end is near for US online pros - poll

[flafishy]

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3. The bill doesn't have to pass. Online poker is ALREADY illegal.

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No it's not.

[Fishy McDonk]

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3. The bill doesn't have to pass. Online poker is ALREADY illegal.

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No it's not.

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It's still open to interpretation as far as Poker goes, but do you really think any exec wants to be the next test case? I think not.

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Latest Arrest Chips Away at Online Betting

A second foreign exec is taken into custody at a U.S. airport. It's called an attack strategy.

By Michael A. Hiltzik, Times Staff Writer
September 8, 2006


In an action that roiled the fast-growing world of online gambling, a top executive of a British Internet company was arrested on American soil late Wednesday night on charges connected with taking wagers from gamblers in the United States.

It was the second arrest in two months of a foreign Internet gaming executive in the U.S.


On Wednesday, Peter Dicks, 64, chairman of London-based Sportingbet PLC, was taken into custody by airport police after he arrived on an overseas flight at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. He was held on a criminal warrant issued by the state of Louisiana. After the arrest, Sportingbet asked the London Stock Exchange, where its stock is listed, to halt trading in its shares.

The Dicks arrest follows the arrest on July 17 of David Carruthers, then the chief executive of BetOnSports.com, another online sports book. Carruthers was on a layover at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, in transit between Costa Rica and Great Britain, when he was taken into custody on federal charges including racketeering and mail fraud. He is under house arrest in a St. Louis suburb and awaiting trial early next year. The company discharged Carruthers and has closed its U.S. operation.

Although it is not illegal under U.S. law for Americans to make online bets, federal prosecutors maintain that it is illegal for online operators to solicit or accept them, even when their operations are not in the U.S.

Experts in gambling law said the arrests underscored an intensified government attack on Internet gambling at a time when the customer base was expanding rapidly worldwide and the technology to mask the source and destination of wagers was improving.

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[ShakeZula06]

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This, and any sites that are left will be populated by pros and wanna be pros. The casual recreational player will be constantly hearing now that online poker is illegal, not to mention that it is overrun with semi-bots like Poker Ace Heads Up Displays, so why would any one want to play in such an evironment?

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Admit it, you had the idea for PT and PAHUD and they stole the idea from you, and now your bitter. If this isn't the case, then you spend way to much time posting about it. HUDs are here to stay, and they do not make you a semi-bot. Get over it and yourself.

[primetime32]

Smart offshore gaming execs would not give up the millions they make for the ability to visit cape cod in the fall.

Do you think Dikshit or the owners of poker stars care about coming to america? give me a break. And i will bet you any amount of money that dikshit will never be extradited from any country to face charges in america for gaming related charges.

[cardcounter0]

I guess you missed the part where the execs arrested were from Sportingbet PLC and BetOnSports.com

Bookmaking on Sports by wire is illegal by Federal Law.

The State of LA passed a ban on internet gambling when they got casinos (as did NJ and NV). The State of WA has also banned internet gambling. Pretty much anything else is fair game.

[ImsaKidd]

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This, and any sites that are left will be populated by pros and wanna be pros. The casual recreational player will be constantly hearing now that online poker is illegal, not to mention that it is overrun with semi-bots like Poker Ace Heads Up Displays, so why would any one want to play in such an evironment?

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Hey Overdrive:

Next time you want to bitch about "OMFG POKERTRACKER HUD SEMIBOTS OMGOMGOMG", let it go. We're tired of hearing it.

[Fishy McDonk]

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Smart offshore gaming execs would not give up the millions they make for the ability to visit cape cod in the fall.

Do you think Dikshit or the owners of poker stars care about coming to america? give me a break. And i will bet you any amount of money that dikshit will never be extradited from any country to face charges in america for gaming related charges.

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Any ex-patriot would smile sadly at this. All long to return to their countries. Some actually decide to return and face the music, rather than live in permanent exile.


Whether or not they were born in the US, casino execs don't think of themselves as criminals nor want to think of themselves as criminals and would not want to live their personal lives under such restrictions. As such, they will change their business practices in order to conform to the new realities.

[Fishy McDonk]

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I guess you missed the part where the execs arrested were from Sportingbet PLC and BetOnSports.com

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Once again, are any more casino execs going to be willing to live like fugitives or be the next test case?

Although it is not illegal under U.S. law for Americans to make online bets, federal prosecutors maintain that it is illegal for online operators to solicit or accept them, even when their operations are not in the U.S.

Do you think any anti-gaming judge is going to give a crap whether the wager an online casino accepted and raked was a poker wager or a sports wager or any other kind of wager?

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The State of LA passed a ban on internet gambling when they got casinos (as did NJ and NV). The State of WA has also banned internet gambling. Pretty much anything else is fair game.

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Right, and one was arrested in New York, the other in Dallas, so any exec will have to exclude travel to the US and territories if he isn't sure he hasn't violated some state law. I think more than likely, to be on the safe side, the execs will just close their doors to US customers

[BradleyT]

How about you guys visit the Legislation forum for 5 mins and help to stop the bill.

[DING-DONG YO]

Although it is not illegal under U.S. law for Americans to make online bets, federal prosecutors maintain that it is illegal for online operators to solicit or accept them, even when their operations are not in the U.S.

Federal prosecuters maintain /= illegal fishy.

And yes, judges will care how the bet was placed. Even the most anti-gambling judge in the country won't make a ruling that he/she knows will be overturned on appeal.

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Right, and one was arrested in New York, the other in Dallas, so any exec will have to exclude travel to the US and territories if he isn't sure he hasn't violated some state law. I think more than likely, to be on the safe side, the execs will just close their doors to US customers

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BOS took bets over the phone and took a bus all over the country, basically flaunting the fact they were breaking the law.

The other took bets over the phone.

Taking bets over the phone is explicitly illegal under the wire act and is a slam dunk for prosecutors. Prosecutors bring cases they have a good chance of winning, not cases they have a good chance of losing. Don't you watch law and order?