Tom Waterhouse was appointed Chief Executive Officer of William Hill Australia in July 2014. In March 2018, William Hill sanctioned the sale of its Australian business to CrownBet holdings for an estimated value of AU $300 million. The sale ended the company's time in Australia after entering the market in 2012. William Hill Poker William Hill Poker is an online poker room also offering baccarat, blackjack, live dealer games, roulette, and video poker using Playtech software licensed in Gibraltar and United Kingdom. It is one of 10 online gaming sites owned by William Hill PLC. The site's primary language is English. William Hill is operated by WHG (International) Limited a company registered in Gibraltar. William Hill is licensed by the Gambling Commission (Number: 000-039225 R-319373-009) for customers in Great Britain, and licensed by the Gibraltar Government and regulated by the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner (RGL no. 034 & 042) for all other customers.

The poker boom is now in full swing in Australia. With the explosion of televised poker events and live poker tournaments being held Down Under, the boom is not likely to end any time soon.

Fortunately for Australian poker players, most of the best internet poker sites accept players from Australia. All of these Australian poker sites offer both a play money version and a real money version. This means that players from Australia can play for fun or they can play real money online poker. The best sites that are accepting players from Australia are 888Poker and PokerStars. All of these sites have exclusive bonuses for players that sign up through PokerNews.

BEST ONLINE POKER ROOMS IN AUSTRALIA

888Poker For Australian Players:

William Hill Poker Australia Official

888poker, the world's second largest real-money online poker room, is our top choice of for internet poker sites that are currently accepting players from Australia. Our Australian poker players love 888poker due to its great software, amazing games, great welcome package, and amazing promotions all-year long. You can get an exclusive sign up bonus by opening an account through PokerNews.

William Hill Poker Australia Wins

Thanks to the special relationship PokerNews enjoys with 888poker, you can check out this amazing poker room with some cash compliments of the house without even making a deposit. Simply sign-up to 888poker through PokerNews and you will instantly receive $88 ($8 in instant cash & $80 bonus).

If looking for even more free value, for a limited time you can take advantage of our exclusive offer of a free $20 with a deposit of just $10. All you need to do is deposit $10 using our special bonus code 'POKERNEWS10' to instantly transform $10 into $30.

From there, new players in Australia can take advantage of our regular deposit bonus of 100% of up to $888.

Australian Players Can Play At PokerStars

PokerStars is the largest poker site on the internet, and PokerStars does accept players from Australia. Our Australian online poker players can receive a bonus of up to $600 plus freeroll entries. Simply download PokerStars through PokerNews, enter the 'POKERNEWS' and use the bonus code 'STARS600' when making your first deposit. While this offer is available for all Australian players, it is only valid if you do not already have an account with PokerStars.

New PokerStars players can instead opt into a separate first deposit bonus of $20 when using the bonus code 'FREE20'. While this might be smaller than the other bonus described above, the advantage here is that you will receive $20 for free into your account with no bonus to work off within 36 hours of your first deposit. In addition to the free cash, you will also receive up to 124 entries to the $100K Privilege Freeroll that run four times per day.

PokerStars is one of the best sites at putting together country-specific promotions. You can oftentimes find freeroll tournaments that are geared towards Australian players, or even deposit bonus offers only available for Australian players. In addition, the site is the online partner for the annual Aussie Millions with plenty of satellites to qualify in for pennies on the dollar.

Australian Online Poker Information:

One of the things that players wonder about is the currency that is used by the online poker sites. All of the sites listed on this page will accept your Australian dollar deposits. When you sit at the tables the poker sites will convert the funds into US dollars for play on the site. When you decide to cashout they will convert your available funds back into Australian dollars for you prior to cashing out.

Many Australian players are also interested in qualifying for the Aussie Millions tournament through a satellite. The only sites for Aussie Millions satellites is PokerStars. They hold lots of qualifiers ranging from freerolls to buyins of a few hundred dollars. Many Australian poker players also ask about playing on a poker site that is based in Australia. It is against Australian law to have a poker site that is based in Australia, so you aren’t going to find that. All of the sites listed on this page are great alternatives, and they all provide easy deposits and fast cashouts in addition to tremendous game selection.

William Hill Poker Australia Latest

PokerStars parent company, The Stars Group, has reentered the Australian online gambling market through the acquisition of CrownBet Holdings Pty Limited, the operator of the licensed online sports betting site CrownBet.com.

The Stars Group announced the acquisition of a majority interest in CrownBet last week. Earlier this week, the company announced that it was increasing its stake in the Australian sportsbook from 62% to 80% and that CrownBet would purchase sports betting competitor William Hill Australia Holdings Pty Ltd.

“We are excited to enter the regulated Australian sportsbook market with CrownBet,” said Chief Executive Officer of The Stars Group, Rafi Ashkenazi. “CrownBet has become one of the fastest growing online sportsbooks in Australia through its strong management team, proprietary technology, mobile app, unique partnerships and market-leading loyalty program.”

The Stars Group paid $117.7 million for the initial 62% stake in CrownBet and an additional $315 million to increase its stake to 80% and purchase William Hill Australia. Of that subsequent amount, $234 million in cash went to William Hill Australia with the remainder payable as 3.1 million newly-issued common shares of The Stars Group for the additional equity in CrownBet.

“These acquisitions will further increase our exposure to the attractive regulated Australian sportsbook market and create a player of scale and clear rival to the top two operators there,” Ashkenazi commented after the announcement earlier this week. “With complementary geographic profiles, we expect the combined business to leverage CrownBet’s operating and proprietary technology platform and be well positioned for growth and to navigate the ongoing regulatory and taxation changes in the Australian market.”

Approval of the Northern Territory Racing Commission and the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board is required before the acquisition of William Hill Australia is finalized. The Stars Group’s additional stake in CrownBet is contingent on that acquisition. Subject to all required approvals, the transaction is expected to close in April 2018.

The purchase of two of Australia’s top online sports betting sites could be the start of a trend, according to at least one online casino review and news site serving Australia. Some analysts predict that further consolidation in the market will occur as smaller companies struggle to conform to new stricter gambling regulations.

Another potential pitfall for smaller operators could come as a result of tax increases that are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. The new tax scheme will seek to impose a point of consumption tax in Western Australia and Queensland . Currently in those regions, tax on bookmakers is assessed based on the jurisdiction that has issued the company’s license. For this reason, many bookmakers, including CrownBet, sought licenses from the The Northern Territory Racing Commission where taxes are less. Under the new plan, the tax rate would be assessed based on the location of the person making the wager and not where the company is licensed.

The reemergence of The Stars Group comes approximately six months after PokerStars withdrew its online poker and casino products from the market in September of last year following the passage of a gambling bill amendment that clarified and strengthened an existing ban on online poker and casino games.