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Play Bingo until poker is legalized?

Posted by Poker Videos on February 15th, 2012

Play Bingo until poker is legalized?

Or much longer afterwards?

Since “Black Friday” many online poker players are looking for things to do. Some players on Two Plus Two seem like they are suffering from withdraw to say the least. Many people like me are resorting to Modern Warfare 3 but that game gets really irritating after a while. My sister brought up the fact that she wanted to play bingo online, so I started to research it. Bingo is starting to give poker a run for it’s money… Literally! In fact, Bingo is the fastest growing sector in the online gaming industry (Igaming). Bingo grew by 28% in 2010 bringing in a total of close to $3 Billion dollars. I believe that the influx of bingo players is coming from women and people in their late 20’s and beyond. Research shows that these new Bingo sign-ups prefer bingo to poker because they have a winning chance. People who like casino games quickly become tired of poker when they are losing player, especially when have other players berate them for their lack luster plays. With bingo, this demographic has a real chance at winning money, and if they don’t win, they aren’t going to lose the mortgage payment. This demographic is also using new smart phones like the Android and Iphone. This new technology is adding to the increased traffic of these bingo sites. Although poker gives the user the chance for a bigger score, Bingo is just more fun and has a higher win rate for these players. Of course poker is fun, it’s just that bingo doesn’t cause the anxiety that variance in poker causes.

Once online gambling is legalized in the United States, be prepared for a huge influx of USA Bingo players. Currently, there are 1000’s of live bingo halls across the United States. There are over 60 million people in the USA that have played bingo for real money. That’s an incredible statistic! Mostly, it is played in Churches, Fire Halls, and other charitable organizations. Tennessee placed a ban on Bingo Halls in 1989 and now it is only allowed in Churches and places that aren’t only in business of profiting from Bingo. Look for Bingo to explode in the United States once the Las Vegas casino cartels have control of the Igaming industry. I think Bingo, Slots, Poker, Video Poker, and other online gambling games are going to cross pollinate each other. I expect social sites like Zynga to become much more involved in bingo and slots adding to the current gold rush.

To conclude, I would like to say that although you won’t see Phil Ivey playing bingo anytime soon but you will see a huge influx of bingo players grinding away daily. I expect older players who have become somewhat tech savvy to leave bingo halls and play online bingo daily . With the increase of real money bingo players, look for huge jackpots, more competition and thus more bingo free money bonuses.

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What happens now with online poker in the US?

Posted by Poker Videos on February 12th, 2012

Poker 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. § 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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