How does this affect those in the business?

[PokerAce]

I apologize for starting yet another thread here, as I know this forum is being cluttered. That being said, I've been following this debacle closely for the past few weeks and have a pretty good grasp on what it means for all of us as players. What I don't fully understand is how it affects those who are involved at more than just the player level and I didn't want this to get lost in one of the larger threads.

I sell poker related software. Even if I lose all of my US customers, there will still be non-US players who will be interested in my software. Will I be breaking any laws by selling my software? What about affiliates? Is accepting money from the poker sites for referring players a crime?

If these questions are premature and there's no way to know for sure, I apologize. Like most of you, I'm just trying to make sense of all of this.

[Berge20]

I'm fairly certain the software sales will be perfectly fine.

The affiliate thing is a little more difficult to say given it probably will depend on how zealous any enforcement efforts are.

[Uglyowl]

Probably speak to a lawyer as time moves on, but something silly like "intended for play money use only" would probably reduce your liability. Kind of like rolling papers at 7-11

[Jeff_B]

[ QUOTE ]
Probably speak to a lawyer as time moves on, but something silly like "intended for play money use only" would probably reduce your liability. Kind of like rolling papers at 7-11

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought the same thing.. you can see a bong and rolling paper that I am sure no one uses for illegal substances so poker ace hud should be no problem

[PokerAce]

Just an update. I have an affiliate account with Party for my "Get PA Hud for free by signing up at Party Poker" deal. I emailed my contact asking what was going to happen with that. Here is an email I received just a short while ago:

[ QUOTE ]

Hi,

As you have heard, there was the passage of legislation by the United States Senate on the weekend, which will have an unfortunate impact on our business relationship. It will make illegal any internet payments from American customers and will prevent us from accepting U.S. consumer deposits.

Please stop the campaign today.

We unfortunately will not be able to pay for any new players coming from today.

Please confirm when the campaign is stopped.

Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sigh. Did any other affiliates receive a similar response?

[Sand]

Ace,

Your software sales are fine. As long as you don't "make or take any bets" this does not apply to you.

[PokerAce]

Yet another update, though I'm not sure this is related.

Neteller just closed my account. The email notification and the message I got gave no clue as to why. I called them and the person I spoke with said that investigations had closed my account. I asked if this had anything to do with the legislation that just passed, and he claimed it did not. He would give me no more information and said that their investigations team will contact me tomorrow.

[paperboyNC]

very odd of neteller to close your account /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[jimmytrick]

merchant account?

[pushit7]

[ QUOTE ]
Yet another update, though I'm not sure this is related.

Neteller just closed my account. The email notification and the message I got gave no clue as to why. I called them and the person I spoke with said that investigations had closed my account. I asked if this had anything to do with the legislation that just passed, and he claimed it did not. He would give me no more information and said that their investigations team will contact me tomorrow.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is Neteller sending you your money you had in there???

[PokerAce]

I've gotten in touch with Neteller's investigation team. This has nothing to do with the legislation. It's pure coincidence that it happened now. I'm not going to get into details, but it's really a problem with one of the people who had transferred me money. I'm hoping to have the issue completely resolved in another day or two.

I will say though, that Neteller has been pretty unresponsive, only getting in touch with me when I call and bug them. That's something I'm not very happy about at all.

[PokerAce]

Neteller has re-opened my account and everything is back to normal. I'm disappointed that I had to bug them about it every day to get them to do something, but it did get done.

[Harkey]

PA: you might want to use a disclaimer to the effect of: "It is the responsibility of the buyer to ensure that PokerAceHUD is used in compliance with all applicable laws." putting such in the setup file with an "I Accept" checkbox before the program can be installed (or possibly the first time it's run).

[PokerAce]

I have added the following to the website:

[ QUOTE ]

Notice for United States residents
PokerAce Hud is made available for entertainment purposes only in the United States.


[/ QUOTE ]

I will likely consult a lawyer in the near future to determine how to best protect myself and my business.

[Self Made]

Have you read the bill Ace? S5365(c): I think you'll need to move to overseas hosting or they might be able to take links to poker rooms down.

Any actual criminal risk? An aiding and abetting prosecution seems unlikely, and if they try to go after people like that you won't likely be the first (you'd likely have some warning).

CMA: I'm not a lawyer.

[PokerAce]

Actually, I removed all the links to the poker sites that I had on my website.