Because three of four sites hit with BF enforcement action turned out not to have the cash to handle mass cashouts. How do you know that 888 or whatever non-PS site you play on could come up with the cash to handle withdrawals by all Austalian players at once, especially if their payment processors in Australia have their funds frozen? PS has proven that they keep the player cash aside and availabe for cashouts. No other site has proven this, AFAICT.

Got the same email from stars support

This is a quoted post from the Queensland Greens Senate Candidate when I asked him where he personally stands on any legislation that would make online poker illegal. Di Natali is clearly against it so it would appear that there is some difference of opinion within the party, and they could be open to being persuaded to support our cause if they control the senate. Obviously lobbying key LNP members will be important if any legislation is proposed as well assuming they win the election which seems likely.

Adam Stone, Greens

Hi Oliver,

Apologies for the delayed reply. As you can imagine, things have been pretty crazy recently. Thanks for the friendly reminder though.

Good question! To be honest, I didn't know much about this when you asked, so have had to ask some of our policy people.

Obviously, as you would be aware, we're pretty concerned about the impact of problem gambling on our community. However, at the same time, I also understand that online poker is different to a lot of other forms of gambling, and that there is a benefit to online poker sites, as long as they are properly regulated.

Given that, The Greens (and I) would not be looking at pushing for any changes to the interactive gambling act at this time - but I note the recent recommendation for a trial of online poker. In line with that if a proposal were to come up to allow for a trial of online poker or to amend the Act, I, and the Greens, would certainly be open to considering it.

I hope that makes sense. I think that answers your question that basically no, I would not be looking for a ban of online poker. Feel free to follow up with any other questions.

Thanks,

Adam

"Good question! To be honest, I didn't know much about this when you asked, so have had to ask some of our policy people."

I think this proves that it's an issue they aren't really concerned about, most politicians couldn't care less about enforcing the IGA and you are just making them aware of the situation, which can't be any good, I suggest just laying low.

I think the main issue they had was the Stars mobile app, hence Abbott's statement about how "every phone is an online poker machine". and that's why they made Stars remove the app from the Australian itunes store. I think that's going to be as far as it goes, there has never really been any form of online censorship in Australia, and I have a feeling they wouldn't even know how to stop the sites other than Stars, which is the only thing that concerns me, PokerStars obliged to their request with 0 resistance which means if they did decide to tackle it they would just have to contact Stars and tell them to stop providing us with their services, but right now, I don't think anythings gonna happen for a while.

Rudd killed it on q and a last night

ahahah Mossberg this is the greatest thing I have ever read, you truly made my day with this! A+++

Owned that pastor, hard. Abbott didn't even attend, theres no way that guy can answer questions on national TV because he doesn't even know what he believes/is meant to believe. He's failed at every interview I've seen him in.

Rudd is a legend.

+ 1 agree with all is

Thanks for explaining, tho dont know how you compare our players pool to the US.

Also the bit about the payment processors in australia getting frozen, this would have nothing to do with online e wallets such as skrill and neteller ?

That's fantastic. Only problem is that online poker is already technically banned by the Act and all it needs is a directive from Abbott to ACMA to enforce it more stringently.

The last 10 mins he did. But it was to his strengths like gay marriage

Agree too. No need to draw unnecessary attention to it just yet.

Yeah that what I exected too, if there was a warning, until bundy5 pointed out the possibility they might not.

I don't know how many times it has to be repeated ITT, but the government isn't going to ban online poker. The provision of online poker by outside companies is already banned. That's probably why Will Hill pulled out.

Don't know why we should assume more effective enforcement of the exisiting ban will necessarily be preceded by a warning.
Well, AP, UB and FTP just took players' money, so why wouldn't others?It is even possible they didn't set out to take players' money, but rather just followed such poor processes that they didn't have the money once the payment processors were hit.

Obv. the Aus. player pool is much smaller so the risk is less. That doesn't make the risk non-existent.

IDK enough about how skrill and neteller operate in Australia, but I wouldn't assume the government would be powerless to stop their online-gambling-related transactions.

I wish they would spend their time limiting pokies to $50 a day or something like that.

+1 way too many degens sitting clicking buttons at the pokies than sitting clicking buttons at computers

*sigh* $17.00 FTW Labor, gg. Anybody keen to move to Bali for a bit?

That has dropped down to $10.50 in the past 7 hours. Christopher Pyne's quote on teachers "If 25,000 teachers have to go, then they will go. Budgets cuts are happening and education is not immune. Class sizes are not that important" shows how heartless they are, an increased support for the NBN, homeless people now getting a fair vote, Kevin Rudd's excellent Q and A performance, and the unpopularity of the Paid Parental Leave Scheme are key factors on why this has happened. The likelihood of the Coalition taking the West Sydney seats is almost nil now, with Fiona Scott's absurd comment for blaming boat people for traffic jams, and Jaymes Diaz refusing to exit his home for an interview. All of these have happened in the past 24 hours, and Rudd's popularity is rising again at a very important time.

Coalition are also losing votes to Clive Palmer and Bob Katter, neither of whom support or preference the LNP in anyway. This election is not over yet. I have faith!

gettin' a semi chub over here reading through that post. nice to read something positive

Some last minute Labour campaigning that could win the election.

quiet weird that the past couple of days liberal party have just done things that have looked really bad, chris pyne teachers comment, the pre organized morning tea with a mother and her child which just looked like it was a dodgy publicity stunt, somewhat racist and over the top comments from candiates in the western sydney area.

keep this up and we be getting out the rope for mr abbott to hang himself up for choking worse then greg norman.

If you know anything about political history, you will be aware that in the last week of the 2007 election - there was a dip in support to Rudd from 53-47 to 52-48 IIRC but it ended up being like 53-47 on election day anyway. Normal last week jitters for the opposition to have to overcome.

lol @ Fiona Scott. Has to be undercover Labor double agent surely.

I said from the moment Rudd was re-elected that he should announce the the election Immediately so that the public didn't have time to remember what a dick he was.

Stupid egomaniac should have taken my advice

quick question for people that know our by laws and offical ****, Does the governor general have to wait until all votes are counted to swear in the new prime minister?

so hypotheticaly if mr abbott wins hes cant do anything until that day?

Pretty sure online poker Isn't first on the agenda