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I am pressed for time before work- I would appreciate it if someone would explain to me why Steve Liscomb and the WPT are in support of the new legislation.
I am assuming that they think they alone are responsible for the explosion of poker lately?
I know that WPT Shuufle Up and Deal, MIke Sexton, was the greatest poker strategy books of all time. It sure expanded my game!
I am sure that they are for the new legislation because most of the online poker sites are run by money laundering terrorists. Nothing to do with any hidden agenda or anything!
see article:
http://www.gambling911.com/World-Pok...ns-100606.html
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I sound like a broken record, but I have been saying the following for WEEKS, if not MONTHS.
I have ALWAYS maintained that WPT Enterprises, which aspires to achieve TOTAL GLOBAL DOMINATION of the online and land-based tournament poker businesses, is one company that absolutely NEEDS online gaming to be curtailed in the U.S. in order to have a chance at achieving its goal.
WPTE's rivals, including PartyGaming, TiltWare (Full Tilt Poker), and MANSION have spent tens of millions of dollars buying TV time in the U.S. in an attempt to "choke off the air supply" of WPTE, which currently derives the bulk of its revenue from a legacy TV contract (signed in 2004) with the Travel Channel that calls for the Travel Channel to pay about $10 million a year to WPTE.
Furthermore, all the "time-buy" TV poker programs in the U.S. have effectively killed off WPTE's spinoff PPT TV product, as WPTE cannot get any TV deal done in the U.S. for PPT Season 2 that does NOT require WPTE to pay for its own TV time.
There is no way WPTE will buy time to air the PPT as long as the Travel Channel continues to pay $10 million a year to air the WPT in the U.S.
Regardless of whether WPTE supported the U.S. online gaming ban or not, the passage of the new law has accomplished what WPTE has wanted: WPTE's online gaming rivals, notably PartyGaming, just had 75% of its "air supply" "choked off" by the U.S. Congress.
The common tactic used by all Bill Gates-wannabes who want to achieve TOTAL GLOBAL DOMINATION in their respective industries is "choking off your opponents' air supply".
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At this point in time, WPTE has about $40 million in cash while PartyGaming has less than $100 million.
The playing field in the online gaming industry going forward has certainly been tilted back toward WPTE, which has the one thing that PartyGaming, TiltWare, and MANSION do NOT have: political allies and business partners in the #1 gambling market in the world, namely CHINA.
With the U.S. market now closed to online gaming for the forseeable future (it generally takes 3 to 5 years of intense lobbying to get something such as a carveout for online poker passed in the U.S. Congress), the pressure for the online gaming industry to get explicit licenses to operate in the world's #1 gambling market will be intense.
WPTE in particular already has an alliance with MGM MIRAGE, which has an alliance with Macau/Hong Kong businesswoman Pansy Ho, who is the daughter of Macau gambling kingpin Stanley Ho.
The MGM Grand Macau, where the first WPT event to be held in China will likely take place in 2008 or 2009, is a 50-50 joint venture between MGM MIRAGE and Pansy Ho.
Even though the Mainland Chinese ("Communist") government does not particularly like Stanley Ho for the way he has done business in the past (alleged vice activities taking place in Mr. Ho's Casino Lisboa in Macau, including "triads" in the private gaming salons and "ladies of the evening" loitering on the gaming floor), the Mainland Chinese government still has to grudgingly respect Stanley Ho and let him do business in Macau so that Stanley Ho won't yank his investments from Macau and open up a rival gambling destination in Vietnam and/or North Korea.
WPTE recently signed TV deals in Macau (Macau Cable TV) and Singapore (MediaCorp's over-the-air broadcast TV channel 8), thereby exposing Texas Hold'em, and the WPT in particular, to Chinese-speaking markets for the first time. (WPT will air in English with Chinese subtitles in Macau, and in English in Singapore on a channel that airs programs mostly in Mandarin Chinese.)
(Note that ESPN is currently unable to air the WSOP in most of Asia except Japan, as ESPN-branded TV networks in Asia except Japan are managed by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp under the Singapore-based ESPN STAR Sports [ESS] joint venture.)
The global battle for control of the online gaming business, including the online poker business, has just begun, with the ultimate prize in China now in play. WPTE is currently way ahead of PartyGaming and TiltWare in positioning itself for an explicit online gaming license to operate in China.
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