The state of online poker in Australia
Poker is a game that has a very old connection with Australians. The Australians are one of the few nations in the world who have the distinction of having their very own poker game. Australia devised their own variant of poker which is now known as Manila. The game, supposedly, was born in the Snowy Mountains in the 1950s when work on a hydro electric scheme was being put in place. The game’s main features are that it is played with a 5 percent uncapped rake and it has 12 hands. Apart from the indigenously developed game, the country also used to play stud poker and draw poker games in those times.
Poker in Australia, like poker in the majority of countries, became popular owing to the game being televised on a large scale. Small cable television channels, large conglomerate channels airing poker games and the World Series of Poker resulted in the game gaining a lot of popularity amongst Australians. However, the true poker boom in Australia occurred back in 2005. The 2005 explosion of the game in this country can be directly attributed to the World Series of Poker victory of Australia’s adopted son, Joe Hachem. Since 2005, the game of poker has never looked back and has consistently grown at a fast pace.
Nowadays, there is a very popular and dominant culture in Australia for pub games of poker. In fact, the game has become such a favorite of the masses that there are numerous amateur poker clubs that span the whole country. These poker clubs hold poker nights in different pubs and clubs on various days with some even holding amateur tournaments. In addition to this, there are also multiple online poker rooms in the country.
Notably, one of the most famous and established forms of poker in the country is known as online pokies. While the Australians like to call it online pokies, the game is nothing but an online poker machine which is officially known as a ‘gaming machine’ in Australia. The most distinct difference between normal poker machines and their Australian counterparts i.e. online pokies is that the latter use visual displays designed to act like physical reels.
The main reason why online pokies are so popular in Australia is simply that these poker machines have a greater rate of payouts. Online pokies can offer a greater payout rate than physical pokies simply because the overhead cost of online casinos is very low when compared to the overhead cost of brick and mortar casinos. The result is that online pokies end up offering a payout rate that is four times that of the payout rates of local casinos.
The game of poker became legal in Australia in the 1970s. While the country had numerous illegal card rooms and underground clubs where poker used to be played since the 1950s, the first legal card room only came into being in the 1970s at the Adelaide Casino. However, once the first legal card room was in place, there was an immediate domino effect with both the Canberra Casino and the Crown Casino also launching their card rooms.
It is worth mentioning that real money poker outside the casinos is also considered legal in the country. In fact, even poker tournaments with elaborate prize money and entry fees are legal in the country. However, this does tend to vary on the basis of the provinces or states involved. For example, in Victoria and New South Wales poker tournaments with prize money and entry fees are legal with the exception that players pay commission. Similarly, poker tournaments held in private residences are also legal as long as there is no entry fee or any other form of compensation for participation.
While the legality of poker inside and outside casinos was accepted by the governing elite of the country without much fuss, the arrival of online casinos created problems because the ruling brass became worried about the potential addiction of the population. Resultantly, there was a lot of hesitation amongst the governing bodies of Australia with regard to regulations that would guide the online casino industry in the 1990s. Even with this opposition, online pokies and online poker games remain one of the favorite pastimes of Australians along with games like cricket and rugby.
There are primarily five major casinos in Australia that have card rooms that offer legal poker games. Here is a small list.
Major Land Based Casinos in Australia
- Casino Canberra: Casino Canberra is a European type casino located in the capital of Australia i.e. Canberra. As it is located near the airport in the capital of Australia, it tends to rope in numerous tourists in addition to the locals. The casino also hosts small weekly tournaments and one large annual tournament. There are a variety of poker games available here including two versions of stud poker, Omaha poker, draw poker and, the most famous, Texas Hold ‘em.
- Star City: Star City is one of the largest casinos in the world with a 1.5 million square feet gaming area. It also has the distinction of being open for 24 hours, every day of the year. Star City, which is located in New South Wales, also ropes in tourists and locals just as Casino Canberra owing to its proximity to the harbor. The pokers games that a player can find in Star City include Texas Hold ‘em, two variants of stud poker, Omaha and two variants of the indigenously developed game, Manila.
- Lasseters Hotel Casino: The Lasseters Hotel Casino is one of the oldest casinos in the country as it was established an eon ago in 1981. The casino, and the hotel, is located in Alice Springs and offers tables to all types of players, regardless of the limits involved. The casino has one poker table and numerous video machines or slot machines. Lasseters also offers an online casino for its patrons.
- Crown Casino: Crown Casino in the Crown Entertainment Complex of Melbourne is widely regarded as one of the biggest casinos in the southern hemisphere as its floor length is a whopping 1500 feet. The casino has around 2500 slot machines and over 300 separate tables. The poker card room of the Crown Casino offers five variations of poker including Texas Hold ‘em, Stud, Draw, Omaha and Manila. One of the foremost attractions of Crown Casino is its themed rooms i.e. mahogany, teak and oak rooms. The Crown Casino also hosts two major Australian tournaments. The first is the Australian Poker Championship which lasts for a week and has prize money to the tune of 1.3 million dollars. The second tournament held at the Crown Casino poker card room is the World Speed Poker Championship that has a prize money of 100,000 dollars.
- Burswood Resort Casino: The Burswood Resort Casino is a part of the Burswood Entertainment Complex which is located on Swan River in the city of Burswood. The casino offers around 1300 slot machines and over 120 table games to its patrons. Moreover, the casino is located in close proximity to an airport and the city of Perth. A player can find multiple different types of poker games at the Burswood Resort Casino with draw poker and 7 card stud some of the favorites. In addition to this, the casino also holds the Burswood Sapphire Series Poker Challenge which has a prize money of 100,000 dollars.
While the country as large as Australia only boasts of five casinos, these casinos are well placed to allow the majority of tourists and locals access to them. In addition to these casinos, there exists a pub poker culture in Australia that is worth exploring for any poker aficionado.
The pub poker culture is facilitated by various national and regional poker clubs in the country which help bring in players for participating in the pubs while, at the same time, coordinating the weekly or monthly events.
The Australian poker scene, as mentioned earlier, owes its popularity and its great presence to the win of Joe Hachem back in 2005 at the World Series of Poker. Joe Hachem is a Lebanese Australian but is still seen as the first Australian ever to win the World Series of Poker of 2005. The win caught the fancy of the majority of Australians because Hachem took away prize money of 7.5 million dollars which was the largest ever prize money at that time. Joe Hachem added to his own legend by winning the World Poker Tour title the following year.
Another well known Australian poker personality is Gary Benson who is the first ever gold bracelet winner at the World Series of Poker. Gary Benson won his gold bracelet through the seven card stud event of the World Series of Poker of 1996. Gary Benson also holds the distinction of being an inaugural inductee into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame. Benson, like most poker professionals in Australia, also has an alternative profession. Benson is a chess master.
