting. This is crazy but at least there are some Australian politicians like David Leyonhjelm who feel the same. So there's a hope that in the future that the ban could be lifted but with politics that will be a lengthy process. What are your thoughts on this? Obviously for the Australians out there this is extremely bad news.

 

[tbdbitl]

Good luck with the ban being lifted. Still waiting here in the U.S.
I'm pretty sure it won't happen here (every state) until Sheldon Adelson is 6 feet under.

 

[orchidra]

That's depressing, as it's a bit close to home. So sad for all Australian players. I hope our lot (politicians), here in new zealand, don't follow suit.

 

[OzExorcist]

Australia has banned online poker and live sports betting. This is crazy but at least there are some Australian politicians like David Leyonhjelm who feel the same. So there's a hope that in the future that the ban could be lifted but with politics that will be a lengthy process. What are your thoughts on this? Obviously for the Australians out there this is extremely bad news.

I'm not sure if they've banned live sports betting altogether, I think it's just online that they've banned it (as in you can still put a live bet on over the phone or in person if you're desperate). If they have banned the phone and in person options as well then there's some people who'll be upset but it's not the end of the world.

And live online sports betting was another thing (like online poker) that was already banned anyway - the sites found a loophole that allowed them to do it for a short time but it was quickly closed again, and I think this just makes it official.

 

[Booyah777]

As long its legal in canada I dont really care. Its crazy that governments do this!

 

[GRANDPAPA929]

This is unfortunate.
To ban online poker and at the same time to open a gambling zone - isn't that insanity?

 

[OzExorcist]

I guess it looks really weird to outsiders, yeah.

There's a few things that are probably hard for people outside the country to understand here. To put some of it in context:

- Gambling, on the whole, is something Australians are fine with. "Having a punt" is a national passtime. We have a public holiday each year just for a horse race.

- Sports/racing betting has always been legal here. Brick and mortar casinos (monopolies aside) have been legal pretty much my entire lifetime, and were legal in other states prior to that.

- In recent years though, there's been a bit of push back against sports betting operators that have maybe taken things a bit too far. As in borderline saturation advertising, sports book representatives being interviewed regularly on live sports broadcasts, products that skirted the legal boundaries, etc. THAT is what's triggered the government reevaluating online gambling legislation as a whole.

Poker has always been a miniscule part of the market here compared to sports betting. Again: there's technically been a ban on online poker since about 1999, but nobody ever bothered to enforce it - that's how little it meant and how little anyone responsible cared.

I think it's that almost two-decade-old existing ban that's the stumbling block here IMO: if poker wasn't already banned, I doubt they'd be going out of their way to include it. But the political climate at the moment is simply wrong for anyone to seriously be putting their neck out to loosen gambling laws.

 

[okeedokalee]

If they are going to ban anything the one arm bandits should be the target have mates who have lost thousands to them.They get turned into zombies a spew hundreds daily.
There is a tiny pub where I live turns over $10,000 a day, hardly anybody drinks there, they are all in the next room wasting money.
Most of us online poker folk can control our betting and have fun.

 

[theRaven68]

Support to my australian poker friends!
That is depressing but it seems that golden years of online poker are gone

 

[pothead2012]

Those are really sad News makes one wonder what the future holds and shows that things like Freedom are nothing more but fantasy if this keeps going it won't be long untill no matter where you are in the World you won't be able to play with People from other countries online I really hope that this Law gets changed not just for Australians but also for the rest of us

 

[rhombus]

Good luck with the ban being lifted. Still waiting here in the U.S.
I'm pretty sure it won't happen here (every state) until Sheldon Adelson is 6 feet under.

How can one man control what millions of people want to do

guess its all about the $$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Mobcasinos]

I don't see why they won't allow online poker. It is a good source of income for the states. It creates competition in the gambling industry and it will surely benefit the players.

 

[freestocks]

Well. That sucks.

 

[Goldvintage1]

Is there any fellow Australians here who are still able to access their 888 Poker account?

 

[Gphillips15]

That's depressing, as it's a bit close to home. So sad for all Australian players. I hope our lot (politicians), here in New Zealand, don't follow suit.

I hope so too, our government usually try to copycat Auzzie or the U.S

 

[John Bor]

why it happened,
maybe it is because of government policy

 

[Zorba]

- Gambling, on the whole, is something Australians are fine with. "Having a punt" is a national passtime. We have a public holiday each year just for a horse race.

Don't forget the AFL Grand Final public holiday, they may as well know we are a mob of degenerate gamblers.

I'm still playing and I haven't heard any black helicopters hovering overhead.

 

[mk0523]

I don't see why they won't allow online poker. It is a good source of income for the states. It creates competition in the gambling industry and it will surely benefit the players.

You'll find the answer to your question in the statement you made about competition. The people who control the government don't like competition. If they could, they would completely outlaw competition. They want to control every important resource/every important sector of the economy and they don't want any outsider competing against them for those resources or in this case in the gaming industry.

 

[kucu2014]

It's very rough. More and more countries take this sorsra.Nem understand why a few people are good at this. Everyone has their own thing would be that you spend your money

 

[John Bor]

Is it possible that he will be unlocked in the future?

 

[supermoto]

That is bad news and more for pokerstars the great room but so are the politicians of our world veneficio for them