Playing Online Poker In Australia
admin 3/18/2022
Last week, an amendment to revise Australia's online gambling laws passed the Australian Senate. An exemption was attempted for online poker but that failed. The bill now moves on the country’s House of Representatives, which is widely expected to vote for the legislation.
This means that within a few months, that online poker will effectively be restricted in the country. For Australian players, this means that it will be more difficult to play online poker. Players will no longer have access to many of the world’s most popular poker rooms (like PokerStars), but instead a selection of less regulated -- but often underrated -- poker rooms.
If this sounds like of familiar, it’s the same thing that Americans have had to deal with since the UIGEA famously passed in in 2006 and to a larger extent, after the events of Black Friday in 2011
What Happened?
All of these Australian poker sites offer both a play money version and a real money version. This means that players from Australia can play for fun or they can play real money online poker. World Series Of Poker - Online Poker. Play Online Poker For Real Money And Get Amazing Bonuses! Nowadays in almost every online poker site can be found a variety of bonuses to the customers. In some online poker Australia legal sites are bigger bonuses, in others they are smaller. But in any case today there are profitable bonus programs.
Before we explain what happened last week, let’s back up. In 2001, the Australian government attempting to restrict online poker by passing the Interactive Gaming Act. However, just as America’s Wire Act wasn’t enough to cover online poker, there were loopholes which allowed many top operators to continue to operate in Australia comfortably.
This week, the Interactive Gaming Amendment Bill 2016 was passed to revise the language of the 2001 bill and other related laws. Even though it’s not officially law right now, the passage is all but inevitable -- something that is evident by the poker rooms leaving the market as it just has to pass the Australian House the Representatives.
While the law looks destined to pass, Senator David Leyonhjelm is working on presenting a Committee inquiry to have the law amended (again). Leyonhjelm was a leading opponent of an online poker exemption and critical of efforts to amend the law.
What Can Australians Expect Next?
Over the last few months, a handful of poker rooms have left the Australian market, notably 888 earlier this year. Some online poker rooms had left the market over the last few years, such as William Hill. PokerStars, the largest online poker site in the world, has it made it known that they intend to comply with the law, likely no latter than when it's finally passed. Party Poker is another poker room that is expected to leave the market some time in the next few months.
Where Can Australians Still Play?
It is expected that most major European-based poker rooms will stop servicing Australian players soon if they haven’t already.
Looking at the example in the United States is likely a fair comparison here, as these poker rooms are the most likely to continue to offer games. At the moment, US players are effectively limited to Ignition Poker, the Winning Poker Network, the Chico Network, Merge Gaming and the Horizon Network.
Ignition and Merge are out because they already do not accept Australians. We reached out to BetOnline (which is on Chico), Americas Cardroom (WPN) and Intertops (Horizon) to see if they intended to continue offering games to Australians. Only Americas Cardroom indicated they would with other poker rooms providing no comment.
| Likely Australian Online Poker Options (after ban) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Poker Room | Peak Traffic Size | Notes |
| Americas Cardroom (WPN) - Bonus Code: RBN | 1700 real money players | highest traffic, fast cashouts, above average promotions |
| BetOnline (Chico) | 1200 real money players | fast payouts, large bonus, good games |
| Intertops (Horizon) | 135 real money players | Reputable room, low traffic, good promotions |
So these sites will offer games, but can players really trust them? The answer may surprise you. Even though these sites will apparently going against the will of the new amendment, some have a surprisingly good track record. Over the past decade since the United States first major online poker crackdown there are a handful of sites that have survived, and even thrived, while accepting U.S. players. Many of the scam poker rooms have come and went (hopefully to never be seen again). But to make it this far for more than a decade, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where these types of rooms fail now.
So what does a successful poker room look like? It's a site with decent to good traffic, one that respects poker players and has a good track record of paying players on time. Virtually all U.S. facing poker rooms meet this description, certainly Winning Poker Network and Chico, at the very least. Although there likely will be some poker rooms perfectly willing to ignore the new law, there may be other hurdles. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will now have the power to create a blacklist and impose civil penalties. While the threat of these actions still may not deter operators, ISP blocking is also an option for enforcement, which would effectively cut off the market save for VPN usage (which is not recommended).
What Should You Do?
Even if you make the decision to continue playing online poker from Australia, virtually everyone will agree this is not an ideal environment in which to play. This is why individual states in America are consistent trying to pass new legislation that allows Americans to play.
Me waking up to the news that online poker will be banned in Australia @partypoker#devastatedpic.twitter.com/IuX77ANUsn
— Jackie Glazier (@JackieGlazier) March 21, 2017Despite how safe most unregulated online poker rooms are, nothing beats playing at a poker room that has the safeguards and security of a room that is licensed in your country. That should be the aim of any player enjoys poker.
If you are a citizen of Australia, it’s important to contact your representatives and let your voice be heard that you support a citizens right to play poker online, just as you can legally play poker in a brick and mortar casino. The Australian Online Poker Alliance is a non-profit organization offering information for players on the situation and what they can do to assist in the efforts. As the AOPA says, players should continue to “bring the noise.”
While it doesn’t look good right now for Australian poker players, consistent pressure of a long period of time can lead to surprising results.
If you’re looking for online poker real money, there are a few options you can try out. These sites for online poker for real money range in variety, but one thing they all have in common is that they let you play poker for real money. Here’s some information on these sites.
Ignition
This online poker casino lets you play poker online for real money. It’s consistently rated as one of the best online poker sites for US players. The reason why it’s rated as one of the best online poker sites US players is due to its various features. Some of the features it has included a 100% casino match bonus that goes up to $1000. This means that for every dollar you deposit, you get $1 in return from the site.
It’s also known for having some strong developer companies behind the slot games. Realtime Gaming and Rival are considered by many to be among some of the best developers for slots in the business. Plus, you also have the option for adding Bitcoin to your deposit account, which is attractive to many people due to the fact that there’s some anonymity to it and many people are happy with the security.
Playing Online Poker In Australia Right Now
Bovada
Bovada is a popular poker online location for people from the U.S. It has a lot of opportunities for real online poker options for making money. It started out in 2011, and it has a real email and phone contact info so that you know it’s legit. People love the racebook and sportsbook options along with casino options, all from the same account. Bovada actually appeals directly to US players and focuses exclusively on them. It gets excellent ratings online and has built up a reputation as a trusted organization.
You can deposit and withdraw funds easily from the site, minus a lot of the hassle that you may get with other sites. The Welcome Bonus is good up to $3750. Among the community for casinos on the Internet, it has a reputation for actually paying players who win quickly. This is critically important among an industry that often doesn’t meet these high standards.
They have a huge number of games with over 150 casino games. You can cash out of the site in just 4 days, and it should never take longer than a week. They take a number of different credit cards, as well as Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
Intertops
Intertops also gets some strong reviews, especially in the area of sports betting. They are one of the longest-lasting games in town. They receive 4.5 out of 5 on many review sites, and many places indicate they have a strong performance when it comes to payments. There are apparently virtually no reports of them having a problem with not paying the people who won on their site.
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They are also known as being a place that pays players quickly. On Intertops, you get up to a $200 sign up bonus. They have been running since 1996. They can handle just about everything from basketball to NFL, MLB and other types of bets. They also offer poker or casino bets.
The place has a lot of support for customers, and you can contact them on a variety of different platforms including through Skype, through live chat, email or on the phone. They take bitcoin, and the estimated payout time through Bitcoin is just 48 hours.
Plus, if you don’t speak English, they still have you covered. You can instead get support in Spanish, Danish, Chinese, Portuguese, and many other languages besides. It’s all included.
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This is an excellent chance to play poker online, and pick any online poker game you want. You can play poker online whenever you want here.