Re: Texas Hold 'Em There's a lot of speculation that a lot of what transpired the last few days is due to the Wynn casino empire intending to soon start up their own online poker site. They appear to want to close off the overseas sites to US players so they will have to play at sites connected to billion dollar US based casinos.
Re: Texas Hold 'Em This has been the prevailing thought process since Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) tried to get a bill through congress during the lame duck sessions after last November's election. The bill he was proposing, and backed heavily by Harrahs (now Ceasar's), included a 15 month moratorium on existing/future operators which would allow US companies times to catch up in development, then the off shore operators would have to go through another 15+ month license period. All the while the US companies would be granted free reign over the market after the initial 15 month moratorium. This way, they cut off the big 3 with criminal indictments. Have them pull out of the US market, which allows the US companies the head start they were looking for, plus making sure the big 3 will have an even HARDER time getting licensed, because of their legal entanglement. This all contingent on it becoming easier to get funds online via electronic means, which will take congressional action.
Re: Texas Hold 'Em Don't you love how our government says it makes decisions for moral reasons when they are in fact business decisions?
Re: Texas Hold 'Em Would that it were so, but it's not. Steve Wynn entered into an agreement with PokerStars a few months ago. Why would he do that if he had this scheme cooked up? The reality is, Wynn and Stars stood to gain from the arrangement. The leading casino entrepreneur working with the leading poker site would have given him a huge start in the market once it legalizes and gotten Stars' foot in the door first. They both had a lot to gain from this. Furthermore, US Attorneys have a lot of leeway in the cases they pursue. What happened is that the USA of the Southern District of New York saw an opportunity to make a name for himself and started investigating. There's no way the traditional brick and mortar casinos had any influence on him. What had influence on him is the number three. That is, the number three with a dollar sign in front of it and nine zeroes behind it. Which is the size of the fine that they have asked for.
Re: Texas Hold 'Em All that is well and good, but I still can't get my head around the fact that Online Poker is the target instead of Online Sports Books. I would think that sports betting would generate a lot more traffic and funds from the US player as it has been ingrained in our society much, much longer. Just take all the money, legal or illegal, that is bet each year JUST on the Super Bowl as an example. Maybe I'm just one lost soul who doesn't understand the logic behind it all. One form of gambling online is ok, but another is not. Welcome to the Hypocrisy of Politics.
Re: Texas Hold 'Em No argument on the selectivity of this. To be fair, I do think that sports betting is specifically included in UIGEA, whereas poker is not. So the big three poker sites stayed away from sports, thinking that they had a strong enough argument that they would be ok. It's kind of ridiculous, if you think about it. Betting on horses = ok. Playing the lottery = ok. Investing in derivatives = ok. But playing poker in your own house? Not ok. It makes no sense at all.
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Re: Texas Hold 'Em *raises hand Ben Lamb FTW!!! Although the run good is with Pius Heinz at the moment it seems.