http://www.pokerasiapacific.com/elec...oker41148.html

Conclusion
The status quo for online poker in Australia is the best we can hope for after this election. There is almost no chance of legalisation and regulation of poker.
If, as is increasingly likely, the Liberal party wins the election, the outlook is grim. Their explicit, stated policy is to ban online poker. The Greens and Xenophon will not stop them in the Senate.
As such, I recommend you reduce your current online bankroll to the bare minimum. As a general common sense measure, you should not have huge amounts online if you are an Australian player in any case.
Chances are you have a few more weeks to play online poker in Australia, a few months if the Coalition is slow to act on their new policy. Enjoy it while you can.

*MOD EDIT* - New info below was provided by JoeyDel on July 6, 2017.

The Australian online poker community has been fighting a huge battle to keep online poker in Australia for the past 8 months.

Their hard work has yielded some benefit. The government has agreed to hold a Senate Inquiry into the future of the game. If we are not successful it will no longer be legal to offer poker services in Australia which will lead to many reputable sites pulling out of the market.

We need to show the government that our voices matter and that we won't be ignored. We need AS MANY people as possible to make a submission to the inquiry telling the government online poker is too important for us to lose.

It won't take long but YOU can make all the difference. If YOU are reading this than YOU need to say something. If you leave it to somebody else it might be too late.

Make no mistake this isn't a maybe, this isn't a hypothetical and this isn't a conspiracy theory. If we can not make this committee see the benefits of our game then online poker will no longer legally allowed to be offered in Australia.

What do I need to do?

1) Head to this page to see the terms of reference for the inquiry and guidelines as to what you need to do to have your voice heard.

2) Head to the Australian Online Poker Alliance website. The AOPA has been leading our campaign so far. Head to their website for assistance on what sort of things you should be saying and for data and stats to help support your case.

3) Like the Australian Online Poker Alliance Facebook page. This is the key marshaling point for the campaign and where directions of daily action plans are shared.

4) WRITE YOUR SUBMISSION! This is the most important thing you can do and the most positive benefit you can give to the Australian Poker Community.

Key things to consider.

1) Make sure your answers relate to the submission terms of reference. You may find it easier just to put the terms of reference as a heading and then to write your feelings about that. If you are more comfortable using dot points then do that.

2) Remember, this isn't an English test so if you are worried that you may not be a good writer, don't worry about it. They will do there best to read through and understand your point so don't be afraid about that. Making your point poorly is far more powerful than not making it at all.

The above being said, do your best. Make it neat, use spell/grammar check to make it the best you possibly can.

3) Speak about you. There are some general points on the AOPA website, don't copy these, use them to stir your thoughts. If everyone goes and writes the exact same thing then there isn't a whole lot of point.

At the end of the day you are an expert on YOU. You know how you feel and what it is about poker you love and the benefits it brings to your life. A submission requires real people, not 2,000 copies of the same talking points. Definitely touch on general points but bring things back to your personal experiences and humanise your submission as much as you can. Poker isn't just something for lawmakers to say yes or no to. It is a way of life for tens of thousands of Australians. We need to make sure they understand that.

3) Don't get too hung up on saying you are a winner and you are a great player etc. If every single person writes in saying they are a superstar we look quite delusional which has a damaging effect on our overall argument. Sure if you are James Obst, or Jarred Graham or MonsterDong or some other crusher you can talk about the professional aspect of it.

However, the main key to our argument is that this is a hobby enjoyed by everyday Australians who live everyday lives. The more we can keep it on the hobby/fun sense the better.

Submissions need to be in by the 21st of July but I would suggest we all aim to have them done by the 14th of July because things happen.

Start sharing your thoughts on below and let's start writing these things and sending them out!

The ball is in our court. Do you want to look back and think you could have done more to save the game you love or are you prepared to do whatever you can to keep online poker in Australia.

Take action. The time is now!

I don't think anyone would have one iota of care about keeping a large sum of money on stars.

Link does not work, but i don't know when the policy has been explicitly stated.
More important things for politicians to worry about like letting gays get married.

http://www.pokerasiapacific.com/elec...oker41148.html

does this one work

why is it important to have your money withdrawn before that event if it does in fact occur - why would you not be able to withdraw even if online poker was banned in oz?

I think taking money offline is a bit of an extreme measure, since this will be nothing like the US black friday, and getting your funds won't be so difficult .

Tilts the **** out of me knowing that theres thousands of people on centerlink that sit in pubs playing pokies with our tax dollars all day, and they wanna ban online poker, one of the most insignificant forms of gambling in Australia. They could at least not lie to us about cracking down on gambling to protect us, its just so obvious they want their cut.

wtf is this,thinking of travelling to oz for a year but if no online poker,I'm out!so they guna ban booze becoz ppl mite become addicted total bull****!i just hope the uk never goes down the same path as USA and oz!888 would take a big hit lot of there players Australians.

Vote for the sex party in the senate, they're highly unlikely to vote on any bans.

Very troubling news
+ 1 to voting sex party.

This is such a ridiculous joke. I can walk up the road and sink bills into a pokie machine at 21, but I can't play online poker? give me a break abbott you mong

Pretty accurate impression of abbott. Funny vid if you like your Aus politics.

But yeah, get canvassing for labor imo, best chance of the everything continuing as it is at present.

Better still you can do it at 18

21? Are you even from Oz?

would i be commenting and speaking as if I was, if i wasnt?

its okay to live in Aus and be 21 lol. wasn't referring to any age for gambling or anything. its 18. I'm just 21.

Hah, "liberal"

Your link isn't working.

Irrespective of this, what makes you think the libs will regulate poker? You do realise the Liberals are anti-regulation and don't run on a social agenda like Labor or the greens do.

Also, how will they regulate poker? These poker companies are off shore and as such do not fall within the jurisdiction of this country's laws. There is also a good chance that the benefits of regulating poker to the coffers of government will not outstrip the costs to it. Cost/benefit analysis will have to happen.

In any event, I can't see this getting off the ground and is just more scaremongering on your part.

lol scare mongering on my part? the link is in the 2nd post reposted. Im simply sharing an article someone shared with me, ive no reason to try scare my fellow poker players out of playing online.

they arent going to regulate it, they're just going to enforce a law that already stands that prohibits gaming companies from offering online gaming to Australian citizens

At the moment that law is basically ignored/not enforced. Tony Abbot has come out and clearly stated (this month) that he plans to enforce this anti internet gambling act because hes scared of people having the ability to lose money on phones. He specifically talks about poker

Our only hope is hes too busy for the next year and doesnt do it, and in the meantime the USA find a good solution to online poker and makes Abbot realise theres another way

Sex party vote go to labour anyway.

How can this possibly be happening in our country? This is such bs.

A country that self-stylized itself as the "Land of the Free" did essentially the same thing so while this is tragic, I can't share your surprise

Guess im moving to Mexico or Thailand in the new year

I'm the author of the article linked in this thread.

On the question of how the IGA will be enforced in Australia: a government report recommended contacting directors of gambling companies resident in Australia and instructing them of their obligations under the law. If they fail to heed this, heavy civil penalties may follow. The report also calls for take-down notices to be sent to operators and for the Federal Court to issue injunctions against websites failing to comply.

In my view this means that the most credible poker sites – like PokerStars – would be driven out of Australia. The also means the less scrupulous sites would continue to offer services to Australians.

lets all go to New Zealand... we can visit the Shire

I bet this will end up happening.....simply because I don't want it to happen....

Australian gov have completely screwed this country, you can't do anything anymore ........been like this for a long time.

LOL I would love to hear you elaborate on 'what you cant do here'. I've got a feeling things like speeding and smoking dope are some of them.

This would be a pretty catastrophic thing for us though, the worst attack on our freedom I can ever recall