Is that an absolute certainty at this point?

Cliffs on what happens and what this means without hyperbole or hysteria?

I don't see how US market regulation would have any effect on poker companies accepting funds from other sovereign nations provided poker is not expressly illegal there.

This. While a few high profile leaders (on both sides) opposed HR 2267 for their own personal reasons, many of them probably just went along with their party leadership in absence of an opinion either way on this. Once they know that voters in their district support this, though, they will be far more likely to support it.

If you know or suspect your rep is susceptible to being persuaded in favor of this bill, call or write them. A small campaign contribution also doesn't hurt. We still need this to get passed by the full House.

Disagree.

Where do I find out if my representative is for/against the bill? Don't want to bug him if he's for it, but will do my part if otherwise. Also, can anyone explain in simple terms briefly what the status of everything is now, and what it looks to be? Thanks

+1.

I feel like alot of people lose sight of how many people are playing poker that AREN'T online. Plus, you open the door to soooo many people that may want to deposit $50 here or $50 there because they like playing the quarters games that they play at home.

It's earlier in the thread.

Just read the thread, the gist of everything is in there.

Are you sure it's in the thread? The committee members' votes were shown in a post by Kevmath, but I don't remember seeing anything that says where your representative stands on this issue if he/she isn't on this committee.

1)now that the bill is passed, should we be worried about our funds in FTP and STARS accounts?
2) from reading this thread, it seems like this bill is + EV for our online poker win rate?

Now that I read the amendment. I think they did violate some State laws.

excerpt:

"not committed an intentional felony violation of Federal or State internet gambling laws; and
has used due diligence to prevent any U.S. person from placing a bet on an internet site in violation of Federal or State gambling laws"


Online poker is a class C felony in the state of Washington

The PPA website has all this information, including a list of all members of Congress and a rating asto where they stand on our issue (if known).

I would post the actual links but I am posting this from my phone.

Skallagrim

Got it. Here it is. Thanks.

The bill has only passed through commitee it has not passed into law. It still has to go to the full HR and then to the Senate and then to Obama for signature. A long way to go and many changes still to come as both houses can still add amendments and change current wording.

It is my understanding that any poker site that accepted funds from a U.S. based bank while the UEGIA (SP??) was in affect has committed a crime. At least that is what I thought I hear on the resent 2+2 Pokercast.

Awesome. I live in texas and thanks for your effort!

Article on front page of nytimes.com

This upcoming midterm election should be big in terms of making sure this bill goes through Congress smoothly.

So that article does say "and prohibit companies that violated the 2006 ban from obtaining licenses."

Pretty crazy.. should make for an interesting sub plot.

I think I read a few pages back, that states that chose to opt out will have to pay a 50% deposit fee.

That's referring to S 1597:

yay.
But I'll probly bjtch about the particulars after it becomes law.

I'm kind of confused by this bill ? Does this mean Online poker sites are going to be openly advertised and we're gna get a big flow of new players ? Will this also be without a ridicilous tax like the french government ? Around when will this take effect ? Thanks

No one knows. The bill has to be passed into law, and this could take a while (read: some people don't want it to happen and will try to delay it)

But yes, it's likely that with huge companies (Harrah's, MGM) joining the game, and FTP/Stars ready to unleash the gazillions of dollars they've amassed from raking us to death in legal/official poker advertising, we'll see a huge boom again, perhaps even greater than the first one.

too early to tell, of course, but:

-People turn 18 or 21 every day, so fresh players will come in continuously.

-The economy is terrible and paradoxically, people gamble even more (while drinking more, which is even better for us) and a lot of people will turn to hopes of pro gambling for a living since they can't find jobs.

So I personally have great hopes for a second explosion of pretty decent proportions.

We'll see, I guess. It's too early to really start speculating.
This is a best case scenario if the US doesn't go for a super protectionist/isolationist/anti-competition scenario, how many and which states opt out of the legislation, etc..etc....

I didn't find answers to these questions:

1) if a state opts out, how would they enforce the 50% tax on unlicensed sites?

2) once this bill becomes law, how does the state/Feds stop unlicensed sites from carrying on as they do now? How will they stop me from playing on any online poker site I want that's available to me now?