If it becomes illegal.....

I just found legalpoker.org (or whatever the url is), home of the campaign to keep internet poker legal.


It got me wondering what's going to happen if/when online poker becomes categorically illegal in the US - what are all you guys going to do? Will most of you play anyway, somehow or other? Or are the sites going to lose a huge percentage of their customer base, and the game selection dry up dramatically??


I find the whole thing quite bizarre really... you're not allowed to gamble online, or gamble at all in many states, or drink til you're 21, it all seems a bit repressive for the 'land of the free'.

it all seems a bit repressive for the 'land of the free'


Not much is free here. Our government does not mind if we gamble as long as they profit from it. In this case, our congressmen are likely to profit (i.e., receive bribes/donations) by restricting Americans' freedom to access internet gambling sites located in other countries. [I doubt the current internet casinos could compete with Vegas casinos in a bidding war for congress.]


Will most of you play anyway


This may be difficult if our government gets serious about eliminating untaxed gambling competition; it seems to me they could prohibit ISP's that serve Americans from providing access to known foreign gambling sites. If this occurs, however, I suspect American-based gambling sites would soon be sanctioned (and heavily taxed).

...only applies in non-election years. As it gets closer to November, all sorts of Congressmen will be desperate to get their names in the news. The easiest way to do that is to campaign against such horrible things as (gasp!) gambling online.