Australia has followed the United States' lead with their recent decision to ban online poker and live sports betting. Australia originally brought up this issue with their proposed 2001 Internet Gambling Act that aimed to outlaw all types of online gaming but that bill had loopholes that allowed Internet betting to continue. The Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill of 2016 aims to close those loopholes for good.
It's worked so far. 888Poker took the hint and left the Australian market in January and PokerStars is inevitably following suit. The latest legislation requires poker sites to be licensed in the country in order to offer their services to Australian residents – except there is no licensing or regulatory process for online poker at this time.
It's worked so far. 888Poker took the hint and left the Australian market in January and PokerStars is inevitably following suit. The latest legislation requires poker sites to be licensed in the country in order to offer their services to Australian residents – except there is no licensing or regulatory process for online poker at this time.