Australian Online Poker Ban
Australian lawmakers have passed amendments to online gambling law that will effectively shut down real-money online poker in the country.
According to The Huffington Post Australia, the country’s parliament on Tuesday approved the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016.
Australia does not face another national election until 2019, so players must bide their time until a new government is in place. Camden Haven Courier published a report which estimated Australia has 130,000 active poker players. Lawmakers who think their national ban is going to stop those players’ online and mobile gaming are mistaken. When the bill was originally introduced by Minister for Human Services Alan Tudge its intent was to close the loophole that allowed Australian citizens to place live bets on sports events - something that is otherwise not permitted - through mobile devices, but it also bans any kind of online gambling that is not explicitly legal in Australia – which includes poker. But some in the Australian poker community still have hope. Yesterday, as part of an update to the Internet Gambling Amendment Bill, the Australian Senate voted to include online poker in the ban on online gambling. The Fight to Keep Legal Gambling This is a crushing blow to the country’s poker players, who had been very vocal in trying to convince politicians that poker should be exempt from the. Australian online gambling laws outlawed online poker in Australia in 2001 with Interactive Gambling Act. However, there were serious loopholes which allowed online gambling activities to exist to this day. The new Australian online gambling bill has been designed to remove these loopholes to ban all the online poker and sports betting activities in the country. The Australia online poker ban 2017. In 2017 the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill was passed by the Australian Senate.It finally fenced off the country from offshore online poker operators by tidying up some wording from the original IGA.
A 2015 study of illegal online gambling happening in the country recommended closing “loopholes” that allowed Aussies to play on offshore poker platforms.
A law dating back to 2001 attempted to prohibit internet betting, but for years poker players were able to play from within the country.
The Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 was under consideration in the Senate since late last year. The legislation also will put restrictions on online sports betting.
The legislation states that online poker companies can’t offer games to Australians unless licensed. But there’s no licensing or regulatory process for online poker.
888Poker left the market in January, while PokerStars said it might follow suit.
Australian Online Poker Bands
“While Amaya currently offers poker to Australian customers through PokerStars under its Isle of Man global gaming license, if proposed legislation passes into law players located in Australia would likely be blocked from playing on our sites,” the company said earlier this year.
It’s unclear if smaller, lesser-known sites based overseas will leave the market.
The size of the gambling market in Australia, home to 24 million people, is around $20 billion. A report from The Guardian said that internet gambling is the fastest-growing segment of the country’s gambling market, increasing at a 15 percent clip year-over-year. Australians spend more on gambling than people anywhere else in the world.
David Ean Leyonhjelm, a Senator for New South Wales representing the Liberal Democratic Party, has been a vocal opponent of the online poker changes. He said last month in a Facebook video that he wants poker players to break the law and use virtual private networks to try to continue playing online. VPNs are prohibited by many online poker sites.
Leyonhjelm was seeking to exclude poker from the legislation.
“If you want to play poker, there are lots of opportunities in Australia, at casinos and tournaments,” he told The Huffington Post. “It’s not as if there isn’t a great deal of poker playing already, but they’re just stopping it online. The whole world is online now.”
Australian lawmakers have passed amendments to online gambling law that will effectively shut down real-money online poker in the country.
According to The Huffington Post Australia, the country’s parliament on Tuesday approved the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016.
A 2015 study of illegal online gambling happening in the country recommended closing “loopholes” that allowed Aussies to play on offshore poker platforms.
A law dating back to 2001 attempted to prohibit internet betting, but for years poker players were able to play from within the country.
Australian Online Poker Bank
The Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 was under consideration in the Senate since late last year. The legislation also will put restrictions on online sports betting.
The legislation states that online poker companies can’t offer games to Australians unless licensed. But there’s no licensing or regulatory process for online poker.
888Poker left the market in January, while PokerStars said it might follow suit.
“While Amaya currently offers poker to Australian customers through PokerStars under its Isle of Man global gaming license, if proposed legislation passes into law players located in Australia would likely be blocked from playing on our sites,” the company said earlier this year.
It’s unclear if smaller, lesser-known sites based overseas will leave the market.
The size of the gambling market in Australia, home to 24 million people, is around $20 billion. A report from The Guardian said that internet gambling is the fastest-growing segment of the country’s gambling market, increasing at a 15 percent clip year-over-year. Australians spend more on gambling than people anywhere else in the world.
David Ean Leyonhjelm, a Senator for New South Wales representing the Liberal Democratic Party, has been a vocal opponent of the online poker changes. He said last month in a Facebook video that he wants poker players to break the law and use virtual private networks to try to continue playing online. VPNs are prohibited by many online poker sites.
Leyonhjelm was seeking to exclude poker from the legislation.
“If you want to play poker, there are lots of opportunities in Australia, at casinos and tournaments,” he told The Huffington Post. “It’s not as if there isn’t a great deal of poker playing already, but they’re just stopping it online. The whole world is online now.”