7/10/2007 iMEGA Suit Against UIGEA Strongest Fight Against the US Bill

[oldbookguy]

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Once we are squarely seen as in the "skill" category, the forces that will try and stop us will be a clear minority with very little public support. Few politicians will see an anti-POKER platform as a vote getter, far less at least, than the typical anti-GAMBLING platform. The very same folks who give politicians their every last spare cent to stop a casino from coming here locally could not care less whether I play online poker or not, and wont join any such fight.

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Well put my friend and why we need to really support th Wexler Bill and pound them with the world winner / AOL, MSN & YAHOO! Skill Games like solitaire!

obg

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

Ok, my friend just confirmed that the word chilled was first coined by an African American music artist named James Brown. So it is infact a 'negro' word. Its interesting to see how even the American legal system was influenced by hip hop music.

[permafrost]

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But thats the beauty of the Wexler "skill-games" bill: it takes poker and makes it legal almost everywhere and requires our opponents to do the hard work to get the new state laws needed to ban us.


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What would be wrong with some large player's group also pushing this good skill strategy in some likely states? If it fails in DC, we could still flip some states.

[TheEngineer]

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Let me get out of my "sit back" mode for a minute and say excellent summary of where we stand, TheEnergizer!

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Thanks.

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I don't know how much the states currently depend on international access for internet betting on horses, and I suspect internet access is illegal for state lotteries. There was no international access when the states legalized those gambling businesses, and they did well, then grew.

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Horse betting is interstate. Also, the Internet wagering augments existing horse betting (at the track, over the phone, other OTB, etc.). Internet bets are extra money to them....pure profit. We're free-standing, which may make for differences. I recall MGM tried Internet gaming outside the U.S., and even the rest of the world failed to provide economy of scale.


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A legal intrastate poker site would be fine with me if the alternative is nothing besides the local casino. Maybe the status quo will hold and we don't see it go to nothing. But if it does go...we need new state laws. Maybe it has to hit nothing before enough people make noise.

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I agree. Right now, our fight has helped in keeping the status quo; we showed that we have strength and that we vote. Barney Frank said as much in one of his interviews on the topic. We used to be cannon fodder....holier-than-thou politicians could use us for free points with their constituents, under the false assumption that there was no pro-poker constituency. This may be good enough to, at worst, keep the status quo for a while longer.

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How to change states? No expert advice here however concentrate on legal poker, find friendly state legislators, write letters to the editor. Find out why Nevada has laws on the books and no businesses. Again, it has to be done sooner or later unless we hit a miracle river. The Fed level wouldn't be neglected since they are part of the problem; but the origin of the problem is state law. [/sit up mode]

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Agree with all of that. I do believe our primary focus should be at the federal level right now, mainly because there is proposed federal legislation that helps us make the political case for our position. There is a state component to this. However, our size (here at this forum on 2p2) limits what we can do. I know I cannot have an action thread for each state. Hell, I don't know who the state reps in Alabama are. Hopefully everyone is writing to their governor and state rep.

[MiltonFriedman]

about 1%

[JPT III]

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If you were a betting man (which we all are), what odds (especially from you lawyers) would you place on whether or not this TRO (or preliminary injunction) will be granted?

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Somewhere in the 1-2% range. No way it's anywhere near 10%. The only hope is that we draw a judge that really sees things our way. The pending application, supported by the brief that is the subject of this thread, is not going to get it done. Basically, we need to hit our gutshot straight draw on the river, and three of the four cards helpful to us are already in the muck.

[JPT III]

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50 %? seriously? that's pretty damn high i'd think

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Yes, that's way too high. Not even close to that.

[JPFisher55]

Actually I was speculating about the lawsuit eventually succeeding on it merits; not about the TRO. I don't understand the purpose of the TRO. The regulations are not even written and the DOJ is not enforcing the UIGEA. Yes it does have a chilling affect, but why a TRO for that reason. Since I don't think that the iMEGA can establish the irreparable harm if a TRO is not issued, I agree with the low odds for it.
However, it's different for the actual final relief sought in iMEGA's petition. You might want to read some of the articles at Majorwager.com or gambling911 that site some opinions of legal experts. They opine that the UIGEA raises serious constitutional issues. However, iMEGA might have problems with such issues as standing and ripeness to get to the actual merits.

[oldbookguy]

Since we are always looking to get our message out, here is a neat site, Fantasycongress.com a site started by a college kid that works like fantasy sports.

The link:
http://fantasycongress.com/public/search...er=&status=

is a filtered page with all gambling related bills and you can vote YES / NO. If you should join, you can detail your selection or just a generic YES if you wish.

OBG

[Gonso]

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Ok, my friend just confirmed that the word chilled was first coined by an African American music artist named James Brown. So it is infact a 'negro' word. Its interesting to see how even the American legal system was influenced by hip hop music.

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WTF