Push to keep online poker legal in Australia gains momentum

AFTER months of disappointment and frustration, there is a glimmer of hope for Australian poker players.

Proposed alterations to the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 would protect online poker and casino-style games from restrictions aimed at the sports betting and racing industries.

Among the bill’s chief objectives is to tie up the loose ends in existing legislation that allow online bookmakers to continue offering live wagering via smartphone and tablet devices.

Australian law stipulates that in-play betting may only be undertaken in person or via telephone.

However, canny wagering operators have used a number of clever runarounds – including the controversial ‘click to call’ feature – to dodge those restrictions in the past.

The government hopes to put a stop to those shenanigans once and for all by updating the current laws to include specific clauses that criminalise online in-play gambling.

Yet those amendments, as they stand, are worded in such an all-inclusive manner that they would also apply to games such as poker and blackjack, both of which require punters to make wagers in real time during the run of play.

The consequences of that open-ended drafting are already being felt.

A number of online gambling operators have removed their products from the Australian marketplace as a result of the IGA 2016 bill, including 888 Poker, Leo Vegas and Vera&John.

That has led to the formation of the Australian Online Poker Alliance, which hopes to convince Canberra to add caveats that would exclude real money poker from the in-play betting ban.

Now the cause has a vital ally in Senator David Leyonhjelm of the Liberal Democratic Party, who has introduced an amendment that would effectively legalise both online blackjack and online poker.

Sheet 8054 proposes the inclusion of a simple phrase – “casino-style poker or blackjack gambling service” – in any section of the bill that lists approved online gambling activities.

The second reading of the IGA 2016 is scheduled for March 20, 2017.

What we think of the proposed online poker amendments

Sometimes, hope is all you have.

Senator Leyonhjelm might not a wield a hell of a lot of authority within Parliament House, but a fledgling ally in the halls of power is much better than none at all.

Word on the grapevine is that the Lib Dem’s proposal is floating on a gentle undercurrent of support from various corners of the Senate.

And should the amendments make their way into legislation, the repercussions will extend well beyond the realms of online hold’em poker.

Legalisation of virtual and live dealer blackjack games, however implicit or explicit, would be very positive news for the online casino industry as a whole.

In the meantime, Aussie poker players should make the most of the next four weeks or so and pray for something special to happen on the river.