PartyPoker announced it plans to withdraw from the Australian market, due to passage of the Internet Gambling Amendment 2016 earlier this month. PartyPoker’s decision to leave Australia’s gaming market was expected.
In a release, PartyPoker said it plans to stop accepting Australian players on August 31, 2017. Aussie poker players with PartyPoker accounts need to withdraw funds in the near future, to avoid any complications due to the IGA 2016.
Tom Waters, PartyPoker’s managing director, said in a public statement, “We regret that this day has come as Australia is a strong poker market.”
PartyPoker Calls for Regulated Poker Market
Alluding to a wide-ranging coalition of operators and Australian poker players who want to reverse the current law, Waters said, “We will continue to work with the Australian player alliance to lobby the government to provide a safe regulated environment for residents to play online poker in the future.”
Internet Gambling Amendment Bill 2016
Earlier in August, the Australian Senate passed the IGA Bill 2016, which bans all remote operators from offering online poker or in-play sports betting to Australians. Previous measures purported to ban interactive gambling, but IGA 2016 closed loopholes.
Interactive Gambling Act 2001
Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, online and mobile gambling existed in a gray area. Illegal offshore operators were able to act with impunity, while no one was prosecuted for ignoring the law.
IGA 2016 carries force, because the UK and Canadian government regulators agreed to work with Australian federal authorities to punish offenders. To protect their UK and Canadian operations, PokerStars, 888poker, 32red, PartyPoker, and other legit operators had to leave the Australian market.
PokerStars Leaving Australia in Mid-September
PokerStars plans to leave Australia’s poker market in mid-September. 32Red announced its decision to leave in April 2017. 888poker announced its plans to withdraw from Australia in January 2017, while Vera&John left in late-December 2016.
Meanwhile, the Australian Poker Players Alliance formed in 2017. It is the Aussie version of the Poker Players Alliance in the United States. Like its US counterpart, the APPA is a lobbying group which hopes to change Australian gambling laws to a more gaming-friendly environment. The earlier likely success would be in 2019, when the next national election in Australia takes place.
Before the Internet Gambling Amendment Bill of 2016, Australia was seen as one of the stablest online gambling jurisdictions in the world. Australian land-based operators like Tabcorp and Tatts were able to convince the Australian government to ban online gambling, in order to protect domestic Australian gaming providers.
Australian Gambling Statistics
Australians spend more per capita on gambling than any other population on Earth — roughly $1000 a year apiece. This allowed the anti-online gambling forces to argue that Aussies needed protecting from themselves. Ironically, it is Tabcorp, Crown, and their like which collects most of the revenues from Australian gamblers.
Those companies have faced growth issues in recent years, so they argued their monopolies and duopolies should be protected by the government. While the publicly-traded online poker sites might leave the market, they will be replaced by private online card rooms. Australian online poker will go underground, for the time being.
