very nice

imo if the stakeholders aren't happy with a Reid/Kyl bill they will get something they want in the next 8-9 months before lame duck. Pure speculation on my part, but I think they know how much a reset of the congressional calender can hurt their chances. Nobody wants that to happen with this penned up market just waiting to expand.

Does anyone have any idea how much resources DoHS spends on tracking down money laundering from poker sites?

We need to bring poker home.

There's no reason why Indian tribes or state lotteries should have some kind of grandfathered rights to now US citizens entertain themselves.

There's been NO REAL CHANGE in Washington. Special interests still have direct phone connections with lawmakers.

At least Reid is trying to get it in. Maryland gov O'Malley is against uigea-II/poker, and the committee had MD senator Cardin and rep Hoyer on it. I still think Reid and Kyl really want to get this done, its just that the political dynamics of attaching it to the payroll tax cut didnt work out. That doesnt mean in the future a better set of circumstances wont come up.

Success is a bill passing in 2012, failure is no bill in 2012. In that context yeah it totally sucks it did not pass, but we are still in Feb. Dont forget there are alot people with influence who want this to get done as well. Barton has said on the record that the name of the game is to get it done sometime in 2012 and he is correct. We are still in the early innings here.

Nice!

I took a moment btw.

^^ Apparently into maso...

Ah, right, thanks for the clarification guys.

Let's not forget that this very same tax cut package we just almost made our way into will need to be RE-EXTENDED at the end of the year. This will take place after the election and when the partisanship will be severely diminished.

9 months is a long time imo.

It's also like 10% of the time left in my life when I will want to play online poker, so it's pretty annoying.

You got something else on tap commencing August, 2024 ?

Berge said that ?

Then, you seriously can take it to the bank and log off this thread until after November 6th.

(If Harry has something up his sleeve, it won't draw a sweat here anyway, only post-hoc celebration)

In the interim, watch the States for continuing action .

IMO, an extra 9 months isn't as bad as it seems at first glance. There will still need to be time to set up the regulations, test the software, apply for a license...etc. The longer it takes to pass a bill, the more of that groundwork will already be done when the bill passes.

Nothing ever happens in Washington until there is a deadline staring these a- holes in the face. That's why I have always said and will continue to say that NOTHING will happen regarding a poker bill until after the election when this congress is about to go out the door. Kyl is already 100% gone end of this year and Reid's leadership spot may be gone also by then--that's when it will happen when they are almost out of time--not now.

Oh and I am in no way shape or form saying to stop working hard contacting them any way possible because it will add up and help for lame duck time for sure.

Phil Galfond
I hope Frist gets raped by a different man with AIDS every day for the rest of his life, and for the three years following his death. And someone should pee in his eyeballs.

(from fb)

At this point I'd be willing to put my life roll on not getting federal legislation until 2013 at the earliest.

that doesn't make sense, republicans will very likely control the senate in 2013.

Native American and lottery interests can choose to take their chances at the state level and use their heft to block Federal action. That's a very possible (most likely?) outcome.

Just my humble opinion though, Im usually branded as a pessimist because I think we're years away from passing a bill.

Yeah this is a little confusing to me. The pres. still has veto tho.

I think the lame-duck theorists are thinking that O will be re-elected (agreed) and that the GOP-controlled congress will be less likely to engage in the PR bull**** that they are currently engaged in (the bull**** that most people call partisanship). Therefore, in order to get something they want they could add an ipoker-law to some other bill to make it more palatable to O.

Is it this or are they thinking that O will sign an executive order specifically about ipoker? That I kinda doubt.

I just released the following media statement: “While we were hopeful the payroll tax bill would include a bill to license and regulate online poker in the U.S., the PPA supports any other vehicle in which this can happen this year and believe this is a decision best left to the lawmakers,” said PPA Vice President of Player Relations Rich Muny.

Many tribal interests are now supportive of the federal approach.

I'm not sure what you mean by lotteries "taking their chances" at the state level approach. That would be a huge win for them.

Agreed, probably poor phrasing, look at the chain I was responding to. Just making the point that the groups that may be opposing this won't necessarily change by the lame duck.

Do you get a sense why it wasn't attached? You used your one time iirc, was this a legit shot or did we all get a little bit ahead of ourselves?

Something specific regarding that "many ... now supportive" phrase ?

"Many" witnesses at the hearing voiced concerns about being put out of the B&M business, loss of exclusivity, taxation on off-reservation business, and having to be "held harmless".

Any specifics as to how they are going to be "held harmless" or keep local exclusivity ?

(I can think of how Nevada interests might cut a monopolistic deal with certain tribes, but am curious as to why you say "many" tribal interests support federal legislation ... other than in a general manner.)

FWIW, Skall did a good job selling the "its only poker" line at the hearing. Did anyone buy it ?

I'm using my one time for the poker legislation itself getting passed into law, not on getting it on this specific bill. I think we had a decent shot on this bill and have a decent shot at upcoming bills. We'll keep chugging along.

As for lotteries, they publicly state that they have concerns about competition with sales of physical tickets, but it seems that they are much more interested in instant online scratch-off lottery tickets (the functional equivalent of a slot machine).

Are lottery people (i.e. idiot state politicians and their cronies) really stupid enough to think online poker will cut into their take? Please tell me they have another reason to oppose us.

They should be supporting online poker at the exclusion of everything else. All other forms of gambling probably actually do pose a threat to them.

if there was really an organized effort out to stop this reid/kyl deal... why wouldn't they speak up? it seems quite easy to go on tv or a magazine and trash an effort by the FILTHY DEMOCRATS to PUSH ONLINE GAMBLING DOWN OUR THROATS. if that was happening i'd be more pessimistic, but all the power players (and minor players) have been suspiciously quiet on this issue for a while...

i know it's not a partisan d/r issue, but, everybody loves bashing filthy democrats.