Sure. Email just sent.

It still shows for me. My first am event is Jan 12 btw

ACTION:

Please click this link, enter your details and hit submit. This will send a letter to your local MP telling them to keep online poker in Australia.

Please fill this out and share amongst your network so we can get as many people as possible to assist in our cause. Anyone who is on the electoral roll can fill this out so tell you friends and family!

http://www.taxpayers.org.au/keep_online_poker_legal

Done.

Let's keep the pressure on. Check Facebook/Twitter every day and share/retweet

Done. All Australian players should use the form to contact their MP only takes a minute or so and Joey has some key meetings with politicians coming up, it would be good if they're also hearing about it from constituents

Done.

Done. Nice work joey.

JoeyDel,

Here is the Amendment bill - https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016B00186

please point me out which section exactly makes Online Poker Illegal? and what are the real consequences of these changes?

thanks

Done.

No clue if he plays online but Michael Kroger Vic president Liberal party is always around AM time. If anyone else has seen Libs/Nats around the tables they would be the ones to get onside. The prob is they need NXT.

Hey MyPokerPlan,

The Amendment Bill only includes the changes to the original act so has to read with the IGA (2001).

The definition of prohibited gambling service in the original act was something along the lines of "Any game of chance or mixed skill/chance played for monetary value or equivalent."

So in a way nothing has changed, but it has. The Amendment bill takes the enforcement responsibilities away from the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and gives total enforcement powers to the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA).

We have survived this long because the ABA would refer cases to the AFP and they would say we don't have jurisdiction.

The ACMA will be given powers to fine illegal providers up to $6m a day and the responsible person of that company could be fined $1m a day for every day that operator continues to make itself available to Australians.

Major employees of prohibited gambling services will also be banned from entering Australia and risk having local assets seized.

A "Name and Shame" register of illegal operators to be shared with regulated countries.

Force Australian based operators to comply with the gambling regulations of other countries.

Those are some of the changes that have direct ramifications for not only poker, but also eGaming.

Cheers

Laz

Further to Laz's comments, Pokerstars have already said that they will pull their services from Australia if the legislation passes.

In addition to the points raised by Laz above...

If I've read it correctly, and I am not a legal person:
"a service relating to betting on the outcome of a game of chance or of mixed chance and skill" was considered and still is considered in the proposed amendment an "excluded wagering service" i.e. it is legal (along with sports betting, horse racing etc.)

However, in the proposed amendment, 26 Section 8A, they've added the text: "so long as the other conditions (if any) determined under subsection (6) have been satisfied."

and subsection 6 is:

"(6) The Minister may, by legislative instrument, determine one or more conditions for the purposes of subsection (5)."

In other words, they're handing the minister the power to legislate against any operation that they want for any reason they see fit. So even if the current minister chooses not to exercise this power, a future minister might choose to do so and would not be required to seek approval from anyone.

Joey,

F.Y.I this is a response I received from Steven Ciobo's Office on the Gold Coast:

Dear Mr Muznik

Thank you for your recent email regarding online poker and whether it will be affected by the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill (2016).

Minister Ciobo has taken the liberty of drafting a personal representation on your behalf to the Minister for Human Services, the Hon Alan Tudge MP.

Minister Ciobo will be sure to let you know as soon as our office receives a reply.

Mr Muznik just enquiring for our records, what is your residential address?

Yours sincerely



James Turner
Office of the Hon Steven Ciobo MP

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment
Federal Member for Moncrieff


67 Thomas Drive
Chevron Island Qld 4217
PO Box 4922
Gold Coast MC Qld 9726
T (07) 5504 6000 F (07) 5504 6944


Obv. I amended name but thought it funny they asked for residential address when it was on both the form & electoral roll

Hey MyPokerPlan,

Great question which has largely been answered by those above.

The key thing to remember is that (at the moment) no online poker sites are licensed or regulated in Australia. As mentioned, Pokerstars has confirmed that they will pull out of the Australian market if the amendment passes in it's current format as it is evident that they would otherwise be operating outside of Australian law.

The last thing we want is for online poker to be pulled from the Australian market and to then try to retrospectively come back after regulation has occurred.

A simple amendment to clarify the exclusion of online poker is all that is required. It allows the bill's intent to be achieved with problem gamblers being protected through the removal of gambling operators who set up offshore with the sole purpose of targeting Australians without causing the loss of a popular hobby and past time for many law abiding citizens.

Great stuff Muznik! If you can all kindly update me with the responses you get it would be appreciated (either through here or by emailing australian.online.poker.alliance@gmail.com). This will allow us to keep a track of what responses we are receiving from whom.

Let us know what you hear back from the Minister.

Also re this it probably means that when they looked you up on the system they couldn't find you at the address. May just be a typo on their end though.

Basically every time you contact an MP with an issue that issue is tagged against your name (so they know what issues are important to you and can target accordingly).

The data all gets collated centrally which is good as hopefully they are starting to see a lot of people talking about online poker nationwide.

Sent a follow up email to my MP Karen Andrews. Will update the thread with her reply.

Got a call back from Karen Andrews office from one of her staff saying she'd take the proposal to Karen and contact me back at some point in the future. She sounded very positive (I mentioned Ciobo seemed to be in favour of the proposal and is from a neighbouring electorate) and I namedropped Joey sponsoring the motion and it passing his NSW LNP branch unanimously.

Will update the thread whenever I hear back from them for now it was just a 'i'll give the basic info to the MP and let you know what she thinks'

We should definitely make an effort to contact a few MPs. Maybe we can arrange for a dozen or so poker players to show up at Bandt's office during Aussie Mills as a way to lobby the greens since that's in his electorate? Or a similar trip to whoever the nearest LNP Senator's office is

hi guys,

sorry to be a pain, whats the likely date that this atrocity will take place?

Sent to Kevin Andrews in Menzies

888 just announced they closing all australian accounts in 3 days. wtf is it related to this?

eh yeah also got the same message. Do you guy expect pokerstars to take make a similar decision in the very near future?

Email

Spewing....

Guys share this petition in local poker groups in your area on facebook. Even if you don't play with them, they will be interested and may repost it for visibility.

https://www.change.org/p/keep-online...edium=copylink

Although the petition may not do much, it gives a good idea of the ramifications of the bill.

Get them to fill out this one if they want to make a difference.
http://www.taxpayers.org.au/keep_online_poker_legal