PokerStars Informs Australian Players That It Will Wind Up Operat

Posted by Carolyn on Aug 17, 2017 Posted in Poker News | No Comments »

PokerStars, the biggest online poker website in the world recently announced that it would pull out of the Australian market by mid-September. The online poker giant sent out emails to its players last week informing them of its decision to pull out after Australian legislators approved the Internet Gambling Amendment Bill of 2016 which bans unlicensed operators from offering online poker services in the country.

PokerStars Pulls Out Mid-September

PokerStars expected the bill to be approved and had suggested earlier this year that it would wind up operations in Australia by July end. A number of online poker operators have already exited the Australian market in anticipation of online poker being banned. 888poker which is the second biggest online poker website in the world shutdown operations in January 2017.

Australia has over 130,000 poker players in the country and PokerStars was doing pretty well down under. The company reported revenues of $202.9 million in the second quarter of this year, which was a drop of 5.9 percent when compared to the same period last year. PokerStars overall gaming win climbed as $305.3 million was recorded in the second quarter of 2017 when compared to $285.7 million in 2016, an increase of 6.8 percent.

Australian players will still be able to play real money games at PokerStars. The online poker giant has informed players that it will soon confirm the exact date that it will shut down operations. The Internet Gambling Amendment Bill of 2016 is expected to be rolled out within the next 30 days and PokerStars is expected to pull out before the bill is implemented.

PokerStars will allow online poker players in Australia to convert their StarCoin and tournament tickets into real money and withdraw the same into their accounts. The company will send across detailed instructions to players informing them of the withdrawal process and the deadlines for withdrawals.

AOPA Will Continue Fight

The Australian Online Poker Alliance (AOPA), a group consisting of online poker players have campaigned hard to educate legislators on the pros and cons of having a legalized online poker market. They were disappointed to see the Senate pass the bill so quickly as they wanted the Senate to review a detailed report that was to be presented to them on September 21.

The report is a detailed analysis of the online poker market in Australia and consists of online poker player feedback, expert opinion and the potential of creating an illegal online poker market in Australia by banning legalized online gambling.

 

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