Who will be next?

First of all a little introduction: I am 26yo from Germany, I have been playing poker for roughly 5 years and got into the poker scene when I won a package on a European based site and also cashed in my two live events. Afterwards I worked as freelancer for a poker site to design promotions and do translations, until I basically took over the community management for a Canadian poker forum. In general, you can say that I know the business from pretty much all sides and understand the pros and cons.

Surely the development on the “Black Friday” came to all as a shock, but it was not totally surprising, because if you see the traffic and all the US players on the sites, you always kinda asked how the money actually got on and off the poker sites. It may also very well be an important step towards the regulation of online gambling in the United States, even though it does feel like a slap in the face right now.

Obviously I am worried as admin and player, because so far we don’t know the full extent of the whole story yet and if they also have evidence to pursue other poker sites and networks as well that currently still allow players from the US. The first panic was pretty big and all you could do is tell them to wait, because they can only make it worse right now. 

The biggest problem I see in the current development is the effect on new players, because they are discouraged from playing poker when they see the news. They are scared and similar to the existing players have no idea what would actually happen with their funds. This insecurity is not good for the business in general, even though the US government might not be able to freeze all bank accounts. 

Also, the timing is kinda remarkable since just recently the law about legalizing online gambling passed in DC and it does now open the door for the government to take a step into this business, because they simply removed the biggest “threat” for them. Of course this is no justification for the money laundering and this will have to be taken care of, yet they are really fortunate … or was it just well planned?

The same tendency can also be seen at Europe as well, even though the ban of online gambling would be against the EU law, some countries still go ahead such as France where poker sites can only operate with a specific gambling license … of course just available for a certain fee. There have been similar ideas going around at Germany in the past as well and it remained as grey area, but they have yet started another attempt.

Three years ago they wanted to ban online gambling and approached the 25 biggest internet providers to block the domains, but have not been successful. The so called “Glücksspielstaatsvertrag” is similar to the UIGEA in the US and they want to enforce another and stricter version, but all 16 states will have to agree to it, otherwise it will not go into effect.  

Lately I heard that Germany was the 2^nd biggest online poker market and quite a few poker sites started advertising on TV, there are still weird restrictions to get the permission for live events and thus most go to Austria instead to host the events there. But what will actually happen when this new version will be enforced? It will pretty much take the same direction as the development in France.

Poker is no crime!  I understand that they are not necessarily after the players, but they make it next to impossible to still play, because you can barely get funds on or off the poker sites. And why does all that happen? Sure, the money laundering has to be investigated ... but it is also a fact that the governments currently don't get any piece of the cake either and that seems to be enough reason if you take a closer look. It is not the first time that this happens, just look at all the "dictators" and the oil - a very similar story.

So the big question now is: Who will be next? And is my money still safe on the poker sites? Of course they all assure that the funds are safe … but with the recent actions in the United States, we don’t even know yet if they have more sites and networks on their black list. Fingers crossed, because we can only win this fight together … because all over the world we share the same passion for this difficult card game.

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Doomsday at Online Poker: Update

As a lot might panic at the moment after the shockwave yesterday, I thought I would give a little update what is going on and what happened in the last few hours.

Link to the press release from the DoJ: DoJ press release Scheinberg

More Info about the person that "delivered" all the info: Daniel Tzvetkoff

First of all, they are not after the players, just after the poker sites itself for those illegal bank transactions - poker itself is not illegal and you are allowed to play online. The player funds are on separate bank accounts, for example Europeans do not have to fear that there funds are not safe. But the bank accounts with US traffic are most likely frozen at the moment and the upcoming days and weeks will show what direction this dilemma gonna take.

Pokerstars is not on the .com domain anymore and switched to .eu, all American players have been booted from the real money tables and the cashier / p2p is also frozen right now. If you are from the US, the automated updated will fail and you have to reinstall the software from the following URL: http://www.pokerstars.eu/ - the normal update for non US accounts and IP addresses still works.

Same goes for FullTilt, they also had a quick update and are now linking to the .http://co.uk domain, players got booted but I seen a few "survivors" that have been lucky so far and are still playing in a long session. It is only a matter of time though before they will also get booted. Same scenario as Pokerstars though, new domain for US to redownload: http://www.fulltiltpoker.co.uk/

Concerning AP and UB (yes, UB is now also seized), they didn't switch to non .com domains yet and it also seems that as US player you can still login and register for real money games (as of 10.00 server time on April 16th 2011). But p2p transactions have been disabled by now - same here, it is only a matter of time until players will be booted.

It might even be the case that all american IP addresses get blocked and that nobody from the US will be able to access any of the "gambling" sites - but this is yet to be confirmed and would be the worst case scenario. Most likely all withdrawals will be put on hold or denied, but this doesn't mean the poker sites want to steal your money or that it will be lost. They want to avoid a mass panic and need to settle down after yesterday's shock - right now, nobody really knows what will happen in the next few days.

Update as of April 16th 10.00 EST: It was possible to initiate a cashout at AP / UB from a non US acc (Canadian in this case).

Of course we are trying to keep you updated, but unfortunately given the circumstances and everything what happened in the last 24h, we might not be able to have any control over the situation and can only wait.
Please do not try to "dump" your money on AP / UB to non US players, you risk to have all accounts locked! The best advice is to log into your accounts and take a screenshot of your cashier, in this case you at least have evidence of how many funds you had when all this started.

There are a lot of tweets going back and forth on twitter right now, if you have an account there you can stay up to date if you check out the following accounts:

@Kevmath
@Pokerati
@oskargarcia
@GamingCounsel
@GaryWise1
@ckrafcik
@grange95
@scarlet_lv
@markgahagan
@bjnemeth
@ftrainpoker
@taopauly
@hardboiledpoker

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ABOUT THE UIGEA AND THE LEGALITY OF POKER and CASINO in the USA

I found the following text while browsing and it is courtesy of Holdem Poker Chat and thought I'd share it with you to clear up some possible confusion that might arise when it comes down to the legality of online poker within the USA.

A common misunderstanding of the US legislation regarding online gambling is to think that it is a ban on the actual online gambling activity. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) passed in 2006 does not ban online gambling but it forces all banks, financial institutions and third party payment processors to block all transactions with gambling operators. Recently this has been made aware with the downfall of eWalletXpress and more and more banks in the US also deny gambling transactions as well.

However, it is important to acknowledge that it is not that you are not allowed to play online, but when your payment cannot be processed is merely because the payment processor is forced by law to block the transaction.

Some companies have closed their doors to US players not because of the law but because they need to protect the interest of the company. This means that their investors fear that this ruling is so grey that it was better to remove themselves from the US market for their best interest as stockholders did not want anything to do with it. The UIGEA is so ambiguous and has so many unanswered questions that even financial institutions stated that it would be near to impossible to monitor transactions in the way the US government wants them to.

Now to answer the question of whether it is legal or not to play online poker or at online casinos first you must be aware that the UIGEA did not make gambling illegal, but it is recommendable that you always check your state laws. Some states prohibit forms of online gambling while others only outlaw some games. You should also know that in legal cases not even a single player has ever been charged for online gambling.

The Poker Players Alliance gives you as poker player the opportunity to have your voice heard and every and all support is welcome. The PPA has a large lobbiest group and they have been a leading force in helping us out and also changing the US law regarding online poker. If you are not a member yet, please visit their website and join the PPA today!

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D-Rep. Frank urges Treasury Department to put gambling rules on hold

Nikos Portiakos is a staff writer for WDIAV and covers Las Vegas and Gambling.

Barney Frank, congressman and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter advising the Bush administration officials to delay the implementation of several rules that would result in the prohibition ofonline gambling before President-Elect Obama takes over the White House in January, 2009. As reported by the Dow Jones Newswire, the Treasury Department has finished the review of a series of regulations that would ban online gambling activities in the U.S. and is trying to have them implemented in the waning days of the Bush administration. The controversial rules would prevent banks and other financial institutions from processing all kind of transactions, including credit cards, bank transfers and ACH transactions for most online casinos,sportsbetting sites andonline pokerrooms.

Congressman Frank sent a letter this Monday in where he tells Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, that approving and executing the rules as they are "will tie the hands of the new administration, burden the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis and contradict the stated intent of the Financial Services Committee." Frank urged the officials to wait until Obama's administration officially takes office to provide the new government with a chance to evaluate and analyze all the possible the implications and effects the country would face after implementing the rules.

The rules stem from a last-minute addition to a law passed in the final hours of the Republican controlled Congress in 2006. The project to ban online gambling was approved in the last minute by a Republican controlled Congress in 2006, the project was attached to a port security bill that had no relation with the gaming prohibition but that was voted due its relevance for the national security. But even when the bill was voted, the rules proposed by the Treasury in October 2007 don't classify and identify which activities can be considered illegal. Two years after the UIGEA's approval, the Treasury Department hasn't been able to complete a series of rules and definitions needed to implement the ban, partly because the amount of propositions and amendments introduced since 2006.

Frank has strongly opposed any legislation that would require banks to reject to financial transactions related to gambling sites, Frank also has insisted that instead of simply banning online gambling, the government has to regulate and tax some forms of online gaming. Frank's proposal has been well received by other democratic lawmakers, gambling industry representatives as well as banks and financial lobbyists, and even by some Federal Reserve officials.

"I strongly urge you to delay implementation of these major and deeply flawed regulations to permit the incoming administration the ability to review the consequences of a significant policy decision, rather than unfairly being denied that opportunity." Frank expressed in the letter addressed to the government's officials.

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Kentucky to ban online poker on november 17th

Unless KY Traffic Blockage is Shown by Nov 17, Judge Orders Domains Seized
by http://PokerPages.com
Fri, Oct 17th, 2008 @ 12:00am
Kentucky circuit court Judge Thomas Wingate ruled October 16 to uphold the domain seizure of 141 online poker and Internet gambling sites to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, EXCEPT sites whose owners "or respective registrants or their agent, or any other person with an interest or a claim" can demonstrate in person to the court that their site blocks traffic to Kentucky residents on or before a hearing on November 17. If blockage to Kentucky residents is not demonstrated, then the domains will be forfeited to the commonwealth.

On the downside for Kentucky state coffers, the ruling did not order any fine to be paid to the state.
Also, the question has been raised by gambling911 whether any person that appears before the court representing a domain to prove traffic has been blocked to Kentucky could "ultimately be subpoenaed. The judge implies immunity in his decision but that is a really hard call."

THE CORE MATTER: KENTUCKY'S FORFEITURE LAW

At the heart of the matter is the Kentucky law saying "any gambling device or gambling record possessed or used in violation of this chapter is forfeited to the state, and shall be disposed of in accordance with KRS 500.900, except that the provisions of this section shall not apply to charitable gaming activity as defined by KRS 528.101(1)."

SUMMARY OF JUDGE'S OPINION AND ORDER

Wingate wrote a 44-page opinion for upholding his initial order for the seizure, stating in his summary that "judicial interference of the Internet will NOT create havoc," and furthermore that the "Internet with all its benefits to modern day commerce and life, is still not above the law, whether on an international or municipal level."

You can read the entire document that Gambling911 kindly posted a copy of, at:

In the Opinion and Order the Judge addresses the issues raised at the September 25 and October 7 hearings. Here are highlights of some of the judge's replies to those issues raised:

# Are the Defendants 141 Domain Names Property? Reply: the Judge cited other cases that shows domain names have value similar to property, as they are definable, can be exclusively claimed, and can be auctioned. Therefore they are property.

# Do the defendants 141 Domain Names have a presence in Kentucky? Reply: because they do business in Kentucky, they have a presence. He dismisses the argument that no domain name is registered in Kentucky.

# Are the Domain Names, by reason of their illegal or unlawful use, gambling devices? Reply: The Judge says that he follows the spirit of the Kentucky gambling device description and because the 141 domain names connect to 'virtual casinos', they act as gambling devices.
# Is poker "Gambling" as defined by KRS 528.010(3)? Reply: Because poker has all 3 elements that define gambling: the element of chance, risking something of value for a chance to win a prize, and the awarding of a prize to the successful player, that online poker is gambling.

FRIEND OF COURT

In his opinion, the judge noted that only PPA, iMEGA, the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) and Network Solutions Inc (NSI) have 'friend-of-court status' and can continue to "present briefs and memoranda for purposes of informing the court of the ever-changing facets of the Internet," but they could not represent any domain.

GAMBLING & INTERNET COMMUNITY REACTION

"Clearly, we believe the judge in this case got it wrong," said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance(PPA). "First of all, we strongly disagree with Judge Wingate's ruling that poker is not a game of skill. As demonstrated in the amicus brief we filed, skill plays an essential role in being a successful poker player. Additionally, we believe that by confirming Governor [Steve] Beshear's actions, the court has set a dangerous precedent for censorship of the Internet. Today's ruling is a big step backward for both personal rights and Internet freedom."

Joe Brennan Jr., chairman of the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) said, "What Judge Wingate has done is to create the 'ultimate weapon' to be used by the powerful and influential to attack content they oppose. This will enable government to eliminate competition from differing ideas, beliefs and commerce. This decision today is where it starts, but where will it stop?"
Brennan noted that iMEGA had already prepared for this possible result from the Kentucky court, and will challenge this decision at both the Federal and State courts, to prevent "this cancer from metastasizing and threatening the entire online world."

"This decision must not be allowed to stand, because of the threat it poses to the Internet as a whole," said Brennan. "Judge Wingate has ignored the clear laws of his own state in coming to a decision that essentially green-lights any jurisdiction - in the US and abroad - to ignore our rights and abuse their power to do away with competition or speech or content with which they oppose, regardless of the law. This is a dark day for Internet freedom."

PPA PRESSES LEGISLATION & REGULATION NOT PROHIBITION

"I am certain that many of the plaintiffs in this case intend to quickly appeal this matter,"noted John Pappas, executive director of the PPA. "We are confident that the Kentucky Appellate Court will review the facts and overturn today's order. At the same time, the PPA will continue its efforts to protect the rights of Kentucky citizens to play poker online."

Pappas added, "To truly address Governor Beshear's concerns with online gaming, the PPA continues to encourage the introduction of legislation, modeled after federal legislation such as that introduced by Senator Robert Menendez and Congressman Barney Frank, that would license and regulate online gaming. This approach would allow Kentucky to legally capture millions of dollars to increase revenue and fund critical state programs."

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USA and the UIGEA

Just one week after a historic election the Poker Players Alliance is pitted in a fight to keep anti-Internet poker regulations from being enacted and we NEED YOUR HELP!

The current Administration is hastily finalizing a number of "midnight rules" before they leave office and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is on the list. See the 11/06 story in Dow Jones. Just like UIGEA was snuck into legislation in the dark of night in 2006, our opponents are again trying an 11th hour sneak job. We need you to help us expose and stop this reckless rulemaking.
Please call the U.S. Federal Reserve and tell them not to approve the UIGEA regulations -- Consumer Complaints, 888... or Public Affairs, 202....
Tell them:

* The federal agencies responsible for our nation's economy should not be focused on Internet poker regulations.

* Finalization of the UIGEA rules will add additional burdens on our already crippled financial systems.

* Internet poker is a game of skill and form of recreation for millions of Americans; it should be exempted from the UIGEA.

* Please do not finalize the UIGEA regulations until their impact on our banking systems and average Americans has been fully studied.


Your call will make a huge difference and will add the public's voice to these last minute policy decisions our government is poised to make.We can't stand idly by while they make decisions that will impact our right to play America's card game.PLEASE CALL TODAY!
Proud to play,
Alfonse D'Amato, Chairman
Poker Players Alliance

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