SmokingTarpan

http://news.com.com/Lawyer+Online+ga...l?tag=nefd.top

The bill was tacked onto a port security bill (love how these unrelated laws get passed by piggybacking) and bans banks and credit card companies from making payments to online casinos. All it needs to go into effect is a presidential signature.

Good? Bad? Seems rediculous to me, and makes me wonder about future online activity bans.

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[squadl]
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leejo

This has to do with regulation. We can regulate (and tax the crap out of) gambling operations in the USA to ensure that the games are fair, but not, for example, some dude's cabana in the Bahamas.

SmokingTarpan

And by onling, I mean online. Yay for stupid fingers.

Shouldn't we perhaps make a separate bill about this though, instead of tacking it onto something that you of course wouldn't shoot down? If you deny the bill because you're against the gambling bit, it can be turned around and be said that you're against port security (and thus, the terrorists have already won).

I understand that piggybacking happens, but I definitely don't like it.

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[squadl]
"I am the prettiest african-american, vietnamese..cong..person." -SugarNCamo

leejo

I dunno if this is sneaky of efficient. It's not going to change though: this is deal-making.

RocketPunch

lol, this will work for like 3 days. Then one of those casinos will set up an online retailer selling "gift cards" that is redeemable on one of their "gift shops" or at their casino.

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leejo

Yeah but then you'll only get people who want to play with Goofy Dollars instead of real dollars.

Beatnik

The whole law is absurd. It's not a regulation issue, as much as it is (surprise surprise) a commerce issue. It's a multi-billion dollar industry, and American casinos weren't seeing a dime.

None of the major betting or gaming sites had unfair games - it's in Party Poker's (or Pacific Poker, etc..) best interest to make it as fair as possible because they get the rake (a %age of every pot played). If there was a whiff of inpropriety, it's a very elastic market and people could easily switch to a competitor.

I'm not a fan at all of laws that protect me from myself. That's just oversized, unnecessary government. Blech.

At least I'm not bitter.

I closed out my PartyPoker account yesterday, and am not happy about it.

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leejo

I wonder which Senator introduced this?

And yes Beatnik of course I should have mentioned the strong probability of the gambling industry making an offer the pols couldn't refuse. Sorry about your party poker account.

ThePenguineer

Then where else could we see Christmas trees year round?

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KillerTarget

This bill won't affect me all that much because here in the great state of Washington we have had a law that makes it illegal to gamble online. It passed last year and went into effect in the last 6 months or so. I don't gamble much anyways so the bill itself doesn't make me interested, but how it is attached to a bill that is sure to pass, can't remember the exact name of these attached bills are given, but this is how us americans get screwed in the end.

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-BB|KillerTarget

Wulfyn

Hmmm... the way this news report was presented in the UK was that online gambling in the US was already illegal, and this measure was just a way to help enforce it.

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Spyder

Yes and no. The claim they tried to make was that gambling is illegal on US soil unless explicitly allowed by law, And you're sitting at your computer, on US soil, gambling. However, the only legal action ever taken against those cases is to go after and shut down the operation, not the gambler. Being that the operation exists outside US laws, they had to come up with some way to enforce it. As somebody mentioned, it'll last all of a few days until somebody starts selling casino giftcards at a non-casino operation, thus allowing you to buy giftcards with your CC and then turn around and cash them in at the casino. There is nothing in the law (to my knowledge) that prevents you from recieving money from online casino's.

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CingularDuality

I'm pretty sure the law prohibits the transfer of money in both directions...

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El_Gringo_Grande

I know a guy that loves to gamble. Many credit card companies already blocked transfers to and from his favorite gambling sites.

What does a good gambler do? He got a credit card from another country. Problem solved.

And then there are wire transfers to banks in the bahamas. Third parties that do transactions and other solutions.

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Black_V!per

I think this is good, its like buying alcohol online. Who really know's if the person buying it is over the legal age? We're just numbers to computers, and computers dont have feelings, they dont care if someone under-aged bought 400 dollars of liquer, or spent 15000 dollars on a online casino. Its a good way to protect the dumb people (Who in reality should be allowed to ruin there lives). But it shouldnt be stoped all together (And it wont).

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