Pretty messed up having people who have no idea what they're voting for actually voting.

Question for people who know about politics. Can they individually refuse to vote? So the people who don't know what anybody is talking about don't need to vote.

It's somewhat irrelevant that they don't know how the game works. Their argument is that the debate at the moment is not about changing the original intent of the IGA.

It's still possible that the IGA can be modified in the future to exclude online poker, but to them it is a separate issue.

Yes, in this case it largely didn't matter since the government and opposition agreed with it. But 99% of the time they just fall in line with the party position

I really do commend Senator Xenophon for actually listening to the community and having an open mind about online poker. I understand why he didn't support the amendment due to his views, but it did give me some hope of one day online poker returning to Australia but of course being heavily regulated.

Unfortunate outcome as someone who plays 1c/2c for fun never depositing more than one sum of 20 dollars over the past 1.5 years, yet lost 20 dollars on sports bet this weekend really annoys me.

Hope to see you guys at the local pubs and clubs playing some poker because **** giving packer any money.

Thank you to the work of everyone who was involved this would never of even been considered if it wasn't for all your hard work

The game is over amendment has been rejected a few minutes ago,so as soon legislation is passed online poker will be clearly illegal so Pokerstars will withdraw from Australia.No good at all

So empty right now. Wow.

Ok, so where does these leave online Aussie players.

Pokerstars will go but who does have an Australian licence.
Americans still manage to play on Bovada and ACR.

Obviously not as good as Stars but there must be some alternatives available.

No site has an Australian licence. There's not even an existing platform to apply for one, so no one can apply for a licence if they wanted to. There are 0 legal options to play online poker, Bovada and ACR are so unsafe that you're at a severe risk of losing your money, as there is no one regulating those games. In other words, Australia is ****ed.

When will this legislation come into effect or when will PokerStars decide to ban Aussie players?

This sucks. I guess we rally the troops and try and get a licensing process in play. I'm lucky I transitioned out of full time play, I really feel for anyone who still plays full time and will have to either move or VPN now.

Saddened we get literally no lib support after joey's efforts his party has betrayed him and us here. Amazing effort by joey that we even got the amendment voted on with some support if we had more time might have got it done

Stars and party and co were beyond pathetic in this fight one email from stars way too late they needed to be vocal about this and lobby properly and with money.

Not sure what the next step is I assume we look to draft the outline for legislation similar to the UK poker legislation and northern Territory sportsbetting licensing legislation, sell it as jobs tax revenue and freedom and see if leyonhjelm or another pol who supported us here will fight for it.

Thanks to joey for all the hard work he put in looks like our long term fights beginning and we're off to play on air and the Chinese site and seals or VPN till then

Packer and sport betting mob donated large amount of money to Liberals and Labour. Pokerstars kept profits for themselves.Politicians tend to do protect interests of donors.
System is corrupt.

Thanks. I assume Stars do some security checks for VPN's being used.
So, how sophisticated does the VPN need to be and any hints on good/bad solutions.
I can pretty much build my own VPN but would be nice to know how to make sure it will not be detected by Stars.

Been covered above but it's not just a question of a VPN for Stars - they require you to prove physical relocation to another country before they'll reactivate your account (as in address overseas, utility bills there in your name, etc)

Couldn't you make a new account with a friend applying who lives in a country where you can play?

Yes but that also breaks the TOS, so it's another thing you risk getting caught for.

GG. Irrespective of this expected-but-****ty outcome, I'd like to sincerely thank Joey and everyone else for their work. Really good effort guys and I admire your passion.

Now, time to relocate across the planet (from a 'free' country in 2017) in order to play CARDS ON THE INTERNET.

Brilliant.

The lord has spoken.

Would still massively appreciate any timeline estimations once they become available. Also if any of you receive emails from the sites telling when exactly they will pull the plug, please post them ITT. My address is registered elsewhere so I don't think I'll be getting these emails, and I don't want to get cut off mid-session etc.

Thanks and once again I feel really sorry for you guys. As a small silver lining getting it legalized again is probably slightly easier than it will be in USA. You only have a few states to worry about, the US is such a cluster**** with 50 different states and all their weird bs politics that they have to do it state by state and nationwide poker there is still light years away. Australia is also isolated and not really accountable to anyone but themselves, so it doesn't seem that impossible to make a change within a couple of years' timeframe.

Great effort Joey and Swoop. Well played, regardless of the ****ty outcome. Reminds me of a game i used to play...

public can't do much about corrupt politicians

+1 on any timeline estimations

For what it's worth something passed in the senate yesterday is being considered in House of Reps today. Assent from the Governor-General can take anywhere from overnight to about two weeks

If you're in Australia on hols will you still be able to load the pokerstars portal or will you have to go down the VPN route to be able to log on?

I asked this from Stars support earlier, and no you won't be able to access Pokerstars while physically in Australia, similarly to USA and other prohibited areas. This will also means a bunch of lost tax revenue to Australia as hundreds of people come to Australia for a few months every year to grind and enjoy the winter in the winter (Aussie summer).

Im only a vistor in your country for now, but its such a ****ty outcome for anyone who actually understands what poker is and respects the game. Whats even worse is the mass hypocrisy from the politicians who claim that this is in prevention of problem gambling, when in all actually have been lobbied by domestic institutions that just want a bigger share of the pie.

As for VPN, how reliable is this if done right? My accounts are registered under my home address in Canada where I am a resident. Not sure if worth it for low-mid stakes.