{"id":45615,"date":"2017-02-22T13:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T21:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=45615"},"modified":"2017-02-22T12:35:28","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T20:35:28","slug":"aussie-politician-online-poker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aussie-politician-online-poker\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie Politician on Online Poker: \u201cScrew the Government, Get a VPN\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">If Australia\u2019s online poker players are unable to convince politicians to call off a proposed ban on online poker, they should \u201cscrew the government,\u201d get themselves a \u201cVPN and and an offshore account,\u201d and carry on as they were.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_45618\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-45618\" data-style=\"width: 620px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-45618\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1460129917321.jpg\" alt=\"Senator David Leyonhjelm joins fight for online poker in Australia\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1460129917321.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1460129917321-142x80.jpg 142w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1460129917321-166x93.jpg 166w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1460129917321-533x300.jpg 533w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-45618\"class=\"text-description\">NSW Senator David Leyonhjelm does not mince his words when it comes to the government\u2019s proposed amendment to interactive gambling laws. He is preparing his own amendment to have online poker excluded from the bill. (Image: Sydney Morning Herald)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\">These are the words of Liberal Democratic Senator for New South Wales David Leyonhjelm, a libertarian politician in the mold of Ron Paul with a reputation for speaking his mind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">A VPN, or virtual private network, allows internet users to disguise their location by connecting to proxy servers elsewhere in the world, thus circumnavigating geo-restrictions.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><b>No Online Poker License Available <\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">Leyonhjelm, who made the comments in a video uploaded to his Facebook page this week, said he was currently talking to the government about rethinking the proposed amendment to the 2001 Interactive Gambling Act. The amendment, which is expected to pass, seeks to make it harder for offshore, unlicensed operators to target Australians, but it has the added effect of banning online poker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">It clarifies that only operators holding a license in Australia will be able to offer their products to Australians legally, and since the country does not license online poker, just sports betting, respectable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-leaves-australian-market-online-poker-threat-oz\">operators have no option other than to beat a hasty retreat<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>The 2001 bill permitted only \u201clicensed operators\u201d to engage with the market, but failed to clarify where those operators needed to be licensed, offering a legally gray area in which online poker sites could operate.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><b>Paint it Black<\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">The new amendment will make Australia a black market for online poker, and continuing to offer games in the country will result in hefty fines for operators, and could jeopardize their licensing in other jurisdictions. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">888Poker has already exited, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pokerstars-likely-to-pull-out-of-australia-says-amaya-but-india-beckons\">PokerStars has said that it expects do so too<\/a>, once the amendment passes. These are the two biggest online poker sites in the world and together account the vast majority of the Australian online poker market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><strong>\u201cThese interactive gambling laws are supposed to be about preventing match-fixing in sports, which makes no sense when applied to online poker because it\u2019s not a spectator sport,\u201d complained Leyonhjelm, referencing one of the flimsier arguments that have been offered in support of the bill.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI\u2019m talking to the government about reconsidering the legislation, but if they go ahead I will put forward amendments to make an exception for online poker and blackjack. In the meantime, it might be worth contacting Minister Alan Tudge and politely reminding him that you play online poker and you vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">And if that fails, crack out the VPN, says Leyonhjelm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If Australia\u2019s online poker players are unable to convince politicians to call off a proposed ban on online poker, they should \u201cscrew the government,\u201d get themselves a \u201cVPN and and an offshore account,\u201d and carry on as they were. These are the words of Liberal Democratic Senator for New South Wales David Leyonhjelm, a libertarian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":45618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,19,60,13,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Aussie Politician on Online Poker: \u201cScrew the Government, Get a VPN\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Online poker is being supported by a Liberal Democrat Senator for New South Wales who is fighting for online poker in Australia and not mincing his words.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aussie Politician on Online Poker: \u201cScrew the Government, Get a VPN\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Online poker is being supported by a Liberal Democrat Senator for New South Wales who is fighting for online poker in Australia and not mincing his words.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aussie-politician-online-poker\/\" \/>\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=\"2017-02-22T21:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-22T20:35:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1460129917321.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"349\" \/>\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\/aussie-politician-online-poker\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aussie-politician-online-poker\/\",\"name\":\"Aussie Politician on Online Poker: \u201cScrew the Government, Get a VPN\u201d\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aussie-politician-online-poker\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aussie-politician-online-poker\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1460129917321.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-22T21:00:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-22T20:35:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Online poker is being supported by a Liberal Democrat Senator for New South Wales who is fighting for online poker in Australia and not mincing his words.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aussie-politician-online-poker\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aussie-politician-online-poker\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aussie-politician-online-poker\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1460129917321.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1460129917321.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":349,\"caption\":\"NSW Senator David Leyonhjelm does not mince his words when it comes to the government\u2019s proposed amendment to interactive gambling laws. 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