Over the last 12 months or so, The Star Entertainment Group of casinos has been issuing more than half a dozen of Australia's best poker players a Withdrawal of Licence under Common Law, stating they cannot enter or remain at The Star, Gold Coast; The Star, Sydney; Treasury, Brisbane indefinity, and if they do so the casino may advise the police and take further action against them. 

These players have contacted The Star who will not provide any detail on the reasoning or any explanation as to why they have been excluded quoting only "The Star is not required to provide reasons or justifying the exclusions nor the information relied upon making the decision to exclude"

The Star Entertainment Group has an exclusive partnership with the World Poker Tour and are hosting the annual WPT Australia September 14th-27th. This is the Biggest Poker Festival of the Year and is also the most prestigious, with the Main Event Champion awarded the honours of holding the Mike Sexton Champions Cup and along with other events, the opportunity to represent Australia at the WPT World Championship at The Wynn in Las Vegas in December. 

Due to these unexplained exclusions by The Star who are hosting this festival, these players egregiously cannot compete without even knowing why or what they have allegedly done wrong, and the scariest thing about not knowing why this happened is this means it can happen to any poker player at any time without prior notice. If poker is a large part of your life this should terrify you, and even if poker is just something you enjoy or aspire to reach goals of competing on the world stage like a WPT or WSOP Circuit event in Australia, it should worry you at the very least.

Not only have these players practiced and honed their poker skills, built their careers around poker and performed at the highest level of competition for more than a decade, but they have exemplary and long-standing reputations and are highly respected among the poker community including some internationally recognised.

What we are asking is for the poker community, their friends, family and connections to stand up to this type of unjustified, cruel, arrogant and bullish and sense of guilt directed at poker players in Australia, by signing and sharing this petition to pass onto The Star Entertainment Group, World Poker Tour, the casino regulators and the State MPs and Attorney Generals in each state as well as various media outlets. 

Among this list of notable and elite poker players in Australia are:

Alex Lynskey, USD$4,460,136 live earnings (including 7th place in 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship) and 8th on the Australian All Time Money List

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=220361

 

Gary Benson, USD$2,574,774 live earnings, including WSOP Bracelet, 14th Australian All-time Money List, and 2009-2010 Australian Poker Hall of Fame Inductee 

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=274

 

Jarred Graham, USD$1,762,524, 24th on the Australian All Time Money List

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=97260

 

Hun Wei Lee 'Andy', USD,$1,844,327 23rd on the Australian All Time Money List and 2022 WSOP Online Bracelet Winner

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=128678

 

Najeem Ajez, USD$1,431,489 live earnings, 45th on the Australian All Time Money List

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=225409

 

Rehman Kassam (UK), USD$1,181,856 live earnings

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=298042

 

Chris "Dipper" Zenonos, USD$348,072 live earnings. 2022 Gold Coast WSOP Circuit Ring winner

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=78653

Other players include Pratik Mehta, David Hanlon

Please sign this petition not only to support the current group of poker players excluded and to have their bans re-assessed, but to have all details explained to each player in full, all investigations to be done thoroughly with players shown some common decency with a right of reply, but also in future to ensure there is change in how this process is handled to protect all poker players in Australia. 

*No money or "chipping in" is required to this cause, that just goes to change.org to distribute the petition via social media and email advertising campaigns, so unless you really want to, it's not required but just your signature is greatly appreciated! 

Thanks for your support.

Craig Abernethy

Founder australianpokerschedule.com.au