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• Deborah Hanks

  

  • 5 posts
   

  June 18, 2011 4:20:55 PM EDT

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  Rep. Joe Barton is readying an online poker bill which legalize processing payments may introduced next week.

  A bill that would breathe new life into online poker is almost ready; perhap in a week’s time. Rep Joe Barton,
  R-Texas, is looking to present a piece of legislation that would
  legalize the betting in online poker and would also have to create a new
  federal regulatory body to watch over the online poker sites.

  Rep.
  Barton has argued that he personally plays poker offline and believes
  that it is a game of skill, unlike gambling. He also notes that playing
  online poker is not illegal, its the processing the money for betting
  that the government has a problem with; but there are those states where
  gambling is legal. Under this impetus, the legislator will be
  introducing his bill geared towards those gambling states.

  If he gets his way, online poker sites
  will need to be registered in the states where gambling is not frowned
  upon; like Nevada for example. Gaming commissions in the Nevada state
  would oversee registering these sites and keep them from cheating
  customers. In turn, the federal regulatory body would keep those gaming
  commissions in check. Anyone in the United States will be at first be
  able to play for money, but states can decide to ban Internet gambling
  if they really have a problem with the new poker freedoms.

  Since April, the three big poker sites
  have been dormant. PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absoulte Poker were
  seized by the US Government for illegal gambling under the 2006 Unlawful
  Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The price for processing payments
  for online poker range from five years in prison to 30 years and a $1
  million fine.

  The Poker Players Alliance said at the time, “we are
  shocked at the action taken by the U.S. Department of Justice today
  against online poker companies and will continue to fight for Americans’
  right to participate in the game they enjoy.”

• Ronin1085 .

  

  • 417 posts
   

  June 18, 2011 4:29:07 PM EDT

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  Should be interesting what comes out of this. It may create a structure that we can only play American players.
• Deborah Hanks

  

  • 5 posts
   

  June 18, 2011 4:44:52 PM EDT

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  lets hope not,
  lets hope we get fulltilt pokerstars back.
  and i bet there will be more new sites opening up as will
• Deborah Hanks

  

  • 5 posts
   

  June 18, 2011 4:48:00 PM EDT

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  check this out.
  i signed it.this will help to.i hope.
  http://signon.org/sign/president-obama-stop?source=c.fwd.in&r_by=161170....
• Ronin1085 .

  

  • 417 posts
   

  June 18, 2011 4:51:10 PM EDT

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  I'd like Stars and Tilt back too -- But hopefully with regulations a lot of UB's don't pop up.
• Anthony Martino

  

  • 494 posts
   

  June 18, 2011 8:17:46 PM EDT

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  I fear that any regulation in the US will leave decisions up to the individual states.
  
  Look at land-based casinos and how that's handled in the US (i.e. some States permit it and some don't, most have limits on the # of casino properties permitted within their borders)
  
  It's extremely likely the same would hold true for online gaming. That means most states would develop a monopoly on gaming and restrict their residents to those sites, which kills the potential for mass consumption because you're going from a world-wide audience to a single-state audience on most counts.
  
  That's one of the reasons we went with the free-to-play network, because that is open worldwide and legal, so we avoid the potential pitfalls on the horizon for online gaming regulation within the US.
  
  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to go back to the Party Poker days, those games were so good!
• Ronin1085 .

  

  • 417 posts
   

  June 18, 2011 11:14:13 PM EDT

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  I agree -- i don't see a world-wide thing happening -- at least not right now. But, there could be the lotto model.

   

  Meaning certain states could partner up like in Powerball and Mega millions.

   

   

  
  This post was edited by Ronin1085 . at June 18, 2011 11:14:13 PM EDT
• Anthony Martino

  

  • 494 posts
   

  June 19, 2011 7:20:54 AM EDT

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  Right, but even if a few states joined forces, that still leaves the global community of players out of the pool.
  
  So the critical mass may not be there to make these sorts of sites all that attractive (i.e. their numbers may be so small they can't offer up much in the way of promotions to attract and retain players)
• Ronin1085 .

  

  • 417 posts
   

  June 19, 2011 7:37:20 AM EDT

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  It's a start though. Prehaps on a small level they can figure out what works state wide, nation wide and then even world wide -- I know I dare to dream.
  
  Remember, I do see the flaws of online poker. I support it, but there are a lot of flaws.