There is some stuff happening behind the scenes apparently but I don't have direct knowledge of it only secondhand re the campaign to change the laws etc but i'm not at liberty to comment on it beyond that really and don't have a ton of current knowledge either.

We're getting a government change in a week or so over half the time if the betting odds and polling are to be believed so we'll see if that spurs any progress or not I guess

Re the guys running clubs openly advertising on facebook and whatnot while living in Australia from their personal facebook accounts I mean, what did they think was going to happen lol if you live in Australia and offer online poker to Australians you're in legal jeopardy end of story.

The people safely offering online poker to Australians safely live outside of Australia where the government has no way to actually enforce the law, anyone playing with an Australian agent or running a PP/Pokerbros club from Australia that offers services to Australians is just playing the lottery whether they end up getting charged, granted in the Poker Asia Pacific case the penalty was a 10k fine so for anyone willing to risk a criminal record I can see why some people do it. Will be interesting to see how these guys go penalty wise if convicted.

I wouldn't personally want to be within a million miles of being any sort of online poker agent in Australia given the current legislation and I think the people that do it are nuts.

Hopefully the law changes in the future. But it's still super easy to play online poker from Australia for the average player on the offshore sites just using offshore agents because the law is unenforceable if neither the person/company offering online poker to Australians nor the assets they hold are physically in Australia which is part of why it's so stupid, people can still play online if they want they just have to send their money offshore with no legal recourse if something goes wrong..

I think unfortunately for a majority, there is no massive incentive to continue to bang heads up against a wall which is frustrating. We have a huge circuit of live tournament series now of which many stakeholders would probably prefer online poker didn't return as it would potentially impact their share of the market. On top of that, the unregulated offerings at the moment are pretty profitable even for a casual player like myself. I still obviously would love to see the old days return but I wonder has the moment passed.

Does anybody know what my options are to play online if I live in Mexico but only have an Australian bank card for deposits? Are any sites available?

Bank card deposits for Aussies are very, very limited these days. If you have the option / time to set up a Crypto account & wallet, would recommend.

Hey Swoop

Just want to say I really appreciate how much time and effort you’ve put in over the past few years helping advocate to make online poker legal again.

You mentioned that there’s some campaigning behind the scenes to change the laws etc, is that based on labor getting in this coming week? I did quickly have a peak at the odds and labor are currently $1.28 to win the election.

If labor is elected, is there an expected time range in which we should have some news regarding online poker about hopefully moving in the right direction to have it legalised?

You're looking for this thread:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...ayers-1683101/

Don't expect it to be any different under a Labor government compared to the Coalition. Labor are even more addicted to pokies and are more beholden to the clubs that the Coalition are so they wouldn't want that apple cart disturbed with people being able to gamble at home and save their money.

So currently no realistic course of action that would lead to any changes?

Understand that a lot of work has been done – super appreciative of anyone and everyone who has done their part since we were locked out back in the day.

But I think that there may a gap in the thinking. Instead of going to the government directly, why not one of the countless sports betting companies who could have way more legal sway and capability in making this a reality? Imagine if Ladbrokes opened a room, or even Sportsbet? It would be huge. I think there's a lot more opportunity in making an argument for product and profit than government leniency to let international online casinos back into the country.

Thoughts?

Sportsbet are owned by the same parent company as Pokerstars

They are aware of the stuff going on.

I'm not super up to date on it but as far as I know the preference was still they all pass something behind the scenes. Not sure if that has changed now Labor is in government.

The other biggest site is already effectively operating here just under the table and there's nothing really the ban can do about it

Not sure about the mid tier sites like Party etc's stance on how things stand atm

Thanks Swoop,

Does that mean Armarda and FHG are advocating for this behind the scenes?

Is there any major push still happening or are we dead in the water at the moment?

Can anybody elaborate on this? I’m playing on Ignition but would like another option as there’s no PLO tournaments running at my stakes when I can play.

Would love some added info, too.

Yeah are there any updates on this?

People play on the big site that isn't stars through agents with no issue currently re other sites to play on. Obviously playing through an Australian based agent would be a bad idea given what we saw recently with some of the people that allegedly run or advertise PP clubs that advertise openly are getting charged etc, but if it was through an offshore based agent given playing online poker isn't illegal as an australian only offering it is, there is nothing to stop anyone in Aus playing on the big non stars site through overseas agents given they turn a blind eye to it or the few sites that openly allow Australians to play

I can't really get into what any of the relevant parties are doing behind the scenes as the info i've been told is outdated at this point. If I get any relevant updates I will post them here though. Joey is still involved as are a few other parties. I was last told that a government change is largely irrelevant as neither LNP nor Labor are opposed to legal online poker they just don't want to be seen as spending time on it when there are so many other priorities so if/when it passes it'll likely be slipped into some other must pass semi or unrelated bill - you don't want scummy organisations such as Tabcorp and Clubs Australia and the various religious charities and so on trying to turn it into a GAMBLING BAD public shitfight like Tabcorp are trying to do now to hurt Sportsbet/365/etc the other major corporate sportsbooks with their 'we're australian owned they need to pay more tax' campaign which is basically 'they offer a better product than us despite our monopoly on in person terminals put them out of business plz government and give us a hard monopoly on it' when Tabcorp itself is mostly owned by overseas hedge funds etc and is only failing because the product they offer is garbage compared to their competitors

Thanks for sharing what info you have Swoop, much appreciated.

If any others have suggestions of how we (the general public & players) can aid in any efforts, feel free to post to discuss.

Would Joey still be involved after what happened in Wentworth?

Idk what you're referring to, the Teal winning? I have no idea. If he's moved onto other things, he hasn't told me anything about it, granted it's not like we chat often.

I'm not sure how involved in politics Joey is right now I haven't chatted with him since the last time I updated the thread.

His FB page said he ran for Mayor of Burwood or planned to and he's not currently the Mayor of Burwood and may not be a councillor anymore I have no idea but he does have legitimate LNP contacts and so on that wouldn't disappear or whatever and I know he does legitimately believe in the cause but I have no idea if he's actively pursuing anything related to it.

At the end of the day only Joey can speak for himself, like I have his number etc but I can't provide an update I don't have.

Unfortunately i'm not really in a position to do much right now to help beyond relay any relevant information anyone tells me if/when that happens - obviously if we ever get to the point where submissions or senate hearings are required or whatever i'm happy to step up and do my part again but i've been out of the 'inner circle' so to speak of online poker in Australia for a long time given I haven't played at a serious level since 2015 and i'm basically just a 'good recreational' player now who has barely played since Covid started.

Meanwhile, let's cheer for Adrian to win the WSOP Main Event, i'm sure that would bring some positive attention to poker in Australia. If I get any useful information for the thread i'll relay it.

I thought he was a staffer for Sharma?

Oh maybe he was I don't know last I knew he was a local councillor but that was a couple years ago.

I'm with Telstra NBN Ignition Casino is ISP blocked for me. Do you use a VPN?

The ACMA is responsible for all “illegal offshore gambling website” blocks but only requests the Big 5 ISPs (Telstra, TPG, etc.) to implement the blocks.
The first thing to try if you think you’re being blocked is to change your IP config to use an alternative DNS, i.e. 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare) or 8.8.8.8 (google). You can change it on your device or on the router. Cloudflare & Google are considered to be faster DNS servers than Telstra DNS servers.

Also, go Adrian, https://www.pokernews.com/tours/wsop...vent/chips.htm

More information for Aus options, see below thread:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...1/index32.html

Touching base to see if any updates / additional information has been circulating?