General Poker Discussion Poker Forums

http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/media_releases/2012/082

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, has today released his Department's interim report into the review of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA) for public consultation.

The review into the IGA by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is the first since 2004.

The review proposes a number of changes to the IGA, including:

Introducing a national standard for harm minimisation and consumer protection;
Strengthening enforcement and deterrence measures against overseas unlicensed online gambling providers;
Increasing awareness among consumers about the risks of using unlicensed gambling providers;
Establishing a trial of online tournament poker in Australia, subject to a strict regulatory framework and a requirement that participating providers cease providing higher risk gambling services to Australians, like online slot machines;
Prohibiting micro-betting (such as ball-by-ball bets in cricket or point-by-point bets in tennis) across all platforms; and
Requiring that any form of 'in-the-run' wagering, on any platform, be approved by the relevant state regulator and the national sports governing body.

"This is an interim report only. The Government has made no decisions about possible changes to the IGA and will not do so until we have had further public consultation with interested parties."

In preparing the interim report, the Department has engaged closely with community and counselling organisations, states and territories, sporting organisations, gambling organisations, financial institutions, broadcasters and gambling researchers. They have also considered submissions from the general public.

"I encourage anyone with an interest in this issue to carefully consider the Department's interim report and provide their feedback," Senator Conroy said.

A copy of the interim report can be found at www.dbcde.gov.au/igareview

Baby steps, but hopefully things are looking up for Australian poker players.

They're looking to implement it so you can only play 1 tournament at a time per licensed site (they say it's to minimize harm, which seem the key thing they want in regulating the market). Also this could easily turn into an isolated, hugely taxed market like France.

Right now we can play on (almost) any site in the world and freely deposit/withdraw, so this is actually a terrible development.

edit: Btw it's perfectly legal to play online poker in Australia right now. The IGA only states it's illegal to supply poker, but companies outside Australia are basically untouchable in the current climate, so the IGA only really applies to companies with Australian operations (merge, betfair, willhill)

"Strengthening enforcement and deterrence measures against overseas unlicensed online gambling providers;"
This bothers me a lot, as it could essentially mean game over for Australian poker professionals.

The only way I can see this being anything short of terrible is if the Australian's are allowed to play all the game types and there is no cap on the number of tables or stakes. Even then the tax might be really bad.

Looks like I'm going to be grinding insane volume now given this development.

Also I think if you are an Australian player this is really terrible news. Super tilting to hear some people actually think that this is a good development. Given that it's Conroy involved, who wanted to censor the internet for Australians, I can't see why this would be good for anyone who plays poker in Australia.

This will be spun in such a way that online poker is lumped in with slot machines. The moralizing over this is somewhat sickening because sports betting and betting on horses isn't going to be going anywhere any time soon. Obviously things would be better for people's lives if slot machines weren't in a ridiculous number of venues in Australia but I get the impression that in this push to "save people from themselves" that poker is almost certainly going to be banned too. It's pretty much game over for Australian online cash game professionals if this gets through as is and I see many of these people relocating to other countries if this happens.

I'm hoping (perhaps naively) that the supposed enforcement won't come to much. Australians have been playing for the last 11 years without the IGA being enforced once as far as I know, which is incredible considering the amount of hype that's been going on the last few years with reports of people going bankrupt and others apparently winning $500 000 annually. I can't see that changing anytime soon.

What they're expecting to happen is the creation of new Australian-only operators, who will obey the enforcement and provide a safer environment for recreational players. This would give us the option of staying with the current sites or moving to a smaller, but fishier, player pool.

I for one am happy that we're moving in this direction. Since Black Friday, the government has been looking at reviewing the IGA in one of two ways: complete prohibition or regulation. Given those two options I'll take the one that lets me keep playing.

What gives the government(s) juristiction over what people do with their own money with other people who want to play a game w/ money with them? How is this any of their business? Just because money is out there changing hands they think they are automatically entitled to demand a cut? WTF???!!!

what are the chances this passes? I apologize if it is locked because just skimmed the thread. I hope for shuttle and all others it doesn't pas...

II for one am happy that we're moving in this direction. Since Black Friday, the government has been looking at reviewing the IGA in one of two ways: complete prohibition or regulation. Given those two options I'll take the one that lets me keep playing.

Honestly this isn't actually regulation for online poker, it's effectively a prohibition.

I just read through the whole interim report here:
http://www.dbcde.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/148779/Interim_Report-Review_of-the_Interactive_Gambling_Act_2001.pdf

It certainly seems as though if this goes through it's the end of professional online poker playing in Australia and possibly the end of online poker in Australia. The recommendation is that cash games be banned outright and only tournament play would be allowed and only playing one table would be allowed.

Unlike the IGA it seems as though more effort on enforcing this is likely too, so again if this passes it's more than likely going to be game over for online poker in Australia.

All this is under the guise of protecting problem gamblers yet in the same report sports betting and horse racing are explicitly allowed to continue as before. The hypocrisy here, while completely standard, is sickening.

Sounds like more sad news for online poker..the future is bleak imo.

Not being negative at all just kinda hard to turn a blind eye to the direction in which things are heading

*Edit - which sickens me greatly also

Sounds like more sad news for online poker..the future is bleak imo.

Not being negative at all just kinda hard to turn a blind eye to the direction in which things are heading

*Edit - which sickens me greatly also

The Full Tilt fiasco hasnt really helped though has it? The aussie govt. might be wanting to protect against that happening again?

yea FTP havent helped anything for sure, i dunno im kinda sceptical about goverments protecting people...it kinda translates to taking away freedom of choice...just kinda sucks if you play for a living in Austraila and due to the gov's protection you can no longer make a living.