[Gregatron]

One intelligent theme regarding the politics of the whole Neteller/end-of-internet-poker-as-we-know-it is that public opinion will certainly not benefit online poker. This has been expressed well by Colonel Kataffy in other threads. Basically, there will be no public outcry for supporting online poker. In fact, the anti-gambling moral crusader types most certainly have the advantage here. We are all familiar with the “poor little Johnny stole mommy’s credit card…” stories, and even ostensibly liberal NPR has run stories slamming online poker.

So, if a public outcry won’t preserve online poker, what will? Special interests... maybe.

I think the only political hope for online gambling will come from established B&M corporate gambling establishments. This is a huge frontier for them. Operations like Party and Stars have shown how profitable this business is. The big gambling operations in this country would have to be blind not to see it.

I’m not sure how likely it is, given the degree to which the Justice department seems willing to stir up [censored] over this. But I see a couple of interesting and potentially positive undercurrents here. One involved what I’ve already touched on – big companies seeing a very lucrative potential source of revenue. The other involves the WTO. I have not seen any speculation about what this whole situation regarding Neteller has with international trade issues. I’m not saying online poker will be back on its feet anytime soon, but these are things worth considering.

This is all, of course, highly speculative. And the new landscape will probably take years to develop. OF course, that is largely what the zoo is for: speculation. I have long salivated at the idea of a golden age of online poker, where Party at its peak would be dwarfed by Harrah’s online, and the fish would jump right on the boat. Where 12 tabling TAGS would not ruin the game because the open availability of online poker would mean so many recreational players that they would dwarf those that even halfway knew what they are doing. Now is this scenario likely? No. But a guy can dream.

I would, however, be interested in the comments of those who know more about large gambling companies, and their interest in such matters. I have heard nothing but pure conjecture. When/if the smaller companies have been done away with, will the large corporations try to make a move, and if so how?