Australia - Questions Answered
 

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1) legislation (is it legal to play online? stability of legislation?)
2) taxes (do I pay taxes on my winnings)
3) having access to neteller or similar, and to fishy online casinos
4) cost of living
5) anything else you think would be useful to know

question numbering by josem


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Answered for Australia:

1) It is legal to play poker online. I do not envisage any particular change in the law - it is not a topic on anyone's legislative agenda as far as I am aware*

2) Info here - http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...;Main=10059146

3) Yes, we have access to Neteller, and to PartyPoker. PartyPoker can deposit straight into an Australian bank account (1-2 days processing time, I see)

4) Calculator here - http://www.gomatilda.com/calculator/index.cfm

5) Time zone is good for online poker - US peak time (evening) is Australian middle of the day.


*I work as an adviser to a Member of the Australian House of Reps - I think I have decent awareness on the issue, but I could be wrong

Re: best countries to play poker in ??
 

Do you know something about your neighbour countries Luxembourg and Belgium? Does anyone know whether Online Poker is legal in Denmark or Austria?

Re: best countries to play poker in ??
 

I think somewhere like Malaysia would be good, somewhere where you get a lot of bang for US$. First find out if you can actually make decent bank playing tho, there's no point grinding micros. Save up a proper roll from your wages and start playing.

Re: best countries to play poker in ??
 

It is legal to play online poker in Denmark, but the income is fully taxable, unless you play on a site that is already paying tax in the EU, which means that the POKER license they operate under has to be inside EU (usually UK or Malta). I use capital letters for poker, because they might have a sportsbetting license in the EU but the poker license is in Canada. Then you'll pay taxes, which currently is up to 63% of the last earned $. And Denmark is very expensive to live in.

Re: best countries to play poker in ??
 

Thanks for all the interesting replies!

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First find out if you can actually make decent bank playing tho, there's no point grinding micros. Save up a proper roll from your wages and start playing.

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I've been building my roll playing the micros, and moving up gradually. Now I'm about to move up to 100NL. I think I'll wait to beat 400NL consistently before I make a decision. Probably not before 2008.

I also have enough savings to live for a few years, but the goal is to save more of course, not to spend my savings...

Re: best countries to play poker in ??
 

so what about italy??

Re: best countries to play poker in ??
 

I don't mean to hijack, but what is the current legal status of online poker in France? I searched this forum, and found a fair amount of information, but it was inconclusive. A number of laws were introduced regarding online gambling a few months ago, but it is not clear if they are in effect and if they should be interpreted as making online poker illegal. Also there is the issue of EU approval - it seems that the EU, or some EU entity, strikes down anti-competitive laws that would prevent foreign EU businesses from doing business in the country (assuming some form of the business - gambling, in this case - were permitted in the legislating country). Would the EU rule against this legislation? Would France have to respect the EU decision? (I recently moved to France)

Sure, I could probably find out what I need to know by googling more extensively, but I'm lazy and someone here probably knows.

Re: best countries to play poker in ??
 

Argentina, hombre.
Living in Argentina thread

Re: best countries to play poker in ??
 

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*****
My question is: what are the best countries to play?

I'm interested in:

- legislation (is it legal to play online? stability of legislation?)
- taxes (do I pay taxes on my winnings)
- having access to neteller or similar, and to fishy online casinos
- cost of living
- anything else you think would be useful to know



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- legislation (is it legal to play online? stability of legislation?) Online gaming is not covered by legislation but Crypto, Full Tilt, Boyle Poker, Paddy Power operate out of Ireland, usually with 'licenses' from other jurisdictions. There is NO appetite for legislative change. Gambling culture is ingrained.
- taxes (do I pay taxes on my winnings).No
- having access to neteller or similar, and to fishy online casinos. Yes
- cost of living. High
- anything else you think would be useful to know
Casinos and Card Rooms (under the guise of 'private members clubs) are plentiful but currently operate in a very grey area. Recently a government minister took it upon himself to shout loudly about closing them down. Only to be shouted down himself by his ministerial colleagues. He did a u-turn and a working group is currently drawing up plans to fully legalise casinos/card rooms.

You also have an EPT, The Irish Open and a handful of other large, €1000+ buy-in events each year. Poker culture is strong and vibrant and likely to remain so.

Ireland is also well placed between mainland Europe and the US and has good transport links (usually at good prices) to other essentail poker destination.

The downside is the weather is usually crap but what do poker players care about that.

PokerPunk

Re: best countries to play poker in ??
 

This is an article about the legislation in France but it's not completed yet.

http://www.clubpoker.net/showpage/?id=826