

It might be legal to gamble online soon - gdhillon
http://news.yahoo.com/gambling-gets-boost-obama-administration-113418228--spt.html

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joshuahedlund
Prohibiting voluntary victimless activities of the physical kind didn't even
work very well in the 20th century. The technological kind in the 21st
century? Downright impossible. It just moves outside your borders - and
outside your ability to tax. Unless I'm ignorant of some industry-specific
facts I think this would be a win-win for everybody (except, as always, the
poor souls that willingly throw their money away...)

Edit: Good point by cellis below. Still, I think legalizing activities via
connected interests is progress compared to fake illegalizing that exists
currently.

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cellis
Win-win for the politically connected oligopolies ( tribes, states, vegas ).
Equation stays lose-lose for everyone else ( startups, customers ). And of
course there is still _UIGEA_. So, don't get your hopes up.

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WarDekar
The UIGEA no longer applies to internet poker because internet poker is no
longer unlawful (the _Unlawful_ Internet Gambling Enforcement Act).

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heyitsnick
Tell that to Absolute Poker exec Brent Beckley who just pleaded guilty to
charges that included violations of UIGEA

edit: And this clarification of the Wire Act changes nothing as to the
legality of online poker.

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jiganti
Yes, this is finally happening. The fact that states like Nevada and
California are pushing for intra-state legislation will probably make the
federal government scurry to pass a bill (likely HR2366, which everyone
speculated would pass by Thanksgiving of this year). While sites like
PartyPoker could hypothetically start allowing Americans to play right now,
they aren't going to ruin their chance to tap into the market without getting
formal licenses, whether that happens at a state or federal level.

The brick and mortar casinos will be the first candidates to get licenses to
run real money sites regardless, and guys like myself will have to pull some
strings to get our little platforms into the market. But hey, there's always
the Zynga poker business model (sell X play chips for $Y; no prizes for
winning aside from being able to play in "high stakes" play money games) to
tide us over until then.

The first decade of the twenty-first century was the "wild west" of online
poker. A number of times I've had my bankrolls on various sites disappear as
they shut down and run with the money- similar to getting robbed at gunpoint
in a high stakes showdown in the days of the Texas road gamblers, or
Mississippi riverboat poker games. We're headed for a safe, regulated form of
the American pastime, and although it will likely be taxed viciously, there is
a very good chance that we'll see another poker boom like that started when
Chris Moneymaker won the main event of the 2003 World Series of Poker.

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heyitsnick
Most of the mainstream media is sadly over-stating this. Although this is
welcome clarification on the Wire Act, online gambling still falls under UIGEA
and IGBA laws. The Black Friday indictments did not make use of the Wire Act
specifically because of the ambiguity.

For further reading from the online poker media:

[http://pokerfuse.com/news/law-legislation/department-
justice...](http://pokerfuse.com/news/law-legislation/department-justice-
shifts-stance-wire-act-replies-reidkyl-letter/)

[http://craakker.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-doj-wire-act-
opinio...](http://craakker.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-doj-wire-act-opinion-is-
no-big-deal.html)

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helloandgoodbye
This was always going to happen. It was only banned in the first place to
clear the field of foreign companies that dominated the market. So now - 6
years later - american companies have finally caught up, it's time to repeal
the ban.

Side note: I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing. I mean if someone's
going to profit off the misery and suffering of addicts, it might as well be
their fellow countrymen.

EDIT: re:"it was only banned" : I know it was technically illegal, however I
suspect that wouldn't have been an issue if it was a field dominated by
american companies.

~~~
RudySF
Interesting point. If / when online poker is legal do you think off-shore
companies like PokerStars will move their operations to the US? Will that be
part of the deal to allow US players back to their gaming platforms?

As a side note, I hope this continues to move forward. I would gladly pay
taxes on my poker winnings and receive checks from legitimate banks as opposed
to the KBG Bank of Canada (or something like that) where I used to get my
checks from in the past.

~~~
helloandgoodbye
Very possible.

Taxes have to be collected and money laundering legislation must be
enforceable -

not to mention all the "protective" internet legislation you guys seem to be
getting recently...

...!

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wallawe
Man, a second poker boom would be amazing...

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YuriNiyazov
I don't undertand how the article, which mostly talks about state lotteries,
implies anything about online poker.

~~~
arn
from the article:

"Until now, the department held that online gambling in all forms was illegal
under the Wire Act of 1961, which bars wagers via telecommunications that
cross state lines or international borders.

The new interpretation, by the department's Office of Legal Counsel, said the
Wire Act applies only to bets on a "sporting event or contest," not to a
state's use of the Internet to sell lottery tickets to adults within its
borders or abroad."

\- basically, they restricted the interpretation of the Wire Act to be
specific to sports gambling, and nothing else (such as poker)

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Zakharov
Isn't online poker a "contest"?

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suking
Step 1: Get rid of offshore casino sites

Step 2: Make gambling legal and tax

Step 3: Profit

~~~
asdkl234890
The Internet after SOPA: Government approved liquor sales and gambling, no
unauthorized websites.

