Harv72b
10-01-2006, 05:50 PM
I've read through the other threads in this forum & did not see either of these issues addressed, and rather than risk posting this at the end of a now-dead thread & getting no educated replies, I've started yet another new thread. Sorry to anyone offended by that.
My first question may seem ludicrously dumb to anyone trained in law, but as I'm not, I hold it as my consitutional right to be dumb. /images/graemlins/smile.gif At any rate, are any of us actually gambling with the funds that we transfer to Party or Stars or UB or wherever?
Not in the old "poker as a game of skill" sense, but rather because of the way that the sites are set up. What we are actually doing is depositing funds into a bank account, plain and simple, which is held for us by the poker (or casino) site. For some of us directly, for others through an intermediary like Neteller or Firepay. The point is, technically speaking, we are not using those funds to gamble--we are instead using those funds to purchase electronic chips, and it is those chips that we wager with. Or, if you prefer, use to keep score in our game, the same as at any other internet-based gaming (not gambling) site. Now, I understand (I think) that the rider specifically targets any transfer to online sites which participate in gambling, but doesn't this provide a basis for those sites (or us players) to challenge the legality of the legislation?
Secondly, it seems to me that there is a very simple, and equally obvious, work-around for the various gaming sites: gift cards. If Party & Stars et al offered gift cards for sale, the same as you can buy for ITunes or Amazon or any other major site, then again we would not actually be transferring our money directly to the site for the purpose of gambling. Even if they sold the cards themselves it would be difficult at best for the gov't to do anything about it, as any American purchasing the cards could simply declare that they intended to send them to overseas acquaintences as gifts. It would seem to me that any attempt to curtail Americans purchasing the cards would require the gov't to track down and prosecute individual citizens, rather than the gaming industry itself...not that the precedent isn't there (i.e. the file-sharing industry), but we all know how well that effort has worked.
Or if they wanted to avoid that scenario all together, the sites could just found separate companies which do nothing but sell these gift cards, or distribute them through other existing businesses. Alternately, some enterprising individual could start a company him- or herself to sell the cards for all the major sites.
Wouldn't this work, and be remarkably easy both for the sites to implement and for the players (most importantly the recreational ones that we depend on) to use?
My first question may seem ludicrously dumb to anyone trained in law, but as I'm not, I hold it as my consitutional right to be dumb. /images/graemlins/smile.gif At any rate, are any of us actually gambling with the funds that we transfer to Party or Stars or UB or wherever?
Not in the old "poker as a game of skill" sense, but rather because of the way that the sites are set up. What we are actually doing is depositing funds into a bank account, plain and simple, which is held for us by the poker (or casino) site. For some of us directly, for others through an intermediary like Neteller or Firepay. The point is, technically speaking, we are not using those funds to gamble--we are instead using those funds to purchase electronic chips, and it is those chips that we wager with. Or, if you prefer, use to keep score in our game, the same as at any other internet-based gaming (not gambling) site. Now, I understand (I think) that the rider specifically targets any transfer to online sites which participate in gambling, but doesn't this provide a basis for those sites (or us players) to challenge the legality of the legislation?
Secondly, it seems to me that there is a very simple, and equally obvious, work-around for the various gaming sites: gift cards. If Party & Stars et al offered gift cards for sale, the same as you can buy for ITunes or Amazon or any other major site, then again we would not actually be transferring our money directly to the site for the purpose of gambling. Even if they sold the cards themselves it would be difficult at best for the gov't to do anything about it, as any American purchasing the cards could simply declare that they intended to send them to overseas acquaintences as gifts. It would seem to me that any attempt to curtail Americans purchasing the cards would require the gov't to track down and prosecute individual citizens, rather than the gaming industry itself...not that the precedent isn't there (i.e. the file-sharing industry), but we all know how well that effort has worked.
Or if they wanted to avoid that scenario all together, the sites could just found separate companies which do nothing but sell these gift cards, or distribute them through other existing businesses. Alternately, some enterprising individual could start a company him- or herself to sell the cards for all the major sites.
Wouldn't this work, and be remarkably easy both for the sites to implement and for the players (most importantly the recreational ones that we depend on) to use?