[APXG]

tc,
Buying puts/shorting gaming stocks during the summer was a fairly popular idea(at least in my head) but I didn't execute it mainly b.c. the chances of a bill of the current severity passing were extremely slim. The Goodlatte discussions were very very far from anything actually materializing(he had a standalone bill), and gaming stocks business model is as close to printing money as any. The real trade would've been betting on the "spread" between Frist's impact and Goodlatte's, but this was merely a few days, and not in the category of a long-term hedge. Even still, nobody envisioned the 9/30 bill to be as bad as it was at the time. I still remember 2+2 people with legislative expertise going absolutely nuts when they saw the wordings.

Currently, I don't think there is enough downside to make a hedge profitable. If Party would go to zero if US completely cut off all prospects for any online gaming, it would make sense, but this isn't really the case with any gaming stock right now. US market troubles have been #1 on their agenda since even before the ban, and I'm sure they have been actively hedging themselves - if only b.c. they have so much more at stake than us.

Najdorf,
While I agree with you, saying "shorting is too sophisticated" 5 times and then listing your credentials teaches us little. All of us here are poker pros and have made all of our money from poker and not from shorting anything, so I don't think anyone is competing with you. We're all here to learn. Can you explain in more detail the risks an unsophisticated investor with lots of free cash and steady poker profits would face with regards to a long puts hedge? (beyond your opinion on gaming stocks' current valuations)