What happens now with online poker in the US?
Posted by Poker Videos on February 12th, 2012Poker Domain Seizures Part 4
What happens now with online poker in the US?
Pokerbloggs.com did a complete series of articles regarding Black Friday and the DOJ seizure of poker domains. What they really don’t cover is the current state of affairs when it comes to legislation. In fact, they are more focused on the corruption and bribery that led to the seizure of the poker domains, rather than the surface details.
Since the moment that Full Tilt Poker stopped offering games, there has been obvious flip flopping by the DOJ, Harry Reid, Jon Kyl, the media, and legislators. After Bernard Tapie and Bernard Tapie Group signed agreement with Full Tilt Poker to buy their assets, the DOJ pulled a complete 180 stating in a release written by Assistant Attorney General Virginia Seitz, that the Wire Act, 18U.S.C. ยง 1084 do not apply to online poker and only apply to sports betting.
Are there poker sites still accepting US players? You can find 2012 US poker sites here. The are still USA poker deposit options as well, and many sites still accept USA players. Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars were primarily shut down for allegedly disguising transactions. It is currently being argued in court that poker is a game of skill unlike other forms of gambling.
Some people are questioning a scenario that could bring Party Poker back to the US market. I believe Party Poker, Pokerstars, 888 Poker, Bwin, WSOP brand, and Carbon will operate in the USA soon. Most likely, 888 will operate using Full Tilt Poker’s software, and Full Tilt Poker will cease to exist. It is possible that the money owed to players will be will not be paid back and the buyout was to neutralize Full Tilt Poker from ever returning and to purchase their technology and customer list. I imagine you will see Rush Poker running on either 888 or possible some site aligned with Wynn or possibly both. What you are sure to see, is a online poker monopoly run by Caesars and Wynn with the US government making a minuscule profit.
What disheartens me is the naive attitude at Two Plus Two towards the current situation. They are acting like cheerleaders for Harry Reid to attach bills in the middle of the night to legalize online poker. Meanwhile, Harry Reid and Jon Kyl are the bribed politicians who attached the UEIGA in the first place. Only after they eliminated future online competition for Caesars/Wynn gambling cartel did they flip flop. Other government officials like Tom Ridge and Loius Freeh are now reaping their bribery rewards by accepting jobs as lobbyist for Fair Play USA, which is a astro turf grass roots movement. Prospace on Two Plus Two has been ridiculed numerous times and also praised for his investigation of Caesars / Wynn Ties to Organized Crime thread. These lobby tactics to sway groups were used by the NFL and Jack Abramoff to sway religious groups like Focus on Family, now they are being used to sway groups like Two Plus Two. One moderator was recently hired as a security consultant by an online poker company after 6 months of investigating and reporting on Full Tilt Poker and their financials. 5% – 10% of the posters are very skeptical of this new job, or who hired him, and what was the motivation for the blog he was running about Full Tilt. It could be that the mod was just hired by some neutral online poker company and there is no nefarious plot to reward or mute the mod.
On February 7, Forbes published an article on Judge Lewis Kaplan’s refusal to dismiss charges against John Campos a former vice-chairman of a Utah bank and Chad Elie a payment processor accused of deceptive labeling of processing funds. So far Campos and Elie are the only people to actually fight in court regarding the validity of these laws and how they apply to poker. Unfortunately, the deck is stacked against anyone who opposes a Caesars / Wynn global gambling monopoly.
It is unknown how all of these legal battles will play out, except that I do feel that there is a 100% chance online poker will be legal. Unfortunately, I believe it will be the destruction of profitable poker and the criminal owners of Caesars and Wynn will reap all the benefits. Poker affiliates and rakeback will be destroyed as we know it, grinders will face increased rake, and poker webmasters will go down 80 – 90%. The remaining poker sites will be proxy owned by 888, Caesars, Zynga, and Wynn.
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