Online poker in banned countries? (1 Viewer)

[drdr]

I'm looking to play online right now. I used to play a lot online and am starting to miss it. Problem is I live in Australia where it is illegal for online casinos to let me deposit or play. Seems there is only one domestic online casino option, which is Ignition Australia. Hardly any one paying... cos it is shite. Only Australians, all players are anonymous, there is no chat, cannot select seats, cannot view tables until you enter the buy in amount. They've sucked all the fun out of playing.

Man I miss PokerStars from before the Australian laws changed. I currently have PokerStars installed and can watch any table I like. But not allowed to register an Account. Still better than Ignition Australia.

Use a VPN? It's rare online casinos allow that for players in banned countries. They find out I'm in Australia... ban and lost funds.

Anyone else out there in a similar country yet still manage online poker? How?

 

[LeLe]

I used Natural8 (GGpoker Asia counterpart) which is playable in Singapore where we also have Online Poker banned

 

[drdr]

I used Natural8 (GGpoker Asia counterpart) which is playable in Singapore where we also have Online Poker banned

Okay, interesting. How did you do it? Or was it simply an unenforced ban?

 

[WedgeRock]

@Perthmike

 

[LeLe]

Okay, interesting. How did you do it? Or was it simply an unenforced ban?

They just not banned / blocked by the government, I have no idea why thou.

 

[drdr]

They just not banned / blocked by the government, I have no idea why thou.

Went to their website.
"We are sorry. We do not offer real money gambling in the country you are in".
Sad times.

 

[LotsOfChips]

VPN will probably get you able to set up an account and deposit money, although you probably run the risk of forfeiture when trying to get your money back into a bank account in a blocked country (although they always seem happy enough to accept money from those accounts). Maybe BitCoin deposits/withdrawals might get around that. And NEVER EVER try to log in without the VPN active, or your account will probably be flagged (again probably no immediate consequences until you try to withdraw the money).

 

[ngmcs8203]

I’m pretty sure PokerStars and other major online sites have checks in place to make sure you live in the market from which you are playing. So if you want to use a VPN, you’d still need an address/bank account in the are in which you are trying to play from.

Ignition, ACR and GG all have ways of getting around deposit restrictions (crypto for acr and ignition, agents for GG). Each has their downsides.

 

[drdr]

Thanks all. Just FYI, is legal for me to play , just illegal for online casinos to let me play. Sad it seems I'd have to break T&Cs and lie just to play some poker.

Bit of digging seems to suggest a VPN with a kill switch is required in case the VPN drops and then true IP is suddenly revealed. Also would likely need a VPN that provides an unique IP to hide signs I'm using a VPN. So looks like a premium VPN would be needed. The added cost kind of such VPNs drives off new and casual players. Kind of sad for poker here.

On top of that there's hardly any live (non home) games in Perth. Only one casino and not many pub/club games since licensing is very restricted to only charity games. The casino hasn't run tournaments for 2+ years due to getting busted by the government for dodgy operations. Due to high labour costs the casinos smallest cash game buyin and rake is steep enough that no newer players are interested.

I hear there is a poker boom globally... not here.
With online blocked by laws and limited live games...poker seems near dead here.