Online gambling websites like Pokies.Net are illegal as per Australian regulations, but that has not held the site back from slicing up its share in the Australian gambling market. The site attracts around 30,000 players from the country every month.
But now, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, or AMCA, has sprung into action and slapped an internet ban on the site after receiving countless user complaints. The site has been repeatedly accused of treating players unfairly and denying them their winnings.
Why Online Gambling is Illegal in Australia
Online-only gambling establishments are illegal in Australia. These include online pokies or slots, online digital casino games (like roulette, poker, etc.), scratchies, ‘in-play’ sports betting, betting on lotteries, and unlicensed (in Australia) sports betting websites.
Of course, this is just the country’s way of safeguarding people from potential fraud. There is a vibrant gambling scene in Australia with around 192,800 slot machines working operational in the country by one estimate. It is only deceptive online-only casinos that attract legal action.
The AMCA has been chasing after such establishments and blocking shady websites since 2019.
Everything Wrong With Pokies.Net
Pokies.Net may advertise itself as a “legit” and “licensed” online casino site, but that’s not how the AMCA and the public see it. The site has a license from Curacao where no actionable regulations exist. It is still illegal in Australia, and based on thousands of comments from users, it is anything but legit.
The website is notorious for withholding player winnings, sometimes as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars, and banning accounts for arbitrary reasons (which they oftentimes refuse to share). This seems to happen most often when players have bagged winnings and want to withdraw.
The site tries its best not to pay players their winnings – this is all too common to be a mistake!
In response to the heap of accusations, the online casino responded that it is on the player’s end to make sure that they are accessing the site legally. This would be a legit response, except that Pokies.Net actively encourages users to access the site via VPN if it is illegal in the player’s country.
And they have never turned down a deposit citing this issue!
Does Pokies.Net Scam Players?
The problems don’t start with the site refusing to pay up, but much before that – the site is a total scam.
Many players have reported not being able to use their deposits to play in the first place. When contacted, the customer support staff assures them that the money will be credited (citing an issue with the deposit). This, of course, never happens and all that money is simply lost.
The site also notoriously manipulates the RTP of the games it offers. The RTP, or Return to Player, is a percentage of the initial deposit that the players can expect in rewards. The higher the better. Usually, 96% is considered ideal for slots.
Pokies.Net deceives players by showing a decent RTP to encourage them to play, but behind the scenes, the actual RTP is much lower. This means that the players can never claim as much in winnings as they would if the games were fairly designed.
The casino rigs games in other ways too – they play out differently on Pokies.Net than they do on legit websites. For example, in the game Wanted Dead or A Wild, landing three or more Dead symbols gives you 5 wild symbol bonuses and a 5X multiplier at least.
However, on Pokies.Net, you get 0 wild symbols and no multiplier.
Players have also noted that you can’t live chat with an agent unless you claim that your deposit has not been credited to your online casino account. All the other chats, even if they appear to be live chats, are bots showering generic responses at you.
Plus, it is impossible to report any transaction fraud regarding the site to your bank.
Once your money is gone, it’s gone for good!
The site, unlike legit online casinos, also lacks a Pragmatic Replay function. This feature allows you to share replays of your best 100 online casino wins on your social media accounts. With Pokies.Net, you can’t do that which further brings their transparency to doubt.
What Does AMCA’s Ban Mean For Pokies.Net?
Australia is by no means opposed to gambling. Quite the contrary – the country has a booming gambling industry. One measure of this is that Australia hosts 18% of the world’s slot machines although their population accounts for about 0.3% of the global population.
The AMCA actively discourages people from accessing shady online-only casinos that can’t be regulated as easily. In response to complaints from disgruntled users who lost thousands of dollars in winnings or whose deposits were never honored, the AMCA jumped into action.
AMCA ordered ISPs nationwide to block access to the online casino’s site. But what does this ban really mean for Pokies.Net? Not much – the casino can simply put up a duplicate site with a different URL (which they already have) and redirect users there.
When that URL gets blocked, they’ll pop out a new one.
This becomes an endless cat-and-mouse chase for the regulators as online casino services with no physical presence in the country continue to evade blockades. Such sites also allow access via VPN which means that even if it were to be blocked, this would still not stop players from accessing it.
Normally, the Australian Government can slap a A$1.1 million fine on such online casino establishments. But in this case, this means nothing because tracking the people responsible for their site is not practical as they operate from outside Australia.
But AMCA’s action has done one good thing – it has revealed to the public what these shady sites are all about, and hopefully, better sense will prevail.