The poker sites being siezed is just the beginning, this is what I'm trying to stress. Now that they've managed this watch how the internet will be cencored. I don't know when but I imagine soon enough. I just thought having the right to do what you want with your hard earned money was a basic freedom and it's been snatched away, and it's just the straw that broke the camels back so to speak. It's just a good oppitunity to speak about the facts how our rights and freedoms are being snatched off us day by day, weather you're american or not.

I'm sorry if I've caused any distress to anyone, it's not my intention I'm just full of passion for people and there rights.

im sure liberty has been eroded in the united states to a certain degree

but lets not pretend for one second OP isnt a **** for brains, intellectual nobody conspiracy theorist randomly spouting things he heard on alex jones

In some states, never, any legislation going forward is almost certainly going to require states to opt-in or opt-out. This is the end of the road for players in those states who wont relocate.

All I can do is say that it's a pity this isn't an election year and close to poll time. Every politician out there would be ****ting themselves to get this taken care of, for fear of being voted out.

TE, that's all well and good (and I like how forceful the language is) but we should mobilize our forces. Why not protest outside the DoJ office that took down the sites? Let's get on the major news channels with our side of the story. I don't see any downside if we publicly pressure the dicks who just ****ed us.

How it affects PR the DOJ crusade? My cashout is in process but...

If you really must play I would keep your deposits low just in case something bad happens.

Alex Jones is a complete prick if that makes any difference.

Also, call me **** for brains all you want that's cool. I'm not the one sitting here believing that my countrys in it for me and cares about me like you. So who's the one with **** for brains?

You can say ''conspiracy theorist'' all you want, that's cool thats a term thrown around by dumb people who haven't got a brain cell because they know they can't argue against fact.

No worries. Let's say we get a federal online gambling bill. Some states opt-in and others don't. When then opt-outs see the revenue that the opt-ins and getting, they will change their tune very fast.

Here's a video by John Pappas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMR_DbJLwyk

I got two from FT and deposited them Thursday, the day before all this went down. They were sitting in my account in pending status, but after about 24 nerve wracking hours, they cleared today. I'm not even entirely sure that that means they can't still bounce. Obviously not the same situation, but hopefully some good news for you. Good luck.

Let me guess...You believe your freedoms have been eroded to protect you from TERRORISTS?

If you've fell for that (which I'm guessing you have) then they've got you by the balls.

Let's not forget, america has invaded and terrorised more countrys than any other in the history of the world and also founded and directly funded Al-Quaeda (aka the database)

So now you live the lie thinking that arabs are dying to attack you at any oppitunity because they are ''jealous of your freedom'' believe me, everyone else who inhabits this earth is far from jealous of you, we pity you.

Quite true. This is why legal gambling has expanded so much already.

The reality is that online poker is a cash cow for governments, and that works in our favor long term.

What doesn't work long term is offshore poker sites that incorporate in jurisdictions that are unable to effectively regulate them or their players.

I'm hardly advocating anybody to go run out and rejoice here ... what happened yesterday was as inevitable as it was annoying. But truth is everybody who plays online poker from within the US is doing something that is against the rules, and we all know that, and we all knew this day was inevitable and now it's time to reassess and figure out what's the next step for a lot of people out here. And all I'm saying is that one may as well try to find the gift here ... because whining about it is sort of pointless and nonproductive. Nobody has the right to break the law, not even you. And I'm suggesting that over time, many people will reflect back on this and realize it was probably a good thing that they were forced to make a change that in their heart of hearts they knew they eventually were going to have to make. That's all I'm saying. It's just one person's point of view ... last I checked sharing such a thing is still allowed and I'm very happy to be living in a place where it's within my rights to do so. My parents weren't as lucky.

The problem isn't with your general premise; the problem is you can't formulate the issues at hand in a clear, intelligible manner.

Yes, when all Americans allow the government to infringe on the freedoms of a group of their peers without so much as a word, it sets a bad precedent.

Just FYI, I got a phone call from a PokerStars rep today.

He reiterated what they said in the emails/news update that "all player accounts are safe, so don't worry about your money being lost."

Because this happened basically after hours on a Friday, wire transfers still "processing" are supposedly on a manual hold until at least Monday when they figure out what to do.

Apparently they weren't sure what, if any, methods they could use to cash out US players. They didn't want to send out a bunch of wires over the weekend and have the money either get stuck in the processors or get intercepted and disappear or w/e. Better to be on PokerStars and not get lost while this is being sorted out.

He did sort of give a plug for moving to Canada, which is funny, since according to him "a lot of players are saying they want to move to Canada.

Anyway, that's my update. I'm a little pissed, like everyone, that it seems like they resorted to some really shady methods in the past to get those payments processed. But Stars has always had awesome customer service, and I appreciate that they called me. They didn't have a ton of info, but they didn't have to do that, and at least according to them they're working on how to get US players their money back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEf1H3vvFsI

I thought this was a pretty good level and had a nice laugh, but now I'm not sure if serious.

Anyway, things are pretty good here, so don't stress. We have problems like any other country but the vast majority of people I know and know of are quite comfortable and happy.

No iPoker for now sucks, but the sites should have been smarter than to get involved in money laundering. They f'd up.

Time to barbecue some steaks and have a few beers.

It's a good life.

The whole situation s**ks.
Just remember that this is all about the $$$ and the tax revenues that this business will generate for the US. Money laundering, moral arguments against gambling, etc. have nothing to do with it. This is a big shakedown of the online sites to open up their books to the IRS and to get them to agree to comply with some expected new legislation that will tax their revenues. Some of the heavy hitter B&M sites want a piece of the action and are surely party to this action. Similar to the situation when the US pressured Switzerland into naming names and numbers for a lot of tax cheats that had accounts there. Not only did the US get their tax $, but the cheats had to bring their money home to the US.
I despise the reckless nature of our government's approach to this, acting without regard to the wants and needs of its individual citizens. Nonetheless, the US is less corrupt than 99% of the rest of the world. No bribery to get things done, etc. No one here fears a knock on their door in the middle of the night.
This will get sorted out, we will be playing again soon. The irony is that this is just a poker game between the feds and the online sites. Right now, all the pressure is on the sites. They can leave the US and become like Party, losing 80% of their business overnight, or they can cave to the demands of the US. The only pressure that can be applied to the feds is through us, the citizens. Call your congressman/woman and both senators on Monday. Support the PPA.

I'm sorry, I'm just so angry, I'm racing, I type and realise I haven't made sense of alot of the things I've said. I'm really pissed off and saddened by all this. People been popping on this forum all day taking the piss out of americans, goading them because they can no longer play poker. But they don't realise that will be us soon too, I'm just trying to stress how horrid it is to see you all getting shafted and getting everything you have taken away from you from under your nose without batting so much as an eye lid.

+1. Anyone who thinks one side or the other is more responsible for this is an idiot. The house was controlled by democrats when this was put together back in October, and we've had a democrat in the white house the last 2 years. You think he gives a **** that republicans are allegedly the ones taking your money? This is a joint effort to cut the debt. Didn't you see Obama's speech this week about cutting the deficit? It just got cut by billions of dollars in one svelte swoop...

Same for me, but I asked if he could personally guarantee my money, and obviously he couldn't. The problem is this is what they would do whether all was well and good or whether they were going under in the next week so I don't put a lot of stock in these things unless they are super high up and trustworthy. I really hope it's true but until anyone is personally guaranteeing my money (and people have failed to sell at 80c on the dollar on 2p2) I wouldn't put a ton of stock in what reps to the site say that have every interest in getting people to not panic whether or not there is an actual problem.

May I say amen.We need to get back to freedom.Period.Right now,we do not have freedoms,that we used to enjoy.Taken from us in the name of "security","safty",etc,etc.Vote them out?Who do we vote in?All we get to pick from these days are professional pols,and want-to-be pols. Actually,this is alot bigger than me not getting to play the Sunday Million...after I satellited into it. This is about...Are we going to allow this corrupt government to tell us what to eat,wear...where and what we are allowed to "work" at,where some of us are allowed to live.And what we can and cannot do in our own residence,with money that has already been taxed. This is only one more step downwards to complete government control. Now,maybe those "crazies" out in Montana and Idaho who were telling us several years ago that the government is broke,and wants complete power... they might have been right all along. Oh...what happened to them you ask?? The FBI declared them all to be domestic terrosits(they weren't)and put most of them in prison.Thats right.Prison.What charge? Glad you asked.Conspiricy(I didn't spell that right,sorry).Thats the easiest charge to convict innocent people on.Underline innocent.

Online Poker players and supporters of online poker need to go to other forums (Newspapers locally and nationally, social networking sites, etc) with their frusteration over the GOP getting the uigea passed and the DEMs for doing nothing while in power to overturn it (including a president that players probably voted for thinking him being a active player would help repeal the uigea) (except barney frank).

Complain in here their just preaching to the choir. Lets get to other sites and hopefully its not too late to get something done to repeal the uigea.

The UIGEA was passed virtually unanimously in 2006.

Obama appointed the attorney Preet Bharara who brought this case.

Government wants this. They think they have taken care of it.

No senators and only two congressmen voted against this: Edward Markey (D), and Jeff Flake (R).

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2006-516