Committee Secretary Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600

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Committee Secretary Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Dear Sir\Madam I wish to record my opposition to the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill (2016) resulting in online poker being prohibited in Australia. I am a retired investment banker, aged 74, and I play on Pokerstars virtually every day. I love the game because at its heart is the requirement to make sometimes difficult decisions based on incomplete information. There is no doubt that luck plays a part in each hand of poker, but in the long run, the skills of the player will differentiate the outcome between players. Around the world there are many poker professionals (including Australian residents) who make their living playing poker, and in many cases, mostly online. Poker is played in two formats, cash games and tournament poker. In cash games, the players at a poker table compete with each other seeking to win the chips (or cash) each has in front of them. The loss a player can incur is limited by the amount he brings to the table. He is permitted to leave the table at any time. In tournament poker, a number of players pay a tournament entry fee forming an aggregate pool. Each player is allocated playing chips (of no value) and the tournament entrants play until each (but one) in turn lose all their chips. The one remaining player is the tournament winner and is rewarded from the cash pool. A predetermined number of runners up also usually each receive a lesser amount from the pool in accordance with the tournament rules. The maximum loss each tournament player faces is the tournament entry fee. Each year in July, a world championship of tournament poker is held in Las Vegas. This is known as the Main Event of the World Series of Poker, The event has been held each year since 1973. This year the tournament attracted over 7,000 starters (each paying US$10,000 entry fee) from all around the world (including a number for Australia). In 2005, the tournament was won by an Australian - Joe Hachem. This year for the first time, live play from the tournament has been telecast by ESPN. During the commentary this year much has been said about a worldwide resurgence of interest in poker and much of that is due to its popularity online. I have dedicated over 10 years to a study of Texas Holdem - a variety of poker known as the Cadillac of poker. It is said the game takes 5 minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. The beautiful thing is that as players seek to gain a playing advantage over their competitors, playing styles change constantly over time, so I would say it is a game never mastered. I play tournament poker more than cash games, although both are available on Pokerstars. A website called www.officialpokerrankings.com ranks all online tournament poker players around the world. According to this website, over the past 120 days I have been ranked in the top 1% of players worldwide - and that is over 600,000 players. You can see this for yourself - my playing name is SirChristo. In short, on a personal level, I would be devastated to lose the ability to play poker online as a resident of Australia. I submit my deep disappointment would be widespread amongst the poker playing community. I would be welcome the opportunity to discuss the issues in relation to online poker with members of the Committee to ensure that the final decision is fully informed, appropriate and not penal to the pleasure and pastime that online poker affords many Australians. Yours faithfully .

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