Which would also imply, given his quote, the news will not be good for us

Lets hope not.

There are outs for us and it seems they are taking serious a consideration of poker considering all the pro poker folks they have met with.

Our best hope is they honor the requests and dely most with only immediate enforcement of Sports Betting.

This would allow time for congress to act. The request for the A L Judge I believe is not an option since the UIGEA does not provide for it unless the House Bill is passed amending the UIGEA.

Then there is that contests word that they are NOT gambling, another out so to speak. That IMO has all along been our best hope since poker is that, a contest.

Also I note there has been no meetings with the Interactive Skill Games Association (World Winner, Skill Jam, et al).

http://www.onskill.org/

The regs may still be a few weeks away.

obg

Oh I agree there are outs. I would just think if they had already come to pass, John's quote would have been different.

I do think if we get terrible regs we will have a good chance to get them out early in '09. I trust Barney Frank enough on a comprehensive re-regulation bill to be able to get enough people at least ambivalent to gambling to recognize this as bad law.

HEy Guys that article is old sorry for not having a date on it.

This is the current info , just released today

http://www.recentpoker.com/news/uiega-update-11608.html

I am very confused by the fact that it says only credit cad transactions would not be allowed...so why is the headline that online gambling will be effectively banned in the US

I may be an idiot but I dont see how these regulations ban online gambling all together

Nothing like doomcrying before we have even had a look at the regs. Paging gaboonviper...

Sorry if this has been discussed somewhere but what happened with the proposed legislation that passed committee?

A financial crisis got in the way and time probably ran out. Things were fairly tight as it was without all the other problems, so it will start again next year.

Never got attached to anything. Didn't really have time with the regs coming out this month.

I wouldn't read too much into his quote. I think he's pretty much going to say that whether the regs are weak or strong.

My understanding is that the regs are somewhat similar to the ones proposed last December. I've not yet read them myself, though. PPA does not yet have them.

I may be misinterpreting the significance of "blocking credit card transactions," but wouldn't that line effectively permit other payment methods such as Western Union, Moneygram, bank wire, check, and even third party processors like Neteller, and ePassporte?

Can someone clear this up for me?

Thanks,
Ezra

Of course, we need to read final regs but there have always been unclarity in at least two areas:

1. No definition of online gambling
Pro: no one has said that playing online poker is illegal at a federal level
Con: banks decide that any transaction remotely related to gambling is illegal.

2. No clear defintion of what types of payments are illegal.
Pro: withdrawal by check will probably be OK; deposit options will always have some workaround
Con: probably no credit cards and no quick & easy flow of $$ in and out of poker sites.

Ultimately, I don't think regs will change the short term landscape in that we will continue to have ways to withdraw and deposit. Unfortuntately, they do harm poker's reputation as a legitimate activity and will interfere with future growth of online poker.

I hate being right all the time. Who couldn't see this coming?

The good news is the damage has already been done. The regs, whatever they are, are unlikely to make the current situation worse. The fish are already gone--US fish, of course. Poker business is down everywhere, probably lower than average if it could be measured. The average person in the country believes that online gambling is illegal.

Aside from a brief flurry in the media, I suspect nothing much will change for poker until we find out whether the new Congress and Obama Administration is going to be there for us, or not.

Nothing to get in an uproar about, and ain't that a sad state of affairs?

Not crying doom at all, just common sense that if Pappas saw the regs and is giving negative quotes to the press, then the regs probably dont exclude poker or anything like that.

EDIT: This depended on PPA having the regs, if they don't obviously we know nothing.