The Land Down Under outlawed internet poker, igniting conjecture regarding its regulatory aims as the government implemented the Interactive Gambling Amendment Act midweek.
Nevertheless, Australian authorities have verified that they are contemplating a comprehensive authorization structure that would essentially legitimize the online poker market once more.
Senator David Leyonhjelm has emerged as the primary advocate for online poker in Australia, and on Tuesday he declared that “he had obtained correspondence from Communications Minister Mitch Fifield informing him that he had directed his department to initiate preliminary efforts on assessing the viability of licensing providers to offer online poker to Australians.”
The central objective of the Interactive Gambling Amendment Act was to prevent unlicensed sports wagering operators from targeting Australian patrons, mandating that any entity accepting bets from Australians must possess an Australian license.
However, this had the regrettable consequence of effectively prohibiting online poker, as despite the earnest endeavors of Leyonhjelm and the Australian Online Poker Alliance to have online poker exempted from the forthcoming legislation, their attempts were disregarded.
Consequently, numerous online poker providers, including industry behemoths PokerStars and 888, were compelled to cease their services to Australian players.
Despite encountering obstacles this week, Senator Xenophon continues to firmly advocate for the creation of a fresh regulatory agency dedicated to internet gambling within Australia. His vision for this new organization is to emulate the UK Gambling Commission, guaranteeing that Australian poker enthusiasts can engage in their hobby within a safe and controlled setting, instead of being compelled towards possibly dangerous overseas platforms. He unequivocally declared his personal dedication to seeing this initiative reach completion.
