Australian Government Rejects Poker Proposal

Australia’s Productivity Commission recently made a recommendation that the country legalize online poker. However, the Australian Government as a whole seems unlikely to take that step anytime soon, meaning that online poker is unlikely to become legalized in the country for the near future.

Recently, the Productivity Commission was asked to take a comprehensive study of gambling in Australia. The results of this study were published on Wednesday, and included comments on online poker. The government, it said, should work with state and territorial governments to “amend the Interactive Gambling Act to permit the supply of online poker card games,” as part of a strategy to liberalize online gambling laws. A draft version of the report called for the complete repeal of the Interactive Gambling Act, but this recommendation was not present in the final report.

At the moment, while the advertisement of online poker sites is common in Australia, these sites cannot allow Australian players to play for real money.

The Productivity Commission is an independent research and advisory body that works in the Treasury Portfolio of the Australian Government on microeconomic policy and regulation. The Commission attempts to make recommendations that are independent of the wishes of government or industry interests, and these recommendations are often used as the basis for later policy initiatives.

However, this is not always the case, and at least for the time being, it seems as though the Australian Government has no immediate plans to change the laws governing online gambling. Statements from government officials have been consistent, arguing that the benefits of legalized gambling would not outweigh the harm caused by an increase in problem gambling, and stating that there are no plans to remove the current ban.

This report comes on the heels of the recent ruling in neighboring New Zealand which determined that free play .net websites were not gambling operators and that poker tournaments should not be classified as gambling.

These findings were part of a much larger report detailing many recommended changes to gambling law in Australia. Other recommendations included using a pre-commitment scheme to help players set spending limits, and taking further steps to minimize the harm caused by problem gambling.