On Monday, 888poker closed all Australian accounts for its popular online poker room. Players were given little warning, only receiving an e-mail about the disappointing event on January 13th.
The message in the e-mail was as follows:
Following a business reevaluation, we’d like to inform you that 888poker’s services are not being offered to players residing in Australia and therefore your account will be closed as of 16/01/2017.
You’ll continue to be able to withdraw all funds from your bankroll using our web cashier.
If you’ve already registered to any of our tournaments starting from 16/01/2017 onwards, please unregister as you won’t be able to participate.
Regards,
888poker team
888 did not explain what this “business reevaluation” actually entailed, but dollars to doughnuts it has to do with the proposed Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016, which would update the country’s decade-and-a-half-old online gaming laws. Advanced by Australia’s Minister for Human Services Alan Tudge in November, its primary aim is to curb “in-play” online sports betting. This type of wager – placing bets while a game is in action – is allowed in Australia, but only via telephone call. Thing is, many offshore operators (and some in Australia) have made smartphone apps that allow players to place in-play bets. The theory is essentially that since the bet is being made with a phone, it is still legal.
That’s all well and good, but what does that have to do with 888poker? It doesn’t, really, except for the fact that the bill would also require operators to obtain Australian license to offer their games in the country. Fines for violators could reach as high as AUS $6.75 million (USD $5.05 million).
Poker has been in one of those legal grey areas in which it is not explicitly legal, but not explicitly illegal, either. Thus, operators have been providing their services without really any fear of punishment.
888poker is not the first online gaming operator to make the decision to withdraw from the Australian market. In December, Vera&John made the same move, siting a similarly mysterious “business decision.”
In November, Amaya even mentioned this as a possibility. In the company’s third quarter earnings call, CFO Daniel Sebag said, “In Australia, we currently offer poker and are reviewing the applicability of proposed legislation to player versus player games of skill. At this time, it would appear likely that if the legislation passes, we would block players from Australia. As we do not offer casino sportsbook in Australia, it currently contributes to about 2.5% of our revenues and we estimate it could reduce our EBITDA margin by up to a 150 basis points.”
As for 888poker, as of the beginning of this week, it is the second largest online poker room in the world, coming in with a seven-day average of 2,300 cash game players in PokerScout’s rankings. PokerStars.pt (Portugal) is third with 1,700 players, so 888poker will likely remain in the second spot, but it will be interesting to see how much the gap is closed with PokerStars.pt.
and yet 888 poker still has their australian players on real money cash game tables lol…they’ve not even really banned them, just taken the australian flag off their username so that it looks like there isn’t any australians.