My View on The Department of Justice, the FBI, and their seizure of Poker Domains Part 1 addendum

April 28th, 2011

I’m well into writing Part 2 of my views of the The Department of Justice, the FBI, and their seizure of Poker Domains but felt the need to push out this addendum before publishing part 2.

I see many states across the nation doing studies on online poker like this one in Iowa.

Representative Stewart Iverson, a Republican from Clarion, says requiring the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to conduct a study of online betting is a good first step. “I think it behooves all of us in the state to really find out how big internet gambling is in the state of Iowa,” Iverson says.

In my opinion all of these studies the states are doing are wasting tax payers money. They could drag a third rate affiliate off any forum and that affiliate would be able to tell them that the state would not be able to get the conversions needed to have profitable poker eco system. You need thousands of players all day long to get games going. This leads me to the conclusion that the government went after Full Tilt Poker, UB, and Pokerstars to wipe out future competition for Caesars Entertainment Group. Once they have a bill in place for regulation of online poker, they will grant Caesars Entertainment Group a sweetheart license to run online poker sites in the USA. The state’s study will conclude that they can’t do it on their own, and that they will have to buy “skins” from Caesars Entertainment group. A skin is essentially a re-branded poker room that is running on the same network. So, let’s say the Rivers Casino Poker Room wants to do a online poker room after it passes Pennsylvania state law requirements. They will contact Caesars Entertainment group and purchase the rights to re-brand the software with their own logos. Users in Pittsburgh would log into Rivers Online Poker Room and would see graphics from Rivers Casino. In reality, they would be playing with people from all over the country and the world. Rivers Casino would get 40% of the revenue generated from only their players that are tracked to them, Caesars would get 50% and the state + US government would get the remaining 10%. This is why Harry Reid wanted a black out period…. He wanted to have Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker cease their LEGAL operations in the US so that he could get all his ducks in a row for the passage of a bill that will clarify to banks that it’s actually legal to make deposits to online poker rooms.

The American Gaming Association is the biggest lobbyist for brick and mortar casinos. They had the most to gain by passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 in it’s current form. What had happened to the Indian Casinos across the United States is happening to online poker rooms. Lobbyist with ties to conservatives, pay those conservatives to pass legislation to shut down casinos. At a later date, the same lobbyist use other lobbyist firms to ease up on a law or bill so that a corporation they are working for can take over the market.

Firms hired by American Gaming Association:
Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock $400,000
MGN Inc $200,000
Laxalt Corp $160,000
Paul Laxalt Group $160,000
Potomac Counsel $155,000
Hogan & Hartson $120,000
Duberstein Group $80,000
Holland & Hart $60,000

Top recipients of money from Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock in 2005-2006 (when Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed):
Jon L Kyl (R-AZ)Michael Steele (R-MD)Tom Reynolds (R-NY)George Allen (R-VA)Ralph Reed (R-GA)Lindsey Graham (R-SC)Mark Kennedy (R-MN)Bob Corker (R-TN)James M Talent (R-MO)Rick Santorum (R-PA)Created with Raphaël

~ Bill Frist, former majority leader of the Senate, and Jon Kyl are both credited with expediting the UIGEA’s passage through the Senate. Though the SAFE Port Act’s provisions related to Internet gambling were drawn exclusively from H.R. 4411, significant portions were removed, including text relating to the Federal Wire Act. ~ Source Wikipedia

It is my opinion that since 1999, there has corruption at the highest levels in the United States Government regarding internet gambling. I believe the goal of the corporations which control United States Government via lobbyist, is not to ban online poker, but instead to monopolize it like every other industry. The UIGEA was tailor made for the American Gaming Association and Caesars Entertainment Group and is essential for securing their future profits.