lol'd

Seems like the plan will be to lobby for regulatory path once Leyonhjelm and co's committee make their recommendation to do just that. That still has to be done before Sep 21 and once we know the committee's recommendations we can go from there

I'm sure Joey will have a post for us soon.

A friend in the LNP told me he thinks our best path is for Leyonhjelm and Bernardi to agree to support unrelated govt legislation in exchange for govt support on the committee recommendations for online poker. That seems like it could be a logical path forward as the govt needs their votes to past most of their agenda, and doesnt care about online poker either way for the most part, Leyonhjelm, Bernardi and other crossbenchers like Hinch and ONP are all on our side - Whish Wilson even seemed to be although his position will be more clear once the committee makes their recommendation

The government needs the crossbench to survive if we can have the crossbench agree to support x legislation in exchange for regulating online poker that would work for us.

Is there a way to get the committee to report ASAP? 21 Sep seems a long way away when they already have a solid grasp of the issue?

It's due for reporting on September 14th and no we can't hurry them up

I'm not sure there's any way to increase the speed of the process. Ask Senator Leyonhjelm directly if you like he generally responds on twitter (he responded to me that the best course from here for us in his opinion is to use the committees findings to pressure govt to take action - he and the other committee members have swing votes so if theres enough public pressure they may be able to make some sort of deal to support other legislation if the govt implements their recommendations idk)

No word from Joey?? I'd like to hear if he thinks we're drawing dead now

Is online poker worth the price of your soul. That's really a tough choice.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...ayers-1683101/

I'm a bit confused. There's still a chance for this bill to not pass? House of Representatives can still reject this bill, correct? How likely is it to happen?

It's passed both houses, just needs to get Governor General assent

This is literally what our campaign has been about from the beginning.

The hope was always to get the inquiry findings out before it went to a vote so we had a chance to implement change before the law came in to effect.

Unfortunately this has not been the case.

Still, it is ok, it just means that we are now were we should have been at when the original vote happened at the start of the year.

This doesn't change anything in relation to our campaign. We still want the law to change from its current form, it just means that players are going to be unable to play whilst we campaign.

Thanks that clears that up for me. It just still seems strange that we had an enquiry that didn't report before the vote.

I note that the submissions have not increased for a while now, I presume they're just not bothering with the rest ahead of the report or indeed ever. Democracy working well in Australia right now. . .

It's not like WPN or anything won't cater to Aus players like they do to US.

The inquiry has nothing to do with the IGA Amendment Bill. This is something that Sen. Leyonhjelm pushed for on our behalf after we didn't get support in the Senate for a carveout.

The government have always stated that whether online poker should be legal is a separate debate.

I'm pretty sure that the Goverment supported Sen. Leyonhjelm's call for the inquiry.

Just received this from stars

The Australian parliament on August 9 passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill (2016) effectively banning all online gambling sites that are not locally licensed under Australian State or Territory law. We’ve been aware of this day coming and have done our best to keep you informed, but we can confirm that we’ll be closing our real money poker tables to players in Australia, most likely around mid-September. We will contact you as soon as a firm date is confirmed.

Your funds are, and will continue to be, safe and available for withdrawal. Remember to open any unopened Stars Rewards Chests you have, and you can continue to spend your StarsCoin in the Rewards Store. A $1 Cash Rebate has been added to facilitate converting your StarsCoin to cash. Any tournament tickets and tournament money will be converted to cash for withdrawal, effective from the market exit date. We have provided a FAQ page here.

We’re proud to have seen the Australian poker community grow so strong over the last decade. We do respect the Australian Government's decision in taking steps to protect consumers and hope that in time we’ll be able to serve real money poker to you again. In the meantime, we will continue to offer play money poker and we hope to continue to welcome many Australian players to our tables.

We’d also like to thank the Australian Online Poker Alliance for their campaigning on behalf of the game and suggest that you consider lending them your voice if you’d like to see a regulated return of online poker to Australia.

pretty quick to get this email out but when we needed them to send a email out to help us it was too hard !

Just got the Email too.

I'm not mad at pokerstars. It's not their fault. I sent 2 emails, 1 to my local and 1 to nick xenaphon. Both avioded the issue i raised which was the problem gambling in australia comes majority from pokies. I believe the study that i quoted said 65% of gambling in australia is on the pokies and i think it was 80% of that 65 are problem gamblers. Online gambling would make up maybe 10% if that. but ofcourse online gambling doesn't line the pockets of political parties does it. Pokies do.

So lets make it look like we are doing something when we actually don't care so long as the money keeps rolling in.

Damm it, just got the email. gg guys.

This

got the email too obviously, i love the part that says

Remember to open any unopened Stars Rewards Chests you have and

A $1 Cash Rebate has been added to facilitate converting your StarsCoin to cash.

Thanks for making out like you supported joeys cause when if i am correct they didn't even make a submission. I think it could be all in our best interests anyways guys the way stars are heading.

I just signed up to ignition np LFG

will phil galfonds site be available to australia?

^^^no

Just saw the email too. Fkn devastated.

I'm housebound with a chronic pain condition, so that's it, no more poker for me. F**k this govt.