Federal Online Legislation in the US - Do You Think it Will Happen?

Debi

Debi

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Despite the fact that efforts to officially legalize poker in the US have somewhat stalled while we wait for Congress to act on The Internet Poker Freedom Act, it is important to keep the discussion at the forefront.

I am sitting here looking at the poker stars lobby wondering if I will ever get to play in some of my beloved tournaments again - or at least some similar to the ones I used to play.

Do you think it will ever happen... and if so how long do you think it will be before it does?

How many states are likely to opt out and which ones would those be?

I am in Georgia and not feeling very confident about my state.

It has been 2.5 years now - I still remember the feeling of despair that swept over me after Black Friday when we were all forced to realize that it could be years before we get to play again. It has been years already - how many more will it be? :(
 
wagon596

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As much as I hate to say it, I think it may be another 5 to 10 years, if then. We here in the USA know long it takes for the "Good Ole Boys" in D.C. to do anything.

Here in Texas, Gov. Perry has stated in the past, that if a Bill does make it , he will veto it. Guess that's to be expected here in the middle of the "Bible Belt".
 
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ezevan1022

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This is very hard to know, unfortunately hardly any movement has happened. I was just starting to get somewhat serious about poker at the time, and that has been a major drawback. Now you can play at places, but places like Revolution are shady although they offer flat out ridiculous rakeback and promotions. All the sites are really small and bovada is a whole different hurdle to cross with anonymity. I remember being able to play in 3 dollar tournaments with a guarantee of 30k plus, the prize pools of pokerstars were insane.
 
hobonc

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Now that a couple of States have burst the bubble, so to speak, I think the other States will follow suit about like the way they did with the lottery. They won't want to miss out on the revenue. As for Pokerstars and Full Tilt coming back, I doubt the powers that be will want to just allow them to come back in and make all that money when they currently have them on lock-out.
 
curtinsea

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I don't believe there will be a federal internet poker bill, primarily because it is a state's rights issue. Everything that has been attempted so far limits the authority of the individual states to regulate gambling as they see fit.

That's not to say there won't be some tweaking of the Wire Act, and perhaps even the IGRA. But the kind of legislation we see now isn't going to fly..

The path forward is going to be interstate compacting, and it will likely never cover all 50 states and the territories
 
a true nit

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sad..plain and simply..its just sad
 
Skull_Sniper

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I honestly don't know how long it will be, but it seems like marijuana has a faster chance to be legal before poker.... go figure. What I would really love to see is a poker site like Nevada's Ultimate Poker, but for the entire country. It would be licensed and operated within the U.S. and they should have two skins: One that ONLY allows U.S. Players, and one that allows everyone including U.S. That way you have a choice of playing on a site with 100,000+ players or on a site with just a few thousand players. The one thing I do like about playing on a site like Black Chip Poker or Lock Poker is the fact that I see the same people all the time, so that give me an advantage on info. That also goes the same way for other players and myself, but I still like it. On Poker Stars I'd never see the same person twice, and you have no idea if he's a solid player or a fish, and chances are you're not gonna get a read because hardly anyone speaks the same language. I also don't miss every single Guaranteed MTT having more than 3K players. I also love BCP's tourney structure. 15min blinds and 5K starting chips for most tourneys. I love deep stacks. It actually gives me a chance to play real poker and not play "race the blinds" PS and FT never offered those kind of tourneys that I ever saw.
 
IntenseHeat

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I think it will be legalized eventually. It's just going to take time and a lot of palms will have to be greased. A timeframe is impossible to predict. As far as I am concerned, our government is broken. I mean, as a poker player this is an issue that hits home to me, but there are a lot more important issues out there that our government isn't doing anything about.
 
Akorps

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I don't think anything is likely to happen at the national level. In olden days it only took a few years to get rid of prohibition, but now the national government is so complicated with so many powerful special interest groups that no bad law ever goes away, no good law ever gets passed. The only way to get things done is at the local level, where you can still communicate personally with your representatives, or sometimes at the state level. Nevada has the best law currently, hopefully other states will join up with Nevada and use the Nevada law.
 
S3mper

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well after reading the above post some say soon some say forever... It brings me to the conclusion of "Who knows?"

online poker needs more Media coverage...

Maybe we should start boycotting all big casinos in till online poker is back I guarantee those Casinos will start throwing around money to get our revenue back.
 
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jsh169

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well after reading the above post some say soon some say forever... It brings me to the conclusion of "Who knows?"

Online poker needs more Media coverage...

Maybe we should start boycotting all big casinos in till online poker is back I guarantee those Casinos will start throwing around money to get our revenue back.

Boycotting the casinos will do nothing. It is just a small percentage of their earnings that come from poker.
 
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4evertilted

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I don't think anything is likely to happen at the national level. In olden days it only took a few years to get rid of prohibition, but now the national government is so complicated with so many powerful special interest groups that no bad law ever goes away, no good law ever gets passed. The only way to get things done is at the local level, where you can still communicate personally with your representatives, or sometimes at the state level. Nevada has the best law currently, hopefully other states will join up with Nevada and use the Nevada law.

Prohibition of Alcohol lasted nearly 20 years.....
 
SANDYHOOKER KY

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Well, the day came when at least one state got an online site going. The door is open, anyway. And 'said' state was all against it too, but look who is the first state to have it. I don't think it's going to take years to get other states going, but some, such as my state have their heads buried up a horses azz and may never join others in a compact. And what's more ignorant is the fact that it isn't illegal for Kentucky players to play, but neither is it legal. That kind of gray area is detrimental to any advance of a law. And a few states prohibit any kind of gambling. So, the chance for legislation is good, just have to build a fire under the politicians bums to get them moving.
 
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jsh169

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The government moves in a very slow methodical manner. I can pretty much guarantee we are years away, how many that is the real question. Like someone said the prohibition of alcohol lasted 20 years, I would not be surprised in the slightest for online poker to get regulated to their standards to take that long, all we can do is hope that this won't be the case. The biggest thing we have on our side these days is technology, so that should speed up the process to a point.
 
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jimmylytle2

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Hoping Tennessee joins the list of states legalizing online poker...
 
Enzo1089

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I live in New Jersey, and with all of this talk of PokerStars joining up with Atlantic City Resorts Casino, it's looking like Pokerstars may be legalized (at least for NJ) within the year. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I read that after I googled news about Pokerstars. IF it does get legalized here though, I can only imagine it will just be a matter of time for it to become legalized in other states, with an exception of the ones that are big-time sticklers on the whole illegality of online poker.
 
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The Republicans and the Democrats can't seem to agree on anything in the House or the Senate...so I can't see them coming together at vote time on a contentious issue like this.
 
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themosthigh

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I really wish it would happen outside of NV and NJ. Problem is we have a do nothing congress so no I don't think it will happen in the next few years unfortunately unless there's a big shake up next year. I'm considering spending a bit of time in NJ once they go live.
 
S3mper

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Hopefully Iowa does would love to have more options. Iowa is a state that would be willing to do it. Were not against gambling in fact we love it =)
 
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hrix

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I hope, it will be legalized in US, I really like playing against Americans.
 
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BluesPlayer

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I think New York is two years away. It hurts!
 
B

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I live in New Jersey, and with all of this talk of PokerStars joining up with Atlantic City Resorts Casino, it's looking like Pokerstars may be legalized (at least for NJ) within the year. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I read that after I googled news about Pokerstars. IF it does get legalized here though, I can only imagine it will just be a matter of time for it to become legalized in other states, with an exception of the ones that are big-time sticklers on the whole illegality of online poker.
I am hoping New York will see the lost revenue and get tired of New Yorkers going to New Jersey to play.
 
curtinsea

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If only all that 'hoping' was 'doing' instead . . . . .
 
Enzo1089

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I am hoping New York will see the lost revenue and get tired of New Yorkers going to New Jersey to play.

Not gonna lie, I lol'd at this^

At the same time though, I could totally see that happening. I mean, all the New York players would have to do is hop on a train to Newark, and they could probably play right there in the train station lol.

On a serious note though, if the legislation does happen in New Jersey, which it likely will, I can't imagine that New York and Pennsylvania would be far behind.
 
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deestee

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i don't imagine it will happen on a federal level ever
 
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