Australia’s online gambling bill ready to become law

It emerged as a long-called-for revision of the nation’s online gambling law. Australia’s original gambling law was implemented back in 2001 as the Interactive Gambling Act.

The Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 was crafted with the intention to provide clarity over the legal state of online gambling operations. It generally prohibited the provision of unlicensed igaming services to Australian players. However, the bill did not include provisions on how interested international operators could apply for the necessary approval to enter the local market.

With the amendment bill now being signed into law, online casino games, poker included, are practically illegal in the country. Minister Tudge’s piece of legislation was voted by the Australian House of Representatives in March. The bill was then sent to the Senate to be reviewed and voted on. The upper house of the Parliament passed the piece on August 9.

Last fall’s introduction of the bill caused quite a lot of confusion in the industry as some of the world’s largest online casino and poker operators were operating in the Australian market at the time. Several of them departed the country even before the bill entered the House, with some of those being Vera&John, 32Red, 888poker.

PokerStars was one of the operators to wait until the bill was signed into law before closing their online gaming parlors to local players. Yet, the world’s largest online poker room informed its Australian clients that it was planning a mid-September exit.

As mentioned above, the newly implemented ban on igaming included the provision of online poker services. Earlier this month, the Australian Senate’s Environment and Communications References Committee heard from local players, fellow lawmakers, and other involved parties on the state of the nation’s online poker industry. The committee was also presented with arguments on why legalized online poker would be a better move than banning it.

Committee members are also preparing a report based on a recently completed inquiry that asked interested parties to voice their opinion on the matter. The report’s publication is due September 21.