DN loses respect for Raymer

[olivert]

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olivert,

The Chinese economy, while growing fast, is barely larger than Italy, France or UK's economy. It's about one sixth of the U.S GDP. You need to focus on the absolute buying power, not the number of dirt poor peasants still manually farming small plots in the country side. You don't hear the WPT trying to win the "Battle for Italy" do you?

China may someday be very important in the poker world, but it's many years away. Meanwhile the WPT is doing everything they can to be less relevant in a group of countries that represent about ten times China's buying power.

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The "Battle for Italy" was over before it started.

The Italian government has a state-run national gaming MONOPOLY and the Italian government wants to keep it that way.

The likes of bwin/OnGame (EuroPoker.com/PokerRoom.com) is trying to defy the Italian government by operating out of Gibraltar.

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Germany is another case where the government is moving quickly to crack down on online gaming businesses operating out of Gibraltar and the Isle of Man.

Germany also has a state-run gaming monopoly named Oddset, and the German government want to maintain that state-run gaming monopoly until it is ready to issue concession licenses to privately-owned competitors.

Read my recent article on the recent crackdown by the government of the former East German state of Saxony on bwin:

http://pokerbiz411.com/2006/08/10/germanbwin.aspx

The German state of Bavaria is also moving to crack down on bwin, by ordering bwin to shut down its 41 online betting kiosks located in and around Munich, according to published reports in the German media.

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I still maintain that anyone who can obtain a monopoly to operate online poker in Mainland China WILL control the global online and TV poker industries by the year 2015.

WPTE is particular has started executing its "China" strategy with its allies (MGM MIRAGE, the Ho Family), while the likes of Harrah's, ESPN, and NewsCorp are too busy fighting among themselves.