[olivert]

The message that governments in the US, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Russia, Israel, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and even parts of Canada (notably Ontario Province) are sending is very clear:

Either the government owns the online poker room or the government issues an explicit license to an online poker room to operate in a country/territory, or the government will do whatever it takes to block off the flow of cash to that offshore online poker room in order to protect government-owned or government-licensed gaming monopolies.

The governments around the world will each have a HEAVY hand on determining who is allowed to run legal online poker rooms in each country/territory.

Remember that in most countries, being able to gamble legally is a PRIVILEGE, not a right. The government can decide who gets to gamble, on what a person can gamble, with whom a person can gamble, how much a person can gamble, and how much "juice" the government will extract from gamblers.

Get used to this trend.

Even PartyGaming, the biggest bully on the block, has figured out that governments hold ALL the "aces" when it comes to explicit licensing.