Online operators keep leaving Australia

After the approval to ban online gaming in the country, PartyPoker announced its departure from the Down Under market.

Australia.- PartyPoker has become the most recent operator to announce its departure from the Australian market after the Governor-General Peter Cosgrove approved the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016, which paves the way to implement a new iGaming legislation with more impediments.

Under the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016, iGaming operators without proper licenses would be banned from the market, although it does not clarifies the requirements to obtain and implement an iGaming license. Therefore, gaming supporters consider the bill would only prohibit online gaming operations.

PartyPoker revealed that it will stop its operations on August 31. Managing Director of the company, Tom Waters, said: “We regret that this day has come as Australia is a strong poker market. We will continue to work with the Australian player alliance to lobby the government to provide a safe regulated environment for residents to play online poker in the future.”

Last week, PokerStars also announced that it will withdraw its operations from Australia on mid-September. The biggest online poker operator sent an email to its costumers to let them know that their money will be guaranteed, and that they would be contacted again once they have a specific date.