Australian online poker players to be blocked if new amendment is passed

What does the Interactive Gambling Amendment say?

So far Australia is considered a grey market for online gaming operators. This will no longer be the case if the government adopts the new legislation.

Last week the Australian Minister For Communications, Mitch Fifield, introduced an Amendment to the Interactive Gambling Act from 2011 in parliament.

To sum it up the Australian government plans to take strict measures to prevent unlicensed offshore gaming providers from offering their products to Australian players.

You can read the Summary of Interactive Gambling Amendment here:

“Implements the Government’s response to the recommendations of the 2015 Review of Illegal Offshore Wagering, the bill amends the: Interactive Gambling Act 2001 to: clarify the services to which the Act applies by recognising prohibited interactive gambling services and regulated interactive gambling services; prohibit a person providing regulated interactive gambling services to Australians unless the person holds a licence under the law of an Australian state and territory; introduce a civil penalty regime to be enforced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA); prohibit ‘click to call’ in-play betting services; streamline complaints handling and investigation processes; establish a register of eligible regulated interactive gambling services to be published on the ACMA website; and enable the minister to determine by legislative instrument that a specific thing is, or is not, a sporting event for the purposes of the Act; Interactive Gambling Regulations 2001 to make consequential amendments; and Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005 to enable the ACMA to disclose certain information to foreign regulators and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.”

Offering Online Poker would become illegal for foreign companies

As you can see, the Amendment draws a very clear line what is legal and what not, if it comes to online gambling in Australia.

Unfortunately, poker is also on the black list. The following paragraph is from Page 14 of the Bill:

“Prohibited services under the IGA include online casino-style gaming services of chance or mixed skill and chance, such as blackjack, roulette and poker, which are played for money or anything else of value. Wagering and lotteries are permitted under limited circumstances.”

PokerStars announced they will block Australians 

Australia is a huge and very important market for PokerStars as online Poker makes up 2,5% of Amaya’s total revenue!

Nevertheless, Amaya CFO Daniel Sebag said: “It would appear likely that if the legislation passes, we would block players from Australia.”

The risk is simply too high, as PokerStars recently announced to open in Portugal and also showed a high interest in India, with which they apparently plan to compensate Australia in case they really have to withdraw:

“India could be a greater opportunity compared to Australia, and when we look at the player base it would be a bigger one. However, from the purchasing power point of view, India is quite different from Australia,” said Amaya CEO Rafi Ashkenazi.

India could be a greater opportunity compared to Australia” says Amaya CEO Rafi Ashkenazi.

They would risks to get licenses in those countries or other jurisdictions such as New Jersey, where they spent millions to be able to return to the US.

Plans to get a license once the market is regulated

It is clear that PokerStars plans to operate in regulated and therefore legal markets in the future.

Their strategy is very likely to withdraw from Australia and then apply for a license and re-enter the market once it is regulated as this seems to be the only possible way to offer their services long-term in Australia.

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