Friday, February 17, 2006

Is this the beginning of the end for online poker?

WASHINGTON - More than 100 lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced a bipartisan bill Thursday to outlaw the $12 billion Internet gambling industry.

"The explosive growth of the Internet has provided a means for gambling operations to evade existing anti-gambling laws," said Rep. Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat. "These Internet gambling Web sites typically operate offshore and often serve as a prime vehicle for money laundering and other criminal enterprises."

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican and chief sponsor of the bill, said Internet gambling has mushroomed into a $12 billion industry that also threatens minors.

The bill would update an existing ban against interstate gambling over telephone lines to also outlaw use of the Internet and related technology, Goodlatte said.

A total of 115 House lawmakers co-sponsored the bill.

The legislation would specifically prohibit a gambling business from accepting credit cards, checks, wire and Internet transfers in illegal gambling transactions. It also would set a maximum prison sentence of five years for violations.

Goodlatte and Boucher previously introduced similar legislation but the bill was defeated in 2000 due in part to efforts by Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented gambling interests, according to both lawmakers.

Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud charges in early January and is cooperating with prosecutors in a corruption probe that could implicate lawmakers and officials across Washington.
No companion bill has yet been introduced in the Senate, a Goodlatte spokeswoman said.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

you are interesting......very kool....work on it

Ookami Snow said...

Well I'm not a fan of Online Poker, but I am even more against Gov. regulations.

Howard said...

I don't care one way or another, butI will be glad to see it leave the blogs with it's sticky ads..

PokerFreak said...

Sure...online gaming is addictive which is exactly why I have a poker blog! I think its too deep already to stop it altogether. Sure, anything can be outlawed but it damn sure don't mean folks will quit doing it.

Honestly, I don't think poker is any different than a lottery, the big difference is state and federal govt's got their paws in the bag with the lottery but can't profit from online poker.

Guess they lost the kickbacks when Abramoff went down so somebody needs to step up and do some brown nosing!

PokerFreak's Blog

refr. said...

It seems your fonts was not so nice, they almost cant be seen.

Howard said...

Congress is after the wrong end as uaual..They should make it illegal for the credit card companies to honor such transactions under heavy penalty..problem solved..

Canute said...

I came here to make a comment about the usury of credit card companies but Howard beat me to it.

I can't imagine the mob, gambling operations or anything else that is more of a threat to the people than the sorry bunch in Congress.

Anonymous said...

Nice blog

mynewsbot.com

Marc said...

You do know no one can read your text on your blog? Text color is to close to background color. Sorry.

TripJax said...

I don't see it happening. Then again, just by writing that, I probably assured it will happen.

Hey, I just wanted to make you aware - in case you weren't already - of a tourney in Charlotte you might be interested in. Details are below...I plan to make the drive from Greensboro to be there...if you are interested leave falstaff a comment...

http://pokerstage.blogspot.com/2006/02/9-short-days.html

laterz
TripJax

starbender said...

Oh-no! This just isn't FAIR!
:O

Special K said...

Some are having trouble reading the blog, some problems with background and foreground colors. Well, they look fine to me. I wonder if the problem is with cheap browser software? Anyone who is having problems, what browser are you using?

Der Schlingener said...

your site is hard to read ;)

DoneCheap DoneRight PC said...

I can't see the post because the colors are too light and too dark but maybe I'm just blind, I'll be back to try again, later...

Anonymous said...

You may be a computer geek but you don't seem to know anything about fonts! Your post text colour makes your posts almost unreadable....

Anonymous said...

Firefox.....put that in your pipe and smoke it. Your comment about cheap browser software implies that it's user error. If more than one person is having a problem then it's your problem not theirs.

Anonymous said...

Hi my name is sahman

Listen i was wondering if you take a moment out of your daily life if your board or something and listen to two songs my band has just recorded. Just go to easysite.com/septemberyellow. Then click on message board to post a comment or review of what you think
of the song and/or if you enjoyed the song
My band and I would appreciate it alot

Thanks for your time

-Sahman

Special K said...

The comment about "cheap browser software" was a little joke about Firefox, not about any users, so just settle down. I'm a Microsoft employee, so I get to throw out a little joke once in a while. Besides, free is pretty cheap in my book so it is pretty accurate as well as funny to me, which is really what is important here.

I am curious why this is coming up all of a sudden. I've had this blog for about a year now and these are the first complaints. The choice of colors is from a standard issue blogger template, nothing I designed. It looks like black on light yellow on my browser. I'd love to see what the complaints are about, so if someone wants to do a screen capture and send it to me, address it to ckrumel@hotmail.com. I'll check it out.

ashling said...

how the hell does anybody see what you've written man ... i must be bloody blind asa bat, so im just stabbing the dark it was some thing use full ... maybe ... perhaps ... and, um, whats on line poker ? is that where you poke poke fun and people *winks*

oldominion@yahoo.com said...

peek-a-boo, i see you. i have no problem seeing your site. interesting blog. i'll be back.

Anonymous said...

You got to give the Mafia (Government) their share.

Kevin Chong said...

interesting... i myself is an addict.

Maximillion said...

Poker in the front, lick her in the rear! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

ChaseNFold said...

Pokerdiagram rules !

Anonymous said...

i agree with the legislation which aims to ban credit cards as a payment method for online gambling of any sort... i mean its a no brainer when you consider you are placing somebody else’s money on an uncertain event happening with the aim to recoup more than you invested. Chance and credit do not mix well in my opinion, and continuing to allow it would only contribute further to negatively affecting the high levels of personal debt many citizens today find themselves in. I agree however, in a sense that it won't work - i mean whats the point in banning credit card payments for online poker, for example, but not online sports betting? slightly hipocritical no? I mean how can you allow someone to participate in online horse racing betting, but not have a gamble on a hand of cards? both activities involve a large degree of chance, and neither are guaranteed to yield financial return.
It also infuriates me that the minority of irresponsible gamblers [those paying with someone elses money!] have now ruined the fun of online betting for everyone else - those like me who pay with money they actually have in their bank!! boooo