Online poker could be officially illegal in MA soon

[NewGuy]

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Does it say the timing on this? Would it become illegal the same time the casinos are finished (something like 2013 IIRC) or right away?

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There is no language for delaying the ban until construction is completed that I could see. In other words, online gambling (including poker) would become a felony in Mass the 1st day the bill is passed, punishable by up to $25k fine and 2 years in jail.

The good news is that the proposed legislation is still in committee and we have time to lobby & fight to either:
a) remove / change the specific language criminalizing online poker, or
b) if they won't do this, fight to kill the bill before it passes. I have no idea on how exactly long this bill would take to work through the system to become law, but the Governor's Legilslative office indicated it would be "many months away, at least". (Personal layman's best guess, maybe 6-18 months, but that really depends on how significant a political battle is fought by anti-gambling types, PPA, etc.)

[gurgeh]

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Funny that after UIGEA, the "evil Republicans" get blasted for vicious intrusions into our private business. Now the 99.44% Democrat government of the People's Republic of Massachusetts is considering this, nobody says boo

Ironic.

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More ironic than criticizing people for not being up in arms in a thread where they're up in arms? The sheer lack of logic apparent in your thought process is so awesome that I have to wonder how people continue to let you troll here.

If you're still mad at the very few Democrats trying screwing us as opposed to the legions of Republicans (most of whom have about your level of critical thinking skill), you can always order a Bill O'Reilly No More Tears Package.

[vaughn345]

made front page of globe today: http://tinyurl.com/27e97z

[NewGuy]

On a related note, if you live in Mass. please help out by commenting and supporting "myissue" on Deval's website:

Stop the criminilization of online poker http://devalpatrick.com/issue.php?issue_id=7668737

Thanks (it should take all of 2 minutes total)