By the end of last month, we have reported the the Australian authorities have completely banned online gambling in their country, meaning that Australian players can no longer gamble online unless the do it through am Australian licensed online casino. Having sad that, this has come to no surprise that one of the leading affiliate programs, TTRpartners, who promotes some of the industry giants like 32Red and RoxyPalace, has now withdrawn it's operations from the Australian market.
In an informative statement, TTRpartners have informed all their registered affiliates to stop sending Australian players for registration to their brands, namely 32Red, RoxyPalace, Casino Splendido and Nedplay to name a few. As from tomorrow the 3rd of April, TTRparteners brands will no longer accept registrations from Australian players while this clearly shows that move is first step from totally withdrawing their operations from the Australian gambling market.
It is pretty clear that this will not be the last withdrawal from this badly hit market. Back in January this year (2017) we also have reported that 888Poker is to leave the Australian market right after Vera & John also departed the Australian online gambling market.
Although it's still not 100% clear when the new legislation is coming to force, we should be expecting other major operators and brands to follow the same footsteps others are taking and leave the market as soon as possible. Once the new legislation is in force, each and every online operator conducting it's business without an Australian licence, will be considered as conducting criminal activity and will be prosecuted under the new Gambling Amendment bill of 2016 which practically closed all loopholes in the Interactive Gambling Act.
PokerStars, which is one of the biggest online poker provider around the world, has already let everyone know that as soon as the amendments are approved, they will definitely exit the market. PokerStars has already gone through hell when they where hit hard in the US market for offering poker with real-money right after the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) was implemented. I really don't think that they will be in for another roller coaster ride with gambling laws, or at least one would hope so.
