1. Is Ignition Poker Legal In Australia Right Now
2. Is Ignition Poker Legal In Australia Fires

World’s 3rd Largest Site Traffic Wise. Ignition Poker is one of America’s largest online card rooms in terms of pure traffic to operate outside of the country. Even though Ignition is a fairly new name you must have heard of their alter egos, including Bodog, Calvin Ayre and Costa Rica. Operating under the same roof as Bovada, Ignition goes back all the way to 2004 when the previous. Winning Hands in Poker. Black Diamond Poker Open Tournament. Ignition Poker’s premier tournament series is the Black Diamond Poker Open. Since 2011, the BDPO h.

When the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill passed through the various stages of the Australian Parliament in 2017, it began to look like a version of Black Friday that plagued the United States online poker market. Operators that were a part of publicly-traded companies withdrew from the Australian market without any delay, and there was no licensing process in place to allow them to regain access to those players.

It was a Black Friday for many players, though some independent sites and networks remained open to Australians. Online poker sites affiliated with Bovada, the Winning Poker Network, and the Chico Poker Network proceeded with business as usual, as those operators have done in many other markets around the world.

That is all changing, however. The reasons are unclear. There may have been a catalyst that the operators are not sharing publicly, but whatever it was prompted the Chico Poker Network to exit Australia in April 2018 and then the Winning Poker Network to do the same in August 2018, nearly one full year after the larger, publicly-traded companies made that same decision.

Chico’s Announcement

After the initial withdrawals of 888poker, PartyPoker, and PokerStars from Australia, the next major moves didn’t happen until April of this year when Chico removed its sites from the market. That meant players no longer had access to BetOnline, Tiger Gaming, and Sportsbetting.ag.

Many players discovered the network’s exit from Australia when they were blocked from accessing their accounts or establishing new ones. Other players received notices from Tiger Gaming, citing the Interactive Gambling Amendment Act as the reason. They were advised to withdraw all funds by the end of April, as all withdrawal limits and restrictions had been lifted to make it happen quickly.

WPN’s Announcement

In August of this year, Australian players began having the same experiences, this time with WPN sites like Americas Cardroom, Black Chip Poker, True Poker, and Ya Poker. Again, many players received no announcement until they inquired with customer service about their inability to access their online poker accounts on the various sites. Others discovered the news via online poker forums.

The Winning Poker Network gave players no official message as to a deadline for withdrawing funds or a process for facilitating the shutdown of those accounts. Instead, each player seemed forced to contact the customer service department for further information and assistance.

Players were particularly affected by the WPN exit from Australia because the player pools were still significant enough to make online poker a part of one’s poker career. The tournament series, weekly guarantees, and cash games that were shared with those in places like the United States made them a somewhat lucrative venture.

But when WPN left only months after Chico, it left players with few options.

Remaining Options Solid but Few

Australians are left with only one major site for real-money online poker, which is Ignition Poker. The site only became available to Australian players in July 2017, but its popularity in the market has grown. Players quickly realized that Ignition is a part of the network that includes Bodog and Bovada, which both have years of experience in the poker industry online.

The site’s tables are comprised of American and Australian players, all of whom are grateful for a place to play online. It is difficult to know one’s opponents, however, because all games are anonymous so as not to give experienced players any leverage over newer ones. There are quite a few cash game tables running at any given time, and daily tournaments run with guaranteed prize pools. And a big draw for Ignition players is the ability to deposit and withdraw via traditional methods like Visa and Mastercard or virtual currency like Bitcoin.

Other sites are available at the current time, but their future is unclear. Sites like Juicy Stakes Poker and Nitrogen Poker are smaller and not as well known. SwC Poker has been in business for many years and has a solid reputation, but the operator deals exclusively in virtual currency.

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Australia’s online poker players have seemingly lost another outlet for playing their game with the news that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has ordered the blocking of the large grey-market offering Ignition Casino. The ACMA on Monday issued the blocking order to the country’s internet service providers (ISPs), specifying Ignition Casino and eight other online gambling sites that have continued to accept Aussie customers following that country’s official ban in 2017 on all forms of online gambling other than sports betting.

It’s the second time that the ACMA has issued such a blocking order. Last year, the ACMA ordered the blocking of another Aussie-facing operation, Emu Casino, which included multiple brands and domains. Emu Casino has since exited the Aussie online sphere while reaching a workaround deal with Aussie authorities that allows customers to retrieve their frozen Emu balances through separate means. The ACMA has ordered the blocking based on updates made to both gambling and telecommunications laws in Australia.

In addition to Ignition Casino, the ACMA also ordered ISPs to block these sites: Roo Casino, GW Casino, Wager Beat, Joe Fortune, Casino Dingo, AU Slots, Top Bet, and XBet. As is plainly evident, some of these sites specifically targeted Aussie gamblers despite the country’s ban on such services, while others may simply have failed to proactively block Australian players.

“More than 79 complaints have been submitted to the ACMA about these services, which are available in Australia,” the ACMA declared in a statement. “ACMA investigations found these services to be operating in breach of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001.”

The regulator also noted that “Website blocking is one of a range of enforcement and disruption options the ACMA uses to protect Australians against illegal gambling services. More than 90 illegal companies have pulled out of the Australian market since 2017 when the ACMA started enforcing new illegal offshore gambling rules.”

Ignition Casino is a spinoff of the Bodog/Bovada brand family. Ignition Casino was created in August of 2016 through the sale of Bovada Poker’s US customer base to Lynton Limited, an unknown entity with little previous track record. Despite its “casino” name, Ignition was created as a poker-first offering, and it remains operating as a skin of sorts on Bodog/Bovada’s software, and it appears to have accepted players from at least a few other countries as well, as evidenced by the current situation in Australia. The site is officially regulated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), based just outside Montreal, Canada.

The loss of a prominent and stable grey-market offering (given that no formal regulatory mechanism is even being considered) is likely to drive Australia’s devoted online players even farther underground in the virtual sense. One likely result should be an even greater shift to the “club”-based form of online poker generally available through agents and via smartphone apps. Such apps and games first surfaced in Pacific Rim countries ranging from China to Australia, and despite their high risks, they’ve become an option of last resort for certain categories of online players. No formal regulatory plans are on the country’s legislative horizon.

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