{"id":300512,"date":"2023-11-27T06:48:24","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T12:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=300512"},"modified":"2023-11-27T10:49:38","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T16:49:38","slug":"tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasmania Bans Poker as Illegal Gambling, Except at Casinos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tasmania was the first state in Australia<\/a> to introduce legalized gambling, and like many other parts of the world, poker has become a huge part of the gaming ecosystem. That has now changed, as the government has decided to ban the game everywhere except at its casinos.<\/p>\n

\"Players
Players celebrate after Sam Perkins won the 2022 Australian Poker League Tasmania Main Event. The state has decided to ban all poker unless it takes place at a casino. (Image: APL Major Events via X)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ban seemingly comes from what constitutes legal gambling in Tasmania. Despite having operated for years without issue, organizations like the Tasmanian Poker League and Australian Poker League (APL) are apparently now unwelcome.<\/p>\n

The government, with the help of the Tasmanian Liquor & Gaming Commission (TLGC), the state’s gaming regulator, decided that the game of poker<\/a> is illegal only in clubs and pubs. As long as a casino organizes a game, there’s no problem.<\/p>\n

Poker Clubs Forced to Fold<\/h2>\n

Craig Abernethy, the founder of the Australian Poker Schedule<\/a> website, brought the ban to the attention of Casino.org<\/em>. At the heart of the issue is how the clubs set up their tournaments and games.<\/p>\n

Tasmania doesn’t allow poker games that require a cash buy-in unless a casino is the host. It’s the only Australian state with this prohibition. To get around that restriction, poker clubs, and even friendly pick-up games at pubs, have employed a unique solution. Instead of cash, players can buy merchandise as their buy-in.<\/p>\n

Poker is a game that anyone can and does play and compete at, from seniors, the deaf and hard of hearing community, people with a disability, male, female, young, old, it doesn’t discriminate,”<\/strong> said Abernethy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When the TLGC figured out how the process was working, after receiving a tip from someone, it decided to squash the practice. Now, the three organized poker clubs operating in Tasmania, and their thousands of players, are out of luck.<\/p>\n

\n

Abernethy says the ban will impact “hundreds of people” that the poker operators currently employ. The clubs and pubs also make money from food and beverage sales, and the TLGC’s decision will cause an economic ripple at perhaps the worst time of the year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The ban reportedly covers only those games that use the merchandise purchasing system as the buy-in. However, the Tasmanian Poker League said on its Facebook page that it was canceling a freeroll, an event that has no buy-in, because of the ban.<\/p>\n

Ban Bites into Entain<\/h2>\n

The TLGC has argued that it isn’t the presence of a cash buy-in that is at issue \u2013 it’s any type of buy-in. Any noncasino poker game that requires an entry fee to participate is prohibited by the state’s gaming regulations.<\/p>\n

\n

The decision not only impacts hundreds of club and pub workers and thousands of players, but it also bites into global gaming operator Entain’s<\/a> revenue. The gaming company purchased the APL earlier this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Entain said in a statement that the APL ran poker games for “25,000 customers in pubs and clubs” in Tasmania over the past year. It, along with the other poker clubs and industry heavyweights like Abernethy, are now trying to get the TLGC to undo the mess it created.<\/p>\n

In Texas, some poker clubs have had success<\/a> in legally circumventing the state’s ban on gambling by employing a unique system. The tournaments and games are freerolls, but the clubs charge a membership. There’s no rake, and a game with a $10K prize pool means 100% of the money goes to the winners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tasmania was the first state in Australia to introduce legalized gambling, and like many other parts of the world, poker has become a huge part of the gaming ecosystem. That has now changed, as the government has decided to ban the game everywhere except at its casinos. The ban seemingly comes from what constitutes legal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":300511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83771,13592],"tags":[81985,81907,81915],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTasmania Bans Poker as Illegal Gambling, Except at Casinos - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tasmania has banned all competitive poker games across the state, except for those organized by licensed casinos.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tasmania Bans Poker as Illegal Gambling, Except at Casinos - Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tasmania has banned all competitive poker games across the state, except for those organized by licensed casinos.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-27T12:48:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-27T16:49:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Players-celebrate-after-Sam-Perkins-won-the-2022-Australian-Poker-League-Tasmania-Main-Event.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"799\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erik Gibbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erik Gibbs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/\",\"name\":\"Tasmania Bans Poker as Illegal Gambling, Except at Casinos - Casino.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Players-celebrate-after-Sam-Perkins-won-the-2022-Australian-Poker-League-Tasmania-Main-Event.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-27T12:48:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-27T16:49:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/21bf33e35290a1da9c572298dac6b7ca\"},\"description\":\"Tasmania has banned all competitive poker games across the state, except for those organized by licensed casinos.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Players-celebrate-after-Sam-Perkins-won-the-2022-Australian-Poker-League-Tasmania-Main-Event.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Players-celebrate-after-Sam-Perkins-won-the-2022-Australian-Poker-League-Tasmania-Main-Event.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":799,\"caption\":\"Players celebrate after Sam Perkins won the 2022 Australian Poker League Tasmania Main Event. The state has decided to ban all poker unless it takes place at a casino. (Image: APL Major Events via X)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Poker\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/poker\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Tasmania Bans Poker as Illegal Gambling, Except at Casinos\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/21bf33e35290a1da9c572298dac6b7ca\",\"name\":\"Erik Gibbs\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-13-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-13-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Erik Gibbs\"},\"description\":\"Erik Gibbs covers global gaming news for Casino.org. His scope includes Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. Erik has covered gaming markets in Europe and Asia for the past six years. Erik joined Casino.org in November 2021. Erik has written for numerous gambling- and a handful of industry publications has quoted casino-related media outlets over the years and. He is always excited to bring a new perspective on what's happening in the gaming space. Erik enjoys following the global gaming industry, paying particular attention to innovation and regulation. Originally from the US, Erik has spent extensive time living in various countries across the globe. He enjoys anything that has to do with the outdoors and exploration, although he readily admits that he would have no trouble spending all day fishing on a boat. He currently resides in Spain. Contact Erik at erik.gibbs@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/erik-gibbs\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tasmania Bans Poker as Illegal Gambling, Except at Casinos - Casino.org","description":"Tasmania has banned all competitive poker games across the state, except for those organized by licensed casinos.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tasmania Bans Poker as Illegal Gambling, Except at Casinos - Casino.org","og_description":"Tasmania has banned all competitive poker games across the state, except for those organized by licensed casinos.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2023-11-27T12:48:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-27T16:49:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":799,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Players-celebrate-after-Sam-Perkins-won-the-2022-Australian-Poker-League-Tasmania-Main-Event.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Erik Gibbs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Erik Gibbs","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/","name":"Tasmania Bans Poker as Illegal Gambling, Except at Casinos - Casino.org","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Players-celebrate-after-Sam-Perkins-won-the-2022-Australian-Poker-League-Tasmania-Main-Event.jpg","datePublished":"2023-11-27T12:48:24+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-27T16:49:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/21bf33e35290a1da9c572298dac6b7ca"},"description":"Tasmania has banned all competitive poker games across the state, except for those organized by licensed casinos.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Players-celebrate-after-Sam-Perkins-won-the-2022-Australian-Poker-League-Tasmania-Main-Event.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Players-celebrate-after-Sam-Perkins-won-the-2022-Australian-Poker-League-Tasmania-Main-Event.jpg","width":1200,"height":799,"caption":"Players celebrate after Sam Perkins won the 2022 Australian Poker League Tasmania Main Event. The state has decided to ban all poker unless it takes place at a casino. (Image: APL Major Events via X)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tasmania-suddenly-bans-poker-as-illegal-gambling-except-at-casinos\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Poker","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/poker\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Tasmania Bans Poker as Illegal Gambling, Except at Casinos"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/21bf33e35290a1da9c572298dac6b7ca","name":"Erik Gibbs","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-13-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-13-96x96.png","caption":"Erik Gibbs"},"description":"Erik Gibbs covers global gaming news for Casino.org. His scope includes Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. Erik has covered gaming markets in Europe and Asia for the past six years. Erik joined Casino.org in November 2021. Erik has written for numerous gambling- and a handful of industry publications has quoted casino-related media outlets over the years and. He is always excited to bring a new perspective on what's happening in the gaming space. Erik enjoys following the global gaming industry, paying particular attention to innovation and regulation. Originally from the US, Erik has spent extensive time living in various countries across the globe. He enjoys anything that has to do with the outdoors and exploration, although he readily admits that he would have no trouble spending all day fishing on a boat. He currently resides in Spain. Contact Erik at erik.gibbs@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/erik-gibbs\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300512"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":300576,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300512\/revisions\/300576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}