Attn: Internet gamblers (poker and sports)

Story from today's Toronto Star on future of online gambling:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1159825812397&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851

 

Once again, it's good to be Canadian, because it means I can continue to ruin my life by playing too much poker.

 

You can probably thank Sen. Mitch McConnell and/or Sen. Jim Bunning for the exclusion of horse racing on the Internet gaming bill.

And you can also thank the justice system for credit card companies being skiddish. There have been numerous rulings in recent years that exonerate people from paying off gaming debts. If you racked up $100,000 in losses at a casino using your MasterCard, then guess what, there's a good chance you won't have to pay it back.

 

Don't know about that. I think the Canuck credit card companies are following their US counterparts. At least mine is.

 

Dead baby's cells, women marrying women, and people gambling on-line (but not horse racing).

Glad our politicians are tackling the BIG issues we are facing. What, no flag burning amendment today?

I am voting against every god damned, mother fucking incumbent on the ballot in November. Regardless of party. I hate them all.

Oh, and just in case you didn't know, the Prez is flying AF 1 into LA today to make a bunch of $100,000 handshakes at a fundraiser tonight. Got his priorities straight.

 

So, the WSOP ME will have about 1,000 people this year. If they are lucky.

 

Really? Mine is working for now, at least.

 

Bingo, poin.

How can you even take these clowns seriously, when this is the shit they spend their time on?

Local bookies everywhere are loving it, though.

 

The next move is going to have to be some kind of limit on online payment companies — NetTeller, IGM, FirePay, etc.
The thing is, those accounts are also used for purchases besides gambling deposits.
So, if I start an online payment company in Costa Rica, I make agreements with all of the gambling sites plus eBay, Amazon, etc. That way I'm outside the U.S., and I've got customers using my service for purchases other than gaming.
For consumers, it means another layer of fees.
This whole things is bullshit.

 

I just got this e-mail from PokerRoom.com, the Mac-friendly site:

U.S. Restrictions

Hi (xxxxxxxxxx)

On September 30th 2006 the U.S. Congress passed the SAFE Port Act which also contained certain provisions known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 that affects the processing of payments between U.S. customers and online gaming companies. The legislation was signed into law by President George W Bush on October 13th 2006.

We regret that the U.S. has taken this step to make it virtually impossible to offer real money entertainment to U.S. customers. It is doubtful that the U.S. authorities will achieve their stated goals by introducing such legislation. We believe that a properly monitored forward-looking regulation would be much more effective than this general ban.

Entirely due to this new law, we are disappointed to announce the following restrictions for all customers within the U.S.:

Depositing Restrictions
As officially stated before, we have been working on a technical solution to restrict all customers within the U.S. from depositing new funds at PokerRoom.com. This solution will be implemented on October 25th.

Real Money Restrictions
We will have implemented the technical solution to restrict all customers within the U.S. from accessing our real money games starting Monday, November 6th. After that time you will still be able to login to PokerRoom.com, enjoy all of our play money games and withdraw funds from your account at your convenience.

Cash-Outs
Your funds will continue to be safe, secure and yours, and will be transferred to you at your request. The option to cash-out will remain available to you.

Unused Tournament Tickets
Valid tournament tickets are as good as cash and will be refunded to your account once the U.S. restrictions are implemented on November 6th. It may take some days for all tickets to be processed into cash, and only valid tickets (not expired) at the time of the U.S. restriction will be refunded.

Player Points / Loyalty Points
Player points and loyalty points will be inaccessible to all U.S. customers once the changes go live; but this does not mean that your points will expire. Your hard earned points will be stored indefinitely, in the event of real money play becoming available again. Until the U.S. restrictions are in place on November 6th you are free to use your points in our loyalty program.

Pending Bonuses
Pending bonus tasks will be void after the U.S. restrictions come into effect on November 6th, as it will not be possible to collect player points via our real money games. Until the Real Money restriction is in place you can continue to collect points to clear bonuses in your account.

At PokerRoom.com, we are of course very sorry for this development and we hope that we get the chance to meet all our U.S. players again in Real Money games, as we are aiming to offer real money games as soon as the legislation allows us to. We will do our utmost to continuously keep you up to date with future developments.

PokerRoom.com

 

WOW!

Federal prosecutors said former Neteller directors John David Lefebvre and Stephen Eric Lawrence were charged with conspiring to transfer funds with the intent to promote illegal gambling. Both were arrested, authorities said on Tuesday.

 

Hopefully, if this travesty goes to trial, there are specific charges about transfering money for playing poker. Courts have already said that poker is not coverd under the Wire Act. A high-profile case now would help draw attention to it.