Well, this seems like good news.

https://www.bonus.com/wire-act-dead/

Good news it ensures DOJ can't claim federal jurisdiction over online poker, and may make it easier for intrastate compacts. Bad news it also means federal gov't can't mass legalize it across the nation so it will be the slow painful state by state process we've been in for years.

From what I have read elsewhere, the new decision means the wire act only applies to sports betting. My interpretation (without deeply researching) is this means nationally regulated online poker IS now a possibility and possibly means that it's not even illegal anymore for unregulated sites to open back up and offer service to states that don't explicitly have a law on the books making it illegal. That seems unlikely IMO as it would probably be challenged. I am not a lawyer though...

I am a lawyer.

Federally licensing of online poker has been a siren call for DC lobbyists, DC lawyers, the PPA and every prospective online operator which may seek to carve out a protectionist monopoly for itself.

For players, there has been no federal law against playing poker online.

Does this mean that Ignition might potentially reenter the NY market?

"English Motherf*cker! Do you speak it?!"





(thanks in advance)

Seconded

Can't tell if you were saying we're likely or unlikely to see operators try to create national sites.

lol, actually watched that clip earlier this morning.

Why didn't the Feds license online poker nationwide, before or are unlikely to now , you may ask ?

My educated guess is feds will not pass online poker license legislation any time soon. I've been in this arena for many years. (In my opinion, as a poker CEO back then and a former DC lobbyist before that, a lot of people got played for suckers by Sen. D'Amato, DC lobbyists, and DC lawyers willing to take huge fees but afraid to tell their online poker clients "no ****ing way" was anyone going to actually license P2P gambling at the Federal level. Hell, I was a "Friend of Harry" for years, but never believed in federal legalization of gambling.)

How did I know this ? Sorry, all you've paid is the looking price, lessons are extra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-wfhHOXzyw

I would like to be wrong, but I'm very likely not.

It is odd that you mention Gus D'Amato and Harry Reid, when Sheldon Alelson, Sen. Dean Heller, Rep. Jim Leach, Sen. Lindsey Graham and mostly Sen Bill Frist had far more to do with it.

Sure, D'Amato and Reid might not have been willing to sell out to protect online poker and might even been willing to sacrifice it for other political reasons, but the others mentioned were literally outright attacking it.

If it wasn't for Adelson, Frist, and Graham poker would at minimum still be operating under the vague environment it was operating under in 2006.

What’s actually stopping wsop / stars / gg from offering US interstate poker right now? Can PPA chime in?

They are looking for 100% clear cut and dry interpretation of the law. Stars/WSOP/GG don't want to get locked out for running something that's not on the up and up. I'm pretty sure Stars might still be banned from NV because of a bad actors clause for running a site in the US during the boom years.

Isn’t that supposed to expire soon (Stars being a bad actor)? I think it was 10 years

I think "played for suckers" means that D'Amato and Reid were stringing people along that they might be able to get online poker licensed federally, not that they were to blame for the problem in the first place. Or should I say Frist place?

I think it’s kind of weird that this seems like huge news for the US online poker market, and we are hearing nothing from poker operators? Stars, GG, wsop, etc.

good one.

I do think this is huge news for intrastate compacts at least. I think states like PA didn't want anything to do with this kind of compact until the federal law was clear. Hopefully we see some player pool merging in 2023.

Might have been five from what I remember. In any case, it doesn't mean the gov absolutely has to give stars a license.