{"id":43747,"date":"2017-01-13T15:00:40","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T23:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=43747"},"modified":"2017-01-13T16:15:04","modified_gmt":"2017-01-14T00:15:04","slug":"888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz\/","title":{"rendered":"888poker Leaves Australian Market, Online Poker Under Threat in Oz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">888poker has pulled out of the Australian market in anticipation of an imminent change in the country\u2019s gambling laws.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">An amendment to the 2001 Interactive Gambling Act will shortly clarify that only operators holding a license in Australia will be able to offer its products to Australians.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_43750\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43750\" data-style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/28b771511651bde5a3633bfa7597c890.jpg\" alt=\"Shane Warne\u2019s 888 Quits Australia \" width=\"600\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/28b771511651bde5a3633bfa7597c890.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/28b771511651bde5a3633bfa7597c890-142x96.jpg 142w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-43750\"class=\"text-description\">Aussie cricket legend Shane Warne was for years the face of 888Poker, but the site announced on Wednesday it will leave the Australian market for good. (Image: 888Poker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\">And since the country only licenses sports betting, and not online poker or casinos, sites specializing in the latter verticals, like 888, have little recourse but to withdraw from the market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cFollowing a business reevaluation, we\u2019d like to inform you that\u00a0888poker\u2019s services are not being offered to players residing in Australia and therefore your account will be closed as of 16\/01\/2017,\u201d read a short email to the site\u2019s Australian players on Thursday.\u00a0\u201cYou can still withdraw funds from your bankroll at any time using our web cashier. Please check your email for more information.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><b>Massive Fines<\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">Previously, sites like 888poker operated in a legally grey area; casino and poker were not specifically legal but there was no specific law saying they were illegal either.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The new rules are designed to make life tougher for offshore operators to target Australians. To continue to do so would render the sites black market operators, which could affect their licensing in other jurisdictions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Meanwhile, heavy fines are threatened for those that choose to remain. The amendment will allow the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to impose penalties of up to AU$1.35 million ($1 million) per day for individuals, and up to AU$ 6.75 ($5 million) for companies, found to be in violation of the law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Of course, the irony is, the new rules will drive away reputable companies like 888 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pokerstars-likely-to-pull-out-of-australia-says-amaya-but-india-beckons\">PokerStars<\/a> who wish to comply with the law.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Meanwhile, with no licensed poker or casino sites to choose from, Australians will have no choice but to engage with less reputable sites, for whom the threat of fines from a media authority on the other side of the world holds little menace. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><b>Existential Threat<\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">While, as of today, PokerStars is still operational in the country, during an earning call late last year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amaya-ceo-david-baazov-charged-insider-trading-quebec-regulators\">Amaya<\/a> CFO Daniel Sebag said that if the legislation passes, as expected, Australian players would likely be blocked by PokerStars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">PokerStars and 888 are the two biggest poker sites in Australia, and their loss is an existential threat to online poker in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cAs the Bill is currently written, it will spell the end of online poker in Australia,\u201d writes the author of a petition on change.org, calling for an adjustment to the legislation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201c\u2026All we are asking is for the\u00a0Government to amend the Bill to\u00a0stipulate the exclusion of online poker.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">You can sign the petition <span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/keep-online-poker-in-australia?recruiter=652960958&amp;utm_source=share_petition&amp;utm_medium=copylink\">here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>888poker has pulled out of the Australian market in anticipation of an imminent change in the country\u2019s gambling laws. An amendment to the 2001 Interactive Gambling Act will shortly clarify that only operators holding a license in Australia will be able to offer its products to Australians. And since the country only licenses sports betting, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":43750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,19],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>888poker Leaves Australian Market, Online Poker Under Threat in Oz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"888poker has withdrawn its services from Australia in response to a new law which would have rendered it a black-market operator.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"888poker Leaves Australian Market, Online Poker Under Threat in Oz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"888poker has withdrawn its services from Australia in response to a new law which would have rendered it a black-market operator.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-13T23:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-14T00:15:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/28b771511651bde5a3633bfa7597c890.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz\/\",\"name\":\"888poker Leaves Australian Market, Online Poker Under Threat in Oz\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/28b771511651bde5a3633bfa7597c890.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-13T23:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-14T00:15:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"888poker has withdrawn its services from Australia in response to a new law which would have rendered it a black-market operator.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/28b771511651bde5a3633bfa7597c890.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/28b771511651bde5a3633bfa7597c890.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":405,\"caption\":\"Aussie cricket legend Shane Warne was for years the face of 888Poker, but the site announced on Wednesday it will leave the Australian market for good. 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