[sweetjazz]

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A regulated gambling atmosphere would be far worse than the one which existed two weeks ago, certainly not even close to the party heydey. Licensing will eliminate competition and drive up the rakes to astronomical levels (think of what it will do for customer service also). I'd take a free (international) market for gambling over a government protected racket anyday.

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I don't see how customer service could possibly be adversely affected. I mean, give me poor customer service and I'm done with your company. Period. Licensing, also, will not drive rake up as much as some might think. Why? I would imagine several of the big casinos will be getting online, should that avenue open up. They'll have to compete against each other for rake, correct? Rake is not standard on the strip. It's not standard in LA. Why would it be standard online. Any attempt for the government to impose a required rake would illegal, I would think.

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There will be a couple of reasons for rake increases if online poker becomes based in the U.S. and taxed and regulated here.

First, every site will have to pay significant taxes on their rake income to the U.S. government. They will pass on some of that cost increase to consumers, through higher rakes, less bonuses, etc.

Second, it's not clear how "free" the market for online gambling in the U.S. would be because of the fact that it will be heavily regulated. The regulations could make it difficult for new companies to enter the market, for example, and this lessening of competition will hurt the consumer.

I don't think people realize just how little the rake has to increase to turn solid winners into marginal winners and marginal winners into breakeven players. And all the while, most fish would not be able to see the difference because the increase would still be masked by the short-term variance.