You must be hanging around too many pokie players

Is it really that easy though? I've been talking to some friends and it seems pretty hard/annoying. Like residency laws, taxes, setting up banks as a poker player and all that kinda ****.

But anyway, this situation seems grim. If this does happen, will we be given sufficient warning to withdraw all the money in our accounts? I'm getting pretty nervy.

It's pretty unlikely we see anything similar to what happened on black Friday imo. The government doesn't have the power, money or desire to shut down the major sites in the same manner that the doj did. I'd guess that the most likely thing is that some bureaucrat rings up pokerstars and tells them to stop serving Australians. I'd also guess that pokerstars will more than likely listen because they are trying to preserve their international reputation for working with governments. Probably the smaller sites just get ignored.

Some argue that there is enough in the law now to go after them now; however, I have also read arguments (from the Department of Broadband) that additional legislation is needed to strengthen the IGA.

Also, Xenophon in a balance of power increases the chance he will say to Abbott, "I'll pass legislation x if you enforce the IGA as you said you would do during that joint press conference we had."

No chance the laws banning online poker will be enforced.

Mark my words.

i would tell you to go look at the odds on betfair, but no doubt you'd tell me right-wing money is propping up that line also. anyway, luckily for you, there appears to be tens and tens of thousands for you to make here.

The Libs don't need to change the law, offering online poker is already illegal. They have been talking about enforcing existing law, not some new regulation. Therefore it doesn't matter if they get a majority in the Senate or how full their legislative agenda is. All they need to do is fill the appropraite cabinet seats and make sure the budget has enough money to enable enforcement.

Whether they will make good on a popular campaign promise if they sense a different way to make more money from online is as yet unknown.

Since what threatens is an enforcement action, drawing down online balances is a prudent move.

It is hard to debate, or even doubt, such a thorough argument.

Yes this is probably the biggest concern.....Pokerstars just withdraw from the Australian market without a fight.

quote:

Would be nice if countries with the worst grinder/fish ratio were to be banned (Ukraine/Belarus) instead of rich nations that are loaded with recreational players (US/IT/SP/FR/AUS?).

Lets all hope and pray that the Russian gov doesn't enforce their anti gaming laws or that is the beginning of the end

It's a popular campaign promise? Maybe you and me both differ on what constitutes 'popular'. But the average joe citizen IMO would be unaware of these possible, impending changes, so therefore I can't see it as being all that 'popular'. Especially around here

Isn't our market too lucrative for them to go without a whimper? You know with having a stronger (not strong) economy than most.

Just wouldn't have thought the % of Australian customers they have is that great so wouldn't hurt their bottom line a great deal to lose us.

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW! THIS IS FULLY ****ED! IM A LIBERALIST BUT ****KKKKKKKKKKKK

It may not be popular with you or your mates, but the Libs wouldn't be making campaign promises like this if they didn't think it would be popular with the people whose votes they wish to attract.

This is exactly the sort of promise a right-of-the-other-guys party makes to secure its base and convert the worried and the xenophobes - support the vice laws and come down hard on criminals, especially foreign ones.

It may come as a surprise to you, but gamblers - even poker players - are not the most esteemed members of society.

I don't know the full details of what each party will enforce once they are elected, but as an Australian how can you not be worried regardless of what they've promised?

After seeing what happened on Black Friday in the USA, many of us can only assume the worst when it comes to online poker in Australia. Whether or not the severity of Black Friday occurs or maybe something as small as deposit minimums, until something happens, all Australians will be in fear as their livelihood or hobby can be stripped from them once they've lodged their vote in the upcoming election.

Situation sucks, but we can just hope for the best that Black Friday #2 doesn't roll around Down Under.

don't vote for the party wanting to ban poker. simple

You seem to have taken all the comments in and given an informed comment, ty

Can you expand on this? I would have thought that if poker sites were forced to disallow Australians from playing, they would let us cash out our balances.

But it's never going to be worth the risk, You can redeposit without fees at any given time but you may get stuck with all your money online if **** really hits the fan.

Just operate the bare minimum for a few sessions and keep a track of your roll offline.

Ok so online poker gets banned in australia, Whats going to be the problem cashing out after it does ?

Also how will it effect online ewallets like skrill and neteller etc .. ?

Agree, the legislation is already in place (since 2001). It just has never been enforced. All that needs to happen now is for the governement to notify the ISPs within Australia to block the relevant gambling sites ( including Pokerstars etc). So with a 'flick of a switch' online poker maybe gone within Australia possibly within a month.
Another scenario is that Pokerstars will ban Australia players as early as the day after the election. They have done this before in other countries as soon as legislation has passed or ready to be enforced..Pokerstars do not need to risk acting unlawfully in country that has <%5 of its player pool, especially after the hit they took from the DOJ in relation to Black Friday.

While I agree with the general sentiment, it seems to me that the large majority of players I see from Australia are regs. Not sure what is up with this, or if its just my imagination (edit: just realized that it may have to do with a popular perception in Australia that online poker is already illegal..?).

In any case, I hope this all works out as well as possible for your Aus players. The whole poker world takes a huge hit anytime another country decides to ban or ring-fence online poker.

My MP (Philip Ruddock) is having a forum at a small business in my area tomorrow. I'll try to squeeze in a few words with him about online poker.