THE BILL PASSED ONLINE BAN IN THE US

[Longy]

The US senate tonight is debating passing the internet gambling bill which will stop poker players in the states depositing. I have to say i thought this was all fluff and nonesense till tonight. I can see the SNG's on stars becoming alot harder.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=7477748&an=0&page=0&gonew=1#UNREAD

[crip17]

Internet Gambling, Port Deals Reached

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 30, 2006; A08



House and Senate negotiators reached agreement last night on legislation to tighten maritime and port security regulations and, in a last-minute move, added an unrelated measure that seeks to ban Internet gambling.

At the same time, House negotiators prevailed in their fight to strip out $4.5 billion in rail and mass-transit security funds included in the Senate provision.

The port security and Internet gambling legislation was headed for passage in both the House and Senate last night, as lawmakers rushed to leave Washington for their fall reelection campaigns. Senate Republican and Democratic leaders announced it would be passed by voice vote after the House's late-night vote.

Lawmakers from both parties had been crafting the port security measure for more than a year, but its passage became politically critical after a Middle Eastern government-owned company's purchase of U.S. port operations triggered a political melee in Washington early this year.

The final agreement requires radiation scanning of all containers at the top 22 U.S. seaports, orders the Department of Homeland Security to develop response and recovery plans for a terrorist attack, and sets firm deadlines for the implementation of a transportation worker identification and screening system. It authorizes $2 billion in port security grants between 2001 and 2011.

The changes angered some Democrats, who helped craft the original port security legislation but were largely blocked from the final negotiations. The Senate had overwhelmingly approved the authorization of $3.5 billion for mass-transit security grants and $1 billion for freight and passenger rail programs, but House Republicans balked at the cost.

"If Republicans leave town [after] stripping out all the sections protecting major sectors of out transportation sector, God help us if there's an attack," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.).

Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), whose home-state casinos are split over the Internet gambling measure, briefly weighed scuttling the bill over the provision before agreeing to go along, aides said.

House and Senate Republican leaders pushed hard to secure the Internet gambling measure, which some Republicans viewed as a chance to clear their names after they allowed disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to scuttle a similar measure six years ago.

Proponents of the crackdown said the industry, which is mostly based overseas, provides a front for money laundering, some of it by drug sellers and terrorist groups, while preying on children and gambling addicts. Americans bet an estimated $6 billion per year online, accounting for half the worldwide market, according to analysis by the Congressional Research Service.

A coalition of on-line poker players and gambling Web sites tried to thwart the Internet gambling provision. Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance, argued that it could put familiar Web sites such as Party Poker and Pacific Poker out of business while pushing gamblers to "rogue Web sites with no protection for children and no protection for problem gamblers."

[TightEnd]

what is the legislative process from here?

what in practice does this mean for US Online players and Online companies?

[crip17]

It looks to me like the bill is just attacking financial transactions between online gaming and US banks.  The  money already online will be there and can be moved around with neteller but instead of withdrawing with an EFT it will just have to be a cashiers check.
It looks like the hard part will be getting money online. This will be bad as it will prevent many new players from depositing because of the hassle.  New players and bad players are where the money is at so when a bad player goes broke that means no more bad player to win money from since it will be difficult for him to get money back online. I'm guessing it will be business as usual for a little while and then slowly start seeing a decline in players and the ones that are left are the better players in the US. That can't be good.
 But the US elections are right around the corner and that can always mean change.  Hopefully this is just a small bump in the road that gets smoothed out in a few months.  We need these bad and new players from the US to keep me in a good income 

[ifm]

Can they not just deposit money onto netteller? after all it isn't gambling.
Paypal is another, if all sites accepted that then you could argue you were going to buy something on ebay???

[MrMoves]

Can they not just deposit money onto netteller? after all it isn't gambling.
Paypal is another, if all sites accepted that then you could argue you were going to buy something on ebay???

Neteller, PayPal, etc will get heat about where they allow their customers to transfer money to, eventually.  IMHO.

[Slick Kid]

I reckon this will be a massive blow for most sites and god knows what will happen with the likes of CRAPTO.

[Christo!]

I reckon this will be a massive blow for most sites and god knows what will happen with the likes of CRAPTO.

If by crapto you mean crypto, shouldnt they be ok? I thought most of there customers are Europeans?