US law & online poker - Dan Burns

[scrawnybob]

hi

yep I'm not an authority on US legislation but the online gambling bill was very sneakily attached to another far more important bill

it was attached to a bill that they knew would go through whatever

In other words they could have attached a bill for hanging small children for dropping chewing gum in the street - and it would have gone through

This frankly is the level to which some will sink to try and get it through - when clearly on previous attempts as a stand alone bill it failed to get enough support

We will have more information etc up soon - but remember this stil is NOT a ban on online poker - the bill NEVER WAS an absolute clear cut ban on online poker

It's all to easy to run around panicing people with generalisations and not fully understanding what has happened and what it means

cheers scrawnybob

[RocketManAA]

Its sad there trying to another thing for US citizens. To much law making.

[JimG]

The problems with this bill are so much greater than online poker. It is a sad time to be an American. I will post more on the subject soon.

[stinkee]

Thanks for making it more clear Bob - I was really bummed about this, but it seems all is OK because I have Neteller....

[pokerchammp72993]

that is stupid why would they do that i lvoe poker online why does bush have to do that i hope the next president unbanns it

[stud714]

if only the law was pass long time so i wouldn't end up...being a pokerholic....
lol

[af888]

Very Awesome article!
Thanks - Can I post this one a couple of other forums? I suppose I should email the author?
Thanks,
Jim

[scrawnybob]

hi

probably best to give Dan a shout - I'm sure he will be happy to have it posted up at other forums though

Hopefully now everyone is starting to settle a bit after the initial panic - realising that the bill has a specific and limited mandate - ie. banking transactions. The whole legality of online poker is still no clearer than it was before the bill - It's caused alot of change but no more clarity from a legal perspective

It's a shame that the US cannot move towards a legalising position and collect tax from the sites - I'm pretty sure that would be a better and benificial position for all concerned

As a side note - it's still important to remember that the wire act (which was already theoretically in force pre-bill) doesn't specifically cover online poker

It is fairly clear that probably online gambling (casino games) and definately online sportsbooks are deemed illegal under the wire act

But they have to understand that poker isn't a house game or a game of chance

Poker is a skill game - and this is where the grey area of it's legality re: the wire act comes from

As for some high minded senators going on some moral crusade against online gambling - well I think you only have to look at their own history and importantly funding sources on this to see this is nothing more than a shallow attempt to gain votes from the religious right - Personally I have no problem with them being opposed to any form of gambling both offline & online - But to be courted by Frist to gain votes and then start excluding lottery / horseracing etc is just plain double standards

cheers scrawnybob

[chrisdione]

I hope this helps us United States players at some point. Some sites won't even let me log into my account any more.

[badbeatman]

Great Article! thanks for posting