Quote:
Originally Posted by bippitybop
The fundamental difference in what has changed is the DOJ opinion, and that in my estimation is the key difference between now and other times when we got our hopes up.
Remember that the DOJ opinion said only sports betting was illegal online, which also opens the door for online slots, blackjack, backgammon, roulette, craps, whatever the hell else someone can make money off of.
If people think interests like the tribes didn't sit up and pay attention to that then I don't know what to say... because that is what is going to bring them to the negotiating table and allowing online poker. Because poker is a very small source of their revenue compared to these other games in which they play as the house and not a third-party taking small dollars from the pot. They are going to allow poker so that they don't have to give up their monopoly on these other games. And the reason they are going to have to allow poker is that the casinos and Harry Reid and the other people on our side aren't stupid enough to give something for nothing. That isn't how politics is done.
This understanding extends to other interests who now have to come to the table - the Republicans who want to nanny state and might not have anything against online poker but do preach the evils of gambling in the pit, etc, etc, etc.
Sorry, but the PPA is not overplaying their hand to get a donation, or whatever their motive might be for overestimating their chances after November. And I'm not a PPA fanboy. I am just taking this all at face value. The DOJ opinion is going to make all the difference, because now the door is open and the other side is going to have to come to the table if they want to have any chance of closing it again.
The argument most people seem to be making for why it won't pass is that too many interests have had too little time to work it out. But the thing is, the more states like Delaware and Nevada that pass bills, the worse it gets for these other interests. They have a limited window of time to make sure that they get their share before more states come into the fold and they are in an even worse position, as they are in a position where gambling is being expanded and they have no control over it. Don't you get it? They want the control. And they want it before its too late. So they are going to come to the table and work it out now, while they still can. Its great that Delaware is doing this and I hope more do.
P.S. What the **** do state lotteries have to do with anything? I didn't realize that government entities were of the type that even had a seat at the table. Maybe I am missing something, but I thought government programs usually shut up and took what the congress gave them. I'm no lawyer, but wouldn't that violate the anti-lobbying act (again, not a lawyer)?
Getting the tribes to the negotiating table wasn't a problem even before the OLC and the President affirmed that online gambling to be a State issue, even before the Wire Act opinion they attended every hearing in the House, where negotiating on tax and regulation questions was intended by the founders to initiate, because they are elected every two years and therefore closer to the people.
The problem is that the commercial casinos are trying to make an end run around the constitutional negotiating process by 'negotiating' directly with the majority leader of the Senate in order to ensure they secure a competitive advantage.
There is also good reason to believe that the States (lottery) have done their 'negotiating' directly with the President, indicated by his answer to the online poker question the same week Illinois (Obama's State) announced legislation for it's lottery to offer online poker.
California may be a mess as Pappas put it, but Washington DC is a pig pen by comparison.