The State of Poker in Australia With several glitzy casinos and one of the biggest poker tours in the world, Australia is a hub of activity when it comes to playing poker both online and off. The country’s casinos, combined with its relatively lax regulation when it comes to playing poker through major online services, makes it relatively hospitable to this fast-growing table game.
Going Offline: Major Casinos Throughout Australia that Feature Poker
Gambling in Australia’s game houses is regulated by the country’s 2006 Casino Control Act, which permits only certain table games and sanctions only certain casino to provide legal destinations for traditional, offline gamblers. This legal provision has enabled two of the country’s casinos, Sydney’s Star City Casino and Melbourne’s Crown Casino, to become some of the biggest gambling destinations in the world.
The two casinos are permitted to provide a large number of table games, including several of the most popular poker variations. Among the poker table games permitted under Australia’s Casino Control Act are Seven Card Stud, Draw Poker, Omaha Poker, and Texas Hold’em. Table games are paired with poker machines in virtually all casinos, and these machines are known in local Australian English as “pokies.”
The machines themselves, while perhaps most concentrated in casinos, are also available in bars, clubs, and pubs throughout the country. They’re practically a national pastime, and the country’s regulations allow them to be in virtually any public place as long as age-based gambling restrictions are enforced by the business that has installed the machines.
Going Online: A Legal Patchwork that Makes Things a Bit Confusing
In 2001, Australia’s parliament passed a law that made things a bit confusing for online poker players. Known as the Interactive Gambling Act of 2001, the legislation specifically prohibited gambling services from offering online poker games and other online variants to table games to Australian citizens. The law, however, did not criminalize the act of actually using online gambling services that are provided by outside companies. That means Australian citizens are well within their rights to gamble online, but the government reserves the right to shut down any gambling provider.
This law was seen largely as a formality for more than a decade after its passage by the country’s political establishment, but it was put into use during the first time in 2013. The Australian government requested that Apple remove the Poker Stars and 888 Poker apps from the company’s app store, citing them as violations of the law. Despite removal from Apple’s app store, the two sties remain available for browser-based poker tournaments.
Australian Currency Supported by Most Major Online Gaming Houses
Because gambling online is legal for Australia’s citizens, the country’s Australian Dollar is widely supported by all of the most popular gaming houses online. That includes the big names, like 888 Poker and Poker Stars, and well as other gaming destinations online including Bet365, Lucky Ace, and Betfair.
Again thanks to the lack of restrictions over personal online gambling, Aussie poker enthusiasts have access to virtually every major payment method currently available. While many people opt to go with PayPal due to its dominance in online payments, Australian poker players are free to use the Skrill service, NETeller, and the innovative PaySafeCard that has increasingly been used by today’s online poker players as a more affordable, secure alternative to more established services.
A Pastime: Poker in Australia is About More than Online Gambling
Australia is widely known as one of the most poker-obsessed, English-speaking countries. It’s one of the few countries where poker machines are virtually unregulated, appearing almost anywhere with a social scene and a few extra square feet of space. Its casinos are growing at a rapid clip, and its embrace of online poker is growing despite the government’s regulations.
That translates to poker tours as well, with the country serving as the home of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour, or ANZPT. The country is also home to the Australian Poker League, a semiprofessional organization for amateur poker players aspiring to one day be a part of the ANZPT in some official capacity.
With growth like that experienced in Australia, and the sheer size and weight of professional leagues, the country’s enthusiasm for the game is among the highest anywhere in the world. Combined with cutting-edge casinos in destination cities, it’s a great place to learn the game, develop skills, and enter into professional competition through leagues and the country’s ANZPT tour.
