[DeadMoneyDad]

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Where am I wrong here?

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Well since we are in a virtual world where big money is at stake the powers involved have a little more forsight.

Think of what happened to Apples operating system. Most of the world thinks Bill Gates invented Windows or at least his company M$.

Any new entrant to the market can be quickly matched by those with existing market share. Since they already have a significant market share they can easily match any new marketing and or technical inovations.

The new entrant has to gain market share in some cases by reducing margins (profits) in this case with bonuses or reduced rake, but they can not afford to do this as easily as an established market leader or market share holder.

While some of these may end up being good things in a future poker world, most are likely to be loss leader ideas that die away once the new entrant can no longer afford to keep offering.


D$D

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Putting the public's demand for software against the public's demand for online gambling is far from an apples-to-apples comparison. Expressly legal online gambling will be a brand new market. Nobody stayed away from Microsoft because they thought it was shady or downright illegal.

The market share MGM owns (or Yahoo! or Harrah's) is much more powerful than the market share Stars or Party owns. Do you really think the fish are going to sign up at Party Poker over Google Poker?

Also, the profit margins for an online poker room -- let alone an online slot parlor -- are much greater than the profit margins for eBay or iTunes. To put it simply, there won't be much loss in these loss-leader programs.

Sites U.S. players can trust to be regulated and lawful will dominate in no time at all.

Think bootleggers vs. liquor stores, and liquor stores vs. Wal-Mart.

I'm repeating myself here, but you are yet to acknowledge my points. In fact, your Gates-inventing-windows example supports my argument. If the door is opened to anyone, people in 20 years are going to think MGM.com invented online poker.

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We are talking a bit in circles but here is what I think.

If you were MGM who has stayed out of the US market until it was clear how to set up a fully legal US system with your only risk being your business risk in the market might not you say to Congress that PS and FT should be excluded? I could make a convincing argument that PP should be as well.

Some people seem to worry about a US regulated market and if it will be too much to bear. All regulation will do is remove enough risk from the market place to allow the big time players to enter the market.

You are right, 20 years from now no one may even remember FT. You might mention to someone 20 years from now FT and they might look at you the way my kids do when I ask them to "roll up the car window."

To suggest that FT or anyone else might use their position on the PPA to even think of possibly protecting their part of the pie and to be treated like a "on-line poker is rigged" poster is just wrong.


D$D