The Future of Online Poker for "Danger States"

[PLO8FaceKilla]

HI. I live in one of the "danger states" where poker is supposed to be illegal. Or i think it is. i guess nobody knows... anyways...

I'm hoping that everything stays the way it is right now so that i can keep playing...

Because i'm worried that if it's banned.. i won't be able to play
and if it's "legalized" the sites will block all users from my state.

am i wrong to think this way?


does anyone have any info on this or thoughts?

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
HI. I live in one of the "danger states" where poker is supposed to be illegal. Or i think it is. i guess nobody knows... anyways...

I'm hoping that everything stays the way it is right now so that i can keep playing...

Because i'm worried that if it's banned.. i won't be able to play
and if it's "legalized" the sites will block all users from my state.

am i wrong to think this way?


does anyone have any info on this or thoughts?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd recommend you work on changing the law in your state. Get with your PPA state director and see what you can do and how. It will be a struggle. I wish you well.

I hope you won't see IGREA or the Wexler bill as negatives with regard to the laws of your state. My opinion is that there really is no "status quo". What we have is a transient period between the passage of UIGEA and its implementation (it is the law now...I'm referring to the implementation of the regs). Once the regs are implemented, it's likely many sites will stop serving states with restrictions. Explicit federal legalization, however, will likely start a process where states will loosen things up, especially with regard to poker. It won't be overnight, of course, but some sort of federal licensing or oversight will help states approve poker.

[dlk9s]

I see where you are coming from. While I definitely want online poker legalized and regulated, I am paranoid that online gambling legislation will draw the attention of legislators in my very red state (Georgia), who will then decide to make it illegal here. Because, after all, playing the Keno game from the Georgia lottery is better, especially because you can play every 4 minutes.

[What?]

Even if banned their will always be a way to play. If legalized I doubt any state will block it and lose out on all the tax dollars.

[Legislurker]

[ QUOTE ]
Even if banned their will always be a way to play. If legalized I doubt any state will block it and lose out on all the tax dollars.

[/ QUOTE ]

I see almost no way for tax money to trickle down to states for discretionary use. Our best tax appeal is to federal pay-go. any option would see ALL 50 states except Nevada block it. Gambling in a state legislature is almost entirely DOA.

[What?]

I'm not sure why you think if legalized even the non danger states will block, but even if they do we will still be where we are at right now. The current US friendly sights will still operate.
If you think they will block if legalized then we should be against legalization then?

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure why you think if legalized even the non danger states will block, but even if they do we will still be where we are at right now. The current US friendly sights will still operate.
If you think they will block if legalized then we should be against legalization then?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think there's any reason to be against pro-poker legislation. If states plan to block poker, they can do so with UIGEA. I don't concur that all states will ban Internet poker. If we were that unpopular, we'd have been banned long ago, and we'd be doomed now at the federal level as well.

Anyway, the reason UIGEA passed in the first place was that too many of us thought we'd be better off without legislation, so we didn't fight back. This made us appear weak. Our solution is to act with strength, not weakness, IMO. Fight for pro-poker legislation at the state and the federal level. Something will fill the vacuum. If it isn't some form of legalization, it will be a ban. It won't be nothing.

[DeadMoneyDad]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure why you think if legalized even the non danger states will block, but even if they do we will still be where we are at right now. The current US friendly sights will still operate.

[/ QUOTE ]

The current US friendly sites may face a choice of pushing the use of geographical IP blocking in the face of implemntated regulations, arguing that there is no "illegal gamble" in those other states. It really depends of if new money transfer options come on line or not. This would be a tough business decision, but the major US friendly sites have taken a lot of risks in the past the continue to serve the US market. I don't know how much more we can expect them to help us help ourselves.

[ QUOTE ]
If you think they will block if legalized then we should be against legalization then?

[/ QUOTE ]

Again this is another reason to use this time to build our muscle while the regulations are "in process".

The passage of the UIGEA has lead many casual player out of the market already. The implementation of the regulations will do more to "criminalize" poker at least from the preception side of players. The methods of deposit and withdraw will be that much harder and more expensive.

We need to build and build as fast as we can.

But as far as ease of organization and raising money from "pissed off" citizens, the job will be much easier when and if some of the majors go dark in +20% of the States. So to some degree it cuts both ways.

Imagine working in a city like St. Louis, where it was legal to play in MO but your co-workers in IL couldn't log on to FT or PS. The IL PPA State Reps job would get a whole lot easier.....

But the reverse if also true more states might attempt to join the minority with State action. It is a real possibility, that is the sites do or are forced to serve only "legal" state, other States may see this as an option.

The only thing we can do is get ready for it by planning to be ready.

But as MA has shown, we really are no worse off than we are now. We have to be prepared for individual or worse mutiple State action at any time. There are a number of sites like the State AG's organization's where you can even read some of their strategies and thinking on these matters.


D$D

[bwehrm]

As with everything else, money talks. If we can get to the point where it is up to the individual states, you will see them all gradually legalize it. Once the lawmakers in one state see another state generating ridiculous revenues from it they will fall all over themselves to make it legal.