Thank you to all of you , almost 500 people have signed this petition and it will stay live and more people are welcome to sign. This massive amount of support shows how supported these players are and how unfairly we all believe they are being treated. 

We have now submitted the petition to the Star compliance team and a few key senior managers and we are hoping that players hear back about the ban quickly, and something is done to correct it. Please cross your fingers as we have tried our best so far. I will update you if we have any positive news or if we need any further support. Thanks again!

Letter below. (I did in a bit of a rush and only quickly proof read it, hopefully any poor grammar and typos are only minimal)  

Dear Star Compliance/Investigations Team,

As I am sure you are aware by now a handful of Australia’s best poker players have been issued with a Withdrawal of License letter banning them from your properties and still until this day have not been provided with a reason why, the Star has refused to provide a reason on every single opportunity afforded to them through many different methods and delivery addresses.

It shouldn’t be necessary for players and the community to make a loud noise about such a basic concept of treating others with respect in a civilised way.

All that was requested on multiple occasions was for The Star to provide each poker player with the reason you have sent them this letter which is a very reasonable request.

A ban implies these players are at fault and have done something worthy of a ban which casts a doubt on their reputation.

If a poker player or any casino patron has done something wrong and a decision has been made to ban them, they should be told why, and in most cases I believe they should be able to tell their side of the story for a fair and reasonable assessment.

I am not suggesting the Star shouldn’t be allowed to ban patrons if a ban is warranted under the casino rules and regulations, of course anti-social behaviour, cheating, money laundering, fraudulent activities are something that should be stamped out and dealt with by relevant teams in the business. We are not asking the casino to allow rules to be broken, or to turn a blind eye to poker players doing the wrong thing we just want what is fair and reasonable for everyone.

I have outlined the situation in a petition on change.org and asked poker players and members of the community to read it and if they agree, then to sign it. As promised to them and to the players I have attached the names of 473 signatories that agree with supporting the players that have been banned in less than 72 hours. The petition is still live so these numbers are increasing and can be viewed at (link removed)

I have also made the point in the petition that if there is no reasoning or accountability on how The Star issues these bans then every single poker player and all other patrons are at risk of being banned unreasonably or even by mistake, and if there is no possible way of even getting a reply with reasoning or any discussion about the bans then people will continue to be banned unfairly and unjustifiably.  

It also quite reasonable for a casino the size of The Star to make mistakes from time to time just like all businesses do, so if there has been a mistake and these players have been put on a ban list that way, then just contact each player as soon as possible, or urgently since the WPT Australia festival is upon us already, and ask them to clarify what you need, give them a quick and reasonable apology and welcome them back.  

PokerNews who are the leading poker media company in the world have also put an article together after seeing the petition and speaking with Alex Lynskey, they asked him details about his ban and they published it, and can be found here https://www.pokernews.com/news/2023/09/poker-players-banned-australia-casino-44452.htm

Without being provided a reason players cannot be sure why they were banned, however we now believe these bans are related to AML/CTF reporting or large transactions made by poker players which The Star has flagged as something relating to criminal or illegal activities. If this is the case then investigate them with the players, ask them to provide further information about the transactions, in most cases poker players are happy to be transparent to remove and doubt that The Star has on their sources of funds. When you run a large poker series especially ones as prestigious as the World Series of Poker Circuit and the World Poker Tour you are going to attract high stakes players that requires large amounts of money to play so it just defied all logic to target high stakes players when these are scheduled.

Some of these players have been playing poker at The Star for decades and had a lot of success here, this is where many of them started their illustrious careers, Najeem Ajez and Alex Lynskey have made many final tables on the feature table that sits in the poker room with dozens and dozens of friends and fans cheering them on. These players are welcome at all other venues across Australia and the world, they have never been banned or even had an issue. Alex competes at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas almost every year, he is an internationally recognised long-term professional poker player.

All we request is that you contact players, explain what has triggered the ban whatever it was, hopefully it was just a mistake or miscategorising of funds or something more serious you need clarified first, players will work with you and if they tick off all of the requirements to play the stakes then there shouldn’t be a need to drag this on any further. The WPT Australia started today as you would know, some of the best players in the country are incredibly frustrated they are being unfairly told they cannot compete for the biggest prize on their home soil.

I honestly think this is a very reasonable request, bans and decisions can actually be changed rather easily, they are not carved in stone or written into an Act that casino’s can never change their mind or reverse a ban, it’s very possible and the sooner it happens the easier it will be for everyone to move on.  

I really don’t want the players and poker community to have to make an even louder noise about an obviously egregious situation the players find themselves in, throug no fault of their own.

Kind Regards,

Craig Abernethy