So who's REALLY behind this anti-online gaming push?

[slothinator]

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"You may be right, but I think there is a pretty good chance we will all be playing at Harrah's on-line in about 6 months."


As much as I wold love for this to be true, I think we are drawing dead on the possibility of this happening.

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I'm in between, I think there's a great chance of this happening, but more like 5-10 years, not 6 months, lol.

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QFT

The Fed would have to pave the way for casinos to do this, and they have almost no motivation to do so.

I'm on the fence. On one hand, I'd hate to support these businesses that are strong-arming other businesses out of the market, but at the same time, I love poker.

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The motivation to do it comes from the lobbyists pushing their agenda and the money that stands to be made. That will motivate them enough to make something happen. They can ride the morality parade all they want on this issue, but money almost always trumps morality when it comes to political issues.

[SmokeNMirrors]

What is the old saying that Former New York Giants' GM George Young said, "If it is not about the money, it is about the money and when someone SAYS it is not about the money, it is REALLY about the money." The moral stance is just a cover for the money. The US gov't is p!ssed bc they can't get their cut!

It is ALWAYS ABOUT THE MONEY!

[slothinator]

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"You may be right, but I think there is a pretty good chance we will all be playing at Harrah's on-line in about 6 months."


As much as I wold love for this to be true, I think we are drawing dead on the possibility of this happening.

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Why's that??

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Well if you listened to the politicians' speeches in support of the bill ("that poor kid who robbed a bank to pay poker debts", "click a mouse, lose your house", etc.) this was obviously more "OMG What about the children!!!" than "What about all the lost tax revenue?"

I guess you oculd argue that the moral crusade was all B.S. and that the real motivation is money. I doubt it, but even if true it would be pretty difficult for politicians to justify U.S.-based online poker months after arguing how evil and dangerous it is to America's youth. If it happens at all it will be years, not months.

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The moral crusade is BS. And they will have no problem doing an about face on the issue. They can argue that it will be easier to regulate and "keep our children safe" now that everyone is playing on sites under American control. Then they'll pull out a pie chart showing how the tax revenue being generated is going to schools or something.

[MasterLJ]

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"You may be right, but I think there is a pretty good chance we will all be playing at Harrah's on-line in about 6 months."


As much as I wold love for this to be true, I think we are drawing dead on the possibility of this happening.

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I'm in between, I think there's a great chance of this happening, but more like 5-10 years, not 6 months, lol.

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QFT

The Fed would have to pave the way for casinos to do this, and they have almost no motivation to do so.

I'm on the fence. On one hand, I'd hate to support these businesses that are strong-arming other businesses out of the market, but at the same time, I love poker.

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The motivation to do it comes from the lobbyists pushing their agenda and the money that stands to be made. That will motivate them enough to make something happen. They can ride the morality parade all they want on this issue, but money almost always trumps morality when it comes to political issues.

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In any case, this is a minimum of 2 years off.

The plus side is that if/when online poker comes back to life, it will be swimming with fish just like back in '02/'03 where there was a huge influx of new players. Guess I'll have to keep my game sharp until then. I think I'm done with online poker for a while... at least, I will be playing until I get my rakeback check next month. I don't have a utility bill in my name, so I don't know how I'm going to get my money out... but anyway.

[banditdad]

The Congressman who carried the bill in the House was Jim Leach of Iowa. One of Leach's largest campaign contributors was Harrahs. Following the passage of the bill both The Sands corp. and Harrahs have announced that they are setting up online casino sites taht will not as yet be available to the US.

I know people who are in the executive offices of MGM and they are busily at work getting an exception to the bill for online US based poker sites. They are dangling the carrot of taxation and regulation as reasons for the exception.

I am sure that Harrahs, the Sands, and the lobbyists for the Indian casinos are doing the same. Don't you think Foxwoods, Pechanga, Bay101 would like a piece of online poker $$?

[olivert]

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That could change if World Poker Tour Enterprises decides to step up its little war against the likes of Full Tilt.


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WPT does not currently make a profit. Most of their income came from television dollars. Television makes money by selling ads. Most of the ads on WPT on Travel Channel were Party or Stars. They lost 50% of their major advertisers.

Why would WPT want to shut down online poker?

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Two reasons why WPTE are lobbying governments around the world to shut down "unlicensed" offshore online poker:

1. Some offshore online poker "schools", with FullTiltPoker.NET in particular, are using their "marketing" companies to purchase TV time in the U.S. to air their own poker shows.

As a result, WPTE was NOT able to get any U.S. TV rights fees for the 2nd season of its spinoff PPT product. The PPT has been postponed indefinitely.

WPTE wants the U.S. DOJ to cut off the "air supply" of the likes of Full Tilt so that Full Tilt can't buy any more TV time in the U.S., thereby cutting down the amount of "time buy" TV poker available in the U.S. and preserving WPTE's current primary revenue stream, namely U.S. TV rights fees from The Travel Channel.

(Obviously, WPTE believes that The Travel Channel in the U.S. will keep picking up one-year options for the WPT TV product, even if online poker "school" advertising were to disappear from the U.S. entirely. We will see that assumption being tested within 60 days, as The Travel Channel will have to decide on its option for Season 6 by mid-March.)

2. In new and emerging markets (with Asia and "Greater China" in particular, but also in the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea), WPTE wants the "ministries of finance" in those countries to license WPTOnline.com to be the ONLY legally-licensed online poker room.

WPTE officials are meeting with government officials in each of those countries to try to convince the governments that WPTE is the "good guy" who abide by the laws and the likes of Full Tilt, PokerStars, Doyle's Room, etc. are the "bad guys" who broke the law by operating "unlicensed" online poker businesses.

WPTE still wants online poker, but WPTE 1) wants to have a monopoly on online poker in new markets and 2) wants governments in "mature" markets to shut down "unlicensed" offshore online poker in order to cut down on the amount of "time buy" TV poker available.

[ekdikeo]

Anyone ever play at WPT's online poker room? I signed up for it, and a week later, got an email from them that they were closing it down due to lack of interest. Did they reopen it?

[blutarski]

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Many of these politicians (and their conservative constituents) simply see online gambling (including poker) as much more insidious than B&M casinos, especially to children. As much as I'd like to look for other reasons behind this legislation, I think the most obvious reason - to stop online gambling - is the most likely one.

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I agree. Also, I think this is an issue that religious conservatives felt they could win relatively easily and with much less resistance than, say, repealing Roe v Wade.

In other words, they're doing the easier stuff on their lists first.

[Botchman]

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Anyone ever play at WPT's online poker room? I signed up for it, and a week later, got an email from them that they were closing it down due to lack of interest. Did they reopen it?

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When was this????

[Genesis]

I really hope there is a push for online US based poker sites. I'd also be more than happy if US casinos tried to pair up with/buy out some of the big name online sites that are out there now. I wonder how hard it would be for the US to put in restrictions that the only way US players can play online is if they deposit/withdraw money at the actual casino. They'd be able to trace and tax this money easily then.