Harry Reid Pushes to make Online Wagering Legal

[dwolfg]

If this passes, I think it will actually hurt the casinos more than help them. Think about it, the US(and state) government comes in and says, "OK you can no longer play at the sites where you have been playing at for a long time with reasonable comfort. If you want to play online you must use these new sites that give us hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations." What is your reaction?

 

[xdeucesx]

reaction: okay, so long as i can play

 

[The PoolBoy]

OK... I'm getting really confused...

If the bill passes there is to be blackout of 15 month? ( FT and Stars .......but Cereus ,bodog and Merge? may still operate as usual?)

After 15 months of no PS/ FT...US will be like france, Italy and only play in our own sandbox?

now that it is regulated we can expect it to be taxed at like 20%?

I dunno if this bill's passing is a good thing? But strangely sounds that if defeated, will kinda remain status quo?

 

[WVHillbilly]

OK... I'm getting really confused...

If the bill passes there is to be blackout of 15 month? ( FT and Stars .......but Cereus ,BoDog and Merge? may still operate as usual?) Yes

After 15 months of no PS/ FT...US will be like France, Italy and only play in our own sandbox? Yes for at least 3 years it will be US only.

now that it is regulated we can expect it to be taxed at like 20%? The tax is paid by the sites on their revenue. It has nothing to do with the tax you pay on your winnings.

I dunno if this bill's passing is a good thing? But strangely sounds that if defeated, will kinda remain status quo? The question is how long status quo lasts without legislation?

Above.

 

[KMcoyote3]

Alright maybe I'm just not as in-tune with the benefits of this thing for poker players. "Protection against foreign companies" is the only positive I've seen from reading around. Anyone want to give me some other positives?

 

[Lofwyr]

^^Long term benefit. It will allow online poker to once again go easy mainstream in the US, potentially ushering in a steady stream of fat fishies. We just have to pay the piper, as it were.

I currently think the price might be a bit too high, but I haven't tried to deposit/withdraw in over a year. 15 months is a loooong blackout period, the extra 2 years to stars/FTP is almost insulting. I guess it really depends on how bad you think it could get over the next 2 years if something like this isn't voted through now. Politically it looks somewhat grim for democrats in the near-future.

 

[xdeucesx]

cereus must be happy about this...

 

[cardplayer52]

Alright maybe I'm just not as in-tune with the benefits of this thing for poker players. "Protection against foreign companies" is the only positive I've seen from reading around. Anyone want to give me some other positives?

there are about 10 million american on-line players right now. if this passes the number will likely jump to maybe over double. thats alot of fish in the biggest fish pond in the world. but also if US companies get into online poker thats more competion meaning the rake we pay will likley drop. if the rake is too high players will likely just play on bodog or other sites that will still take US players.

 

[eNTy]

cereus must be happy about this...

except that they get 5 year jail time and a 1 million dollar fine per day of operating if i read correctly

 

[Debi]

Hey - I am counting on your 2+2'ers to post cliffnotes of updates here - please don't make me go wade through their gazillion posts about it lol.

 

[JLtrooper]

Hey - I am counting on your 2+2'ers to post cliffnotes of updates here - please don't make me go wade through their gazillion posts about it lol.

Closed thread with cliffs and updates:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57/poker-legislation/cliffs-reids-plan-license-u-s-online-poker-933656/

 

[WVHillbilly]

Nothing really new, except some rumors that the legislation is currently attached to the tax bill. If that's still the case when it comes up for vote it will pass. The only question is if it makes it to the floor still a part of the bill.

It's also looking like the provision to keep non-us casino based sites out for an additional 2 years (ie Stars/Tilt/Party) is back in. So when the blackout period ends we'll be playing at Harrahs or MGM online for a while, at least those in states that are opted in.

 

[JLtrooper]

There is also a lot of talk about how Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl greatly opposes such legislation, especially the fact that it is trying to get passed as a rider. I don't know how much clout he has, but I'm guessing when he talks, people listen, especially with the new batch of Republicans.

 

[onemorechance]

4. Eligible sites: All US casinos and race tracks (who have been in business at least 5 years and operate at least 500 slot machines), plus slot machine manufacturers, will immediately be eligible to get a license. Current iPoker sites will also be eligible to be licensed. After two years, new regulations can be issued (likely) allowing other businesses (e.g. AOL, Zynga Poker, new sites, Yahoo, etc.) to get a license.

Interesting

 

[JLtrooper]

Interesting

Ha my thoughts exactly. Are we going to be talking about there are so many fish on "Google iPoker" in a couple of years?!

 

[cardplayer52]

Nothing really new, except some rumors that the legislation is currently attached to the tax bill. If that's still the case when it comes up for vote it will pass. The only question is if it makes it to the floor still a part of the bill.

It's also looking like the provision to keep non-US casino based sites out for an additional 2 years (ie Stars/Tilt/Party) is back in. So when the blackout period ends we'll be playing at Harrahs or MGM online for a while, at least those in states that are opted in.

Last I heard they were changing the bill so states would have to opt out not in.

 

[WVHillbilly]

Last I heard they were changing the bill so states would have to opt out not in.

That's the hope but I haven't seen anyone say that has made it into the language. Truth is that we won't know all the details until it's too late.

 

[xdeucesx]

if your under 21 your totally fu****. back to home games i go haha

 

[Lofwyr]

I think the idea would be that states that currently allow online poker are automatically opted in and those that don't are automatically opted out. States then have some time frame in that 15 month blackout to decide if they want to change their current opt in/out status.

It's ironic (or hypocritical) that Kyl is making such a big deal out of the shady nature of attaching this to the tax bill considering that it's exactly how his party got the UIGEA passed.

 

[onemorechance]

Things looking... Complicated right now

 

[dj11]

My head will assplode upon passage of this bs......

 

[onemorechance]

So basically right now we can sum things up thus:

Google can't keep up

and from the 2p2 thread that's running a mile a minute

I have an update for everyone:

It's Off


It's ON


It's OFF

It's ON

IT's OFF


IT's on

ok now you all know whats going on, nothing more to see here

 

[WVHillbilly]

Just caught up with the legislation thread on 2+2. After reading through the it's on/it's off stuff it looks like everything is still just as up in the air as it was last night. Stay tuned.

 

[dj11]

Is there anyone in that thread at 2+2 that is actually knowledgeable about whats happening? Or would we just as well served tuning in to the news feeds, and speculating fresh?

 

[onemorechance]

Is there anyone in that thread at 2+2 that is actually knowledgeable about whats happening? Or would we just as well served tuning in to the news feeds, and speculating fresh?

There's a couple of guys who are very, very reliable