Merge Poker Bans Australians - The Ins and Outs from my Prospective

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Merge Poker Bans Australians - The Ins and Outs from my Prospective

It isn't often I go an entire week without positing or writing. Alike many people it has been a long hard time for me even if the DOJ and FBI didn't seize the sites i play on. Regardless of not being a US citizen I can no longer play poker on my home turf and have lost my poker deal with FeltStars. This is due to the Australian Government Laws. What happened? How did it happen? Is this because of the US online poker happenings? What effects have there been on me personally? These are things i have been asked. Here are the answers.

Firstly, what happened?

The Merge gaming network allowed FeltStars to be the first Merge site to accept Aussie players, last year,2010 in May by memory. I was signed with FS (feltstars) and started June 1st 2010 as a team pro. Merge then started accepting Aussie players network wide I think just over 1 month ago. The US black Friday incident happened leaving me a little worried but being in Australia I assumed it would not effect me. I then received the following statement at around 11pm on Tuesday the 19th of April:

Unfortunately it is against the law for Australians to use Real Money on our site. Unsure when this will change, but there is some progress in parliament in regards to changing this law. Only a preliminary review has been conducted.

Online Gambling Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA), Parliament established a regulatory system which makes it an offence to provide certain interactive gambling services to a customer physically present in Australia. The prohibited interactive gambling content under the IGA includes services that are often described as 'online casinos' and usually involve using the Internet to play games of chance, or games of mixed chance and skill. Examples include roulette, poker, craps, online 'pokies' and blackjack

I freaked out at this statement and went to my friends at Ontilt Radio (banner on the left of this blog) and asked if they had any news. The news was grim for Merge players but at this stage not for me as a FeltStars player.

I received the following statement 30 minutes later:

Effective immediately we have had to reactivate our ban on real money play for Australian players using the Merge cashier. A restriction has been put in place so that Australian players can now submit a withdrawal from the Merge cashier, but cannot deposit or play for real money. This has been forced by recent industry changes. We request that you send a mailout to your Australian players advising them that "Unfortunately is no longer able to accept real money play from Australian players at this point in time. You are still able to withdraw your funds via the cashier. We thank you for playing with us and apologise for the inconvenience ."

I looked at the wording, logged onto FeltStars and was able to play. All other Merge sites were bringing up messages about the ban and restricting play. I realized that FS did not use the Merge cashier system and that I could still play.

Unfortunately 2 days later FeltStars made changes to their site implementing the Merge Cashier. At 12:35pm AEST I saw the site go down for the cashier change and that was the last time I or any other Australians could play.

How does this happen?

Merge now (again) has the policy not to accept Australian players. The IGA (Internet Gaming Act) of 2001 pinpoints the legal issues that sites can find themselves in if they allow Australian players on their sites. Since this Merge incident has happened and black Friday in the USA, it has been notated in the press that many instances in Australia have been referred to the AFP (Australian Federal Police) which I "guess" are equivalent to the FBI in the USA. This poses real issues for Merge as they are Australian based. Merge following the rules of the Australian Government is the same as Party Poker following the ruling of the US government. For Merge to stop offering services to Australians is an ethical and legal move which will hopefully stop them getting in the same issues as sites in the USA.

An article from The Australian a newspaper in Australia sums up the happenings for the land down under:

"Australian regulators -- including the Australian Communication and Media Authority and the Australian Federal Police -- have failed to enforce the ban, despite ACMA confirming it had received 46 "valid complaints" about the sites in the 2009-10 financial year.

An ACMA spokesperson said those complaints were "still being investigated".

It also can be revealed that all three major online gaming operators targeted in the US investigation had their sites hosted by Sydney-based IP servers."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/local-banks-handling-us-online-poker-bets/story-e6frg6nf-1226042446419

Obviously this is something an Australian based company doesn't want or need, which is how this happened in my opinion.

Is this because of the US online poker happenings?

This has a lot to do with the US poker happenings and black Friday. If black Friday never happened there would be no need for this to happen in Australia with the Merge network - or moreso it wouldn't have happened so quickly. Let's remember that the US online poker issues have made media headlines and obviously raised flags in other countries. Countries such as Australia which are now investigating as indicated in the article above.

What effects have there been on me personally?

This has made my world collapse. I am very much a home body that spends my time on poker related articles and online play. I have severe anxiety and choose to stay at home most of the time doing "my thing" which no longer exists.

I obviously will have issues getting paid my hobby writing fee as a columnist by online poker sites who relied on funds from the large US poker sites (advertising funds). I also have no bankroll as it was all on FeltStars, no longer am I playing poker. I have gone from winning and cashing out to playing freerolls and 1c/2c games overnight pretty much. Only last week I was in $500 cash pots with up to $600 on tables at any given time. Now I am lucky to have a $5 pot and $5 on a table.

I have many poker related internet sites which I will not be working on or operating at this stage, I will no longer be on radio as there is nothing for me to say. If one was to look at the status of online US pros - at this moment I am the same. Lifeless and fruitless and i have to tell you its mentally draining being the first Australian online pro to have this happen to them.

This alteration in my life has caused me grief and many tears. I know I am not the best poker player in the world - not by a long shot, but regardless poker was my life, fun, and hobby and a means to buy the additional things my children needed. It has crushed my soul to work for years on a sponsorship so I had money to play with - to now be "homeless" and starting again.

I have had to re-do my personal budget and my finances look bleak. I had somewhat become reliant on this game of ours and my writing associated with it. I now face the uphill battle everyone does in the poker industry yet again - to get somewhere.

I have had some offers placed on the table and briefly discussed, I will deal with them over the coming weeks, after I have gotten over this life changing event.

Please note I do not for a second think that players from any other site that reside in Australia will be effected at this stage. Alike the US it will take a long time for anything more to happen - years! In saying that - poker players in Australia can obviously play on the various other sites and networks available to them and play in my opinion at this stage with an easy mind.