blonde poker forum

Today the US house passed a bill outlawing the use of credit card and various other transfers to fund online wagering, it also clarifies that online gambling with exceptions ( horse racing and the state lotteries ), is illegal.

Ruh roh.

Obviously how stringently the authorities prevent transfers is going to be the key measure of how much our games are affected but I suspect we're going to see more online cardroom consolidation with smaller rooms being unable to support themselves.

the end is nigh




anyone for a nice game of scrabble

First person to think of a clever way round the new bill is going to make an unbeleivable amount of money, go.....

Neteller, what do i win?

Apologies, the end is not quite nigh.

The house has voted on another issue right before this, they are currently mid debate, however most major US news outlets believe the bill will pass.
My american friend sent me the results of the wrong vote ( he's watching C-span right now ).

The vote will be sometime today. Will update the thread as the results come in ( bill is voted on first then amendments then the bill in its new entirety again ).

Wheres neteller based? and how do the transfers work? The US government will crackdown on the banks and they in turn will put pressure on neteller and alike, if netellers business is mainly sustained by poker and gaming transfers they may resist but if not they will make changes.

Perhaps they will ban alcohol next  ;goodvevil;

or smoking!!!!

I feel sorry for all the online pro's based in America then.   

A 4 hour amnesty from flushy bashing.  ;applause;

Neteller is on the Isle of Man. The whole grey area of international law and the internet will mean that we have a good few years lef tin gaming online, no matter what the outcome of that bill.

I find it interesting that Betfair allows PayPal, and wonder how that will be affected.

There's always a way, especially online, never fear..

Surely this won't happen in the UK.. will it?     I hope not, I plan to win a game one day and move away from the other fish  :D.

To be honest, with all the news hype surrounding the super casino. I can't see UK politicians ever banning such a thing here.  Well actually I can think of one way it may become illegal in the future, but I better not say that. It will only cause a heated argument

In the UK we made did the sensible thing and legalise it/make it tax free.

There's still a hell of a long way to go before this becomes law.
It's in the House of Representatives now. It still has to pass the senate
It still could take years. :D :D


There's a running commentry from posters on pocketfives just now

http://www.thecapitol.net/FAQ/faq_bill.htm

 Td Th

Sensible poster on pocketfives just said this


Bill has to pass House.

Bill has to pass Senate (our next battleground for campaigning/pressuring lawmakers)

President has to sign bill.

Enforcement has to catch up.

Plenty of time for playing poker, but not a lot of time for playing around. This affects my sportsbetting too.
 Td Th

I read this article at Cardplayer a while ago.

It explains quite clearly the problems the prohibitionists face.

http://www.cardplayer.com/magazine/article/15416

To sum up the words of the wise and the words of the technically gifted on this issue:

Online poker will never be (successfully) banned in the USA.

While I was a little precipitous the result is in, the bill has passed the house.

Just the senate and the president to go.

I agree its much like prohibition there is no practical method of enforcement.

The bill can pass the house, its completely meaningless!!!!

I don't think its there to prohibit gambling on the net, debit cards will be fine. Think they are gearing up to earn a few extra billion bucks

According to a study commissioned by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the US government could potentially make $3.5 billion per year in taxes from Internet poker. Income taxes on winnings would amount to nearly $2.5 billion of that total per annum while a 1 per cent user fee on online poker transactions would generate another $1 billion in revenue for the American government.

"The majority of the revenue that's generated would be from reporting of poker winnings," said Michael Bolcerek, president of the group.

The report comes as the US House of Representatives is preparing to vote on a bill which would clarify the laws on Internet gambling and potentially ban the use of credit cards, checks or fund transfers for settling wagers online.

"The reason why poker hasn't exploded as rapidly as it probably could have is because there is this overhanging legal question," Bolcerek went on to comment. "Once you remove that barrier, that's going to more than compensate for any potential negative effect of people not playing the game because they are being taxed."

The PPA, which is lobbying for the regulation of online gambling, estimates that poker generated $60 billion worldwide in 2005 alone.