Australian Government add Poker websites to ACMA “Blacklist”

April 20, 2009

In a strange turn of events some very well known poker rooms and gambling establishments have been placed on the Australian Media and Communications Agency’s (ACMA) dreaded “blacklist”.

The Australian government has been toying with the idea of making ISP’s (internet Server Providers) effectively block websites of their choice that they deem to increases its citizens exposure to questionable material online. Initially, the list contained sites that a reasonable person might agree controls are required - child pornography, extreme violence, weapon-making etc – however over the last few weeks a significant amount of “creep” has occurred and this list now includes the two behemoths of the online poker world Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars.

Sceptics of the scheme say that this is a way of getting the Australian gambler to spend his money at home. After many years of boom the economic outlook for resource rich Australia does not look so rosy. They are losing revenue fast due to the huge drop in commodity prices and have recently lost the ability to raise money through taxing alcopops. All this drop in revenue coincides with a spending stimulus of $42 billion AUS. However, going into the global slowdown Australia seemed better placed then most with many years of budget surpluses.it enjoyed. It makes the decision to attempt to make a few theoretical dollars from online poker players all the more astounding.

The idea initially was about creating a software filter that people could opt into but as the creep has expanded into more politically sensitive websites (straight and gay porn sites and sites that promote various religions.) Apart from the inevitable mistakes (a Dentist and a School Canteen Consultant have both been put on the list!) people are up in arms that peoples liberties are being encroached upon. So it wasn’t surprising then that someone at one of the ISP’s the ACMA originally sent it’s first draught list to leaked it to http://wikileaks.org (an online news information house).

The thing that strikes me is that now that America seems to have turned the corner with allowing Party Gaming to settle their differences out of court (well they won’t prosecute them!) Australia is taking a major step backwards in the liberalisation of the industry.

Here is a list of the poker rooms / poker related websites that would be affected if the legislation eventually becomes law:

bodoglife.com
ultimatebet.com
cdpoker.com
hollywoodpoker.com
fulltiltpoker.com
pokerstars.com
absolutepoker.com
paradisepoker.com
mansion.com
betfair.com
888.com
coralpoker.com
goldenpalace.com
pacificpoker.com
partypoker.com
pokerroom.com
williamhillcasino.com
vegaspalms.com
gamblingclub.com
pokernews.com/duplicate-poker/

Who knows if it will all come to fruition? There are some big names on that list and i’m sure there will be much lobbying on behalf of the gaming websites going on in the corridors of power there. Whether or not that will be enough to stop the ACMA in its tracks remains to be seen.

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