I'm sure everyone has seen by now that Australia has moved to banning poker in Australia online.
The guys at Australian Online Poker Alliance on facebook have been doing an amazing job throughout the whole campaign
My question is what are all us Aussies going to do now?
What are our options, risky and non-risky?
Hey guys,
It is far from over. We have lost the amendment excluding online poker from the bill, however the government lost one of their amendments so it has to go back to the House of Representatives to be ratified in it's present format. It is not listed for today.
House of Representatives sits Monday to Thursday next week before breaking until the May budget sittings so wbn if they forgot about it for a few days.
Our white knights, Senator David Leyonhjelm (Liberal Democratic Party) and Joseph Del Duca (Australian Online Poker Alliance) want to push for an inquiry at the May sittings.
This would be huge as it will allow politicians to be fully informed of the differences between poker and other gambling variants. Some politicians don't know the difference between poker and pokies (what Aussies call slots). They are not aware that poker clients are separate from casino clients. They are not aware that online poker is not an attractive target for problem gamblers. They are not aware that online poker is a player v player game as opposed to the regular casino games of player v house. They are not aware that the majority of reputable mainstream poker sites are owned by publicly listed companies.
In fact a couple of politicians made references to poker rooms being owned by organised crime and used exclusively for money laundering. It is these people we will be able to educate that only a safe licenced and regulated poker market will drive away the shadier sites.
Under the existing bill, those operators will flout the new laws and flourish while the reputable trustworthy sites will withdraw.
This is far from over. In fact we are just warming up.
Nice reply. That does make me feel a bit more at ease haha
What do you suggest until the new sittings?
No more fun at Australia. If you want to play poker you have to drive all the way to a casino. I'm sure their will be a lot of disappointment for Australian players.
