Here's the roll call of yeas and nays:

http://financialservices.house.gov/M...oll%20call.pdf

The text of amendments considered should appear at:

http://financialservices.house.gov/H...px?NewsID=1340 shortly.

Huzzah! Thank you Kevmath, your summaries were very helpful!

P.S. I hate that I'm from MN and represented by that insane piece of trash.

Of course they will, or copy/paste their model into a new shell company. They will still be around, albeit with maybe a bracket or a comma somewhere. The really exciting part of this legislation, is that if the industry is seen as "legal" in the US if/when this bill passes other major players that had been put off by the state of limbo will enter the market, improving the product offered to us, the consumers, although obv costs would be imposed on them, so it may not get noticeably cheaper, but it will certainly get noticeably better imo. So glass half full I reckon.

Nope. Stars and FTP are now closed. Try Eurolinx!

If we loose FT and Pokerstars, does that mean that we also loose UB? Partypoker is going to take over the USA when it comes to online poker!

How can this bill be a good thing if the talk seems to be Stars getting shut out of the American market?

I've tried Full Tilt and Cake and Bodog and that SpadeEye (er, SpadeClub?) piece of crap. THEY ALL SUCK. I played on Party Poker when they were still here... meh.

Poker Stars is far and away the best site IMO and if they get closed down here I am done with online. F this bull**** and America's ******ed politicians and laws.

Stars, FTP, and the PPA all *think* though they're not sure that the provision that people are freaking out about doesn't apply to them. If it does apply to them, it's very likely that they'll just sell their software (and maybe even their brand name and support staff etc.) to some "other" company so they'll still basically exist, possibly with a new name. If even that isn't allowed, then there will still be something like harrahspoker.com which will likely be way better than the current incarnation of stars anyway.

The opt out does not make poker unlawful in opt out states. Rather, licensed sites simply won't serve players in those states. One assumes other sites would fill that void.

There is currently a deposit tax in the companion tax bill, but PPA is fighting to remove player liability for that. We even issued a press release demanding this, so our position is crystal clear.

Also, keep in mind that Congress isn't going to ignore this issue. It's not like we can defeat this bill and go on forever with the status quo. There really is no scenario where we keep the status quo for decades to come.

I don't think Stars and FT will be going anywhere. They have not done anything illegal.

LOL how do you do that???? So sick.

Both my reps voted yea.

Interesting that Sherman wasn't present for the vote. He had alot of good input when they were debating the amendments....

The sites contend that they have violated no U.S. laws, so they believe they do not fall into that exclusion.

Can you clarify what it means for players to not be liable for this tax? Do you want a ban in the bill for deposit fees or something? Otherwise sites could just "pay the tax themselves" and charge an equivalent "deposit fee".

He was referring to my article, at http://biggovernment.com/rmuny/2010/...et-for-the-gop.

LOL at getting paid to do it (I wasn't), as if no one would otherwise complain about his actions in this area.

Great... so we'll get yet another layer on the online shell game onion? That's helpful to us.

And count me as someone who thinks b&m casino involvement in online poker and immediately taking over (thanks to our lobbyist-sucking political pigs at the trough giving them an inside track) is not only unfair but AWFUL for the players.

Whatever, I've been moving from online to live anyway over time... but I'm lucky enough to have casinos with pokerrooms nearby. Most don't have that luxury.

The first amendment is only for sites that have intentionally broken internet gaming laws. Only Party Poker has plead guilty to breaking any law. Pokerstars and Fulltilt haven't been charged with anything.

My Rep voted Ayes.

I don't play online anymore anyway. We now have poker rooms in PA and thats my preferred platform anyway.

Just wait till everyone in the U.S starts getting taxed 50%. I think that will be the downfall of online poker if anything.

No I didn't read the article, so I don't know what there plans for taxing it is, so I could be wrong.

I dunno what you're arguing here.

I guess the shell game thing would be slightly annoying, and I understand a general hatred for Harrah's et al for doing various things that suck.But this entire thing isn't meant to be a situation where you get exactly what you want. It's meant as an alternative to the current situation that's better for everybody.

The two big things that this bill does are:

1) Explicitly making internet gambling legal. This means no more sketchy payment processors and sketchy offshore companies. No more being slightly worried that one day you'll get taken to court for playing poker online. And much larger player pools thanks to lots of people who currently think it's illegal learning that it's not.

2) Regulating This Stuff. So, yes, Stars and FTP may play some sort of shell game to get into the market, but then they'll be licensed and regulated by the US government which will mean lots more transparency than we've had up until now. It also means that we'll have recourse when we feel we've been wronged by the sites or other players or payment processors. THIS IS HUGE.

You're wrong. The 50% thing is a tax on unlicensed sites and I think the PPA is still pushing to get rid of it. The goal is to get sites licensed, in which case there will likely be a 2% tax on deposits, which doesn't seem like a huge deal, right?

If you guys ever think that you can't make a difference, my republican rep Kenny Marchant of Texas had previously written me a letter that he was against it, but would look into it further. After a long response from me and several letters and phone calls from other voters here in his district, he voted for the bill.

You HAVE to get out there and call your reps. If you support them, they will support you. It does make a huge difference.

2% tax on deposits doesn't seem to bad. But what happens if say a micro player withdraws $50 are the going to get a 1040-G for that $50 now?

Or is it going to be the standard $600 min?

This.

Also, today's awesome bipartisan margin will help drive the Senate effort.

I have no clue but you should pay your taxes regardless.

Any mention of possible taxing?

Awesome.

Obviously but I can guarantee you that 95% of recreational players are not paying taxes on small-mid sized withdrawals. And if people are now going to get a 1040-G there is a chance they wont deposit anyway.

The real question is.

Whats there plan for taxing people's withdrawals? And how will the go about making sure the sites give everyone there 1040-G?

No I am not condoning avoiding paying your taxes.