the public's perception of online poker

[Taylor Caby]

I had a chance to visit with some poker enthusiasts this past week in Atlanta. I had some meetings with a company that is running bar leagues throughout the southeast USA. These are freerolls that generate traffic for the bars and attract very donkish to donkish poker players, although a few players seemed decent.

They introduced me as some online poker hero, and everyone hada million questions about online poker. I talked to probably 25-30 people about poker in general, particularly online poker. I would say at least 75% of the people I talked to asked "wait, it isn't illegal to play online poker?" They all thought they could go to jail. The next biggest question was "I heard it was rigged." Everyone seemed to think it was rigged, and told me a ton of bad beat stories.

Obviously getting regulation going would solve both of these problems.

I just wanted to share a little "case study" with you guys and let you know it is my opinion that we should be doing everything we can to educate people on exactly what the laws say, even if we can't change them.

tc

[tangled]

[ QUOTE ]
I had a chance to visit with some poker enthusiasts this past week in Atlanta. I had some meetings with a company that is running bar leagues throughout the southeast USA. These are freerolls that generate traffic for the bars and attract very donkish to donkish poker players, although a few players seemed decent.

They introduced me as some online poker hero, and everyone hada million questions about online poker. I talked to probably 25-30 people about poker in general, particularly online poker. I would say at least 75% of the people I talked to asked "wait, it isn't illegal to play online poker?" They all thought they could go to jail. The next biggest question was "I heard it was rigged." Everyone seemed to think it was rigged, and told me a ton of bad beat stories.

Obviously getting regulation going would solve both of these problems.

I just wanted to share a little "case study" with you guys and let you know it is my opinion that we should be doing everything we can to educate people on exactly what the laws say, even if we can't change them.

tc

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree and if we did - UIGEA would disappear like a puff of annoying smoke.

This is the Gettysburg of this online battle.

If they can stop IP then they will have won and they will never pass a law to reverse that.

But if they can't stop IP and the public is made aware of that, then we will win for two reasons. One, UIGEA will effectively be painted with the same brush that alcohol prohibtion is painted, of which everybody has a bad opinion. And two, people don't like to see so much wealth escaping to another country because of some short-sighted politicians who are still stuck in the Victorian era.

The reason Kyl is so frantic about making the regulations tough is because he knows the whole conflict is at stake if it is still easy for people to post money at a site.

For 15 years people have been trying to get state casinos in Kansas, but it didn't pass the legislature until Oklahoma put up casinos right across the border. And 2 weeks after Kansas approved casinos, Missouri began moving towards raising their limit restrictions because they don't want to lose money to Kansas.

Want to beat Kyl?
Keep playing online poker and telling everybody about it.
(note to the Party Poker Alliance).

[Ace0fSpades]

I think the biggest problem with the public is that they assume in the long run, you always lose. They don't understand that someone has to win the money, unlike casino games such as blackjack. Also, the issue of the UIGEA is very much under the radar of the public; very few people even know about or have heard of the law and those who have think it bans online poker (as stated previously).

[Bond18]

Taylor i think you've hit the nail on the head here. I always have family members ask "so what are you doing now that online poker is illegal?"

We'll lose the war here if the public perception is that what we're doing is illegal. When the UIGEA passed most newspapers simply printed "online gambling banned" to some effect, and then perception became reality.

It wasn't long ago that poker was considered the next golf, legitimate and with tons of advertising money flowing in. If we ever want to go back to those glory years then not only do we need to win over the governments minds, but also the publics.

[jlkrusty]

Agree. Public perception is huge and each of us should educate at least 25-30 people just like OP did.