Any person that profits from the rake...should be aware...

[annieadlin]

I was reading the day/night/Cyndie thread and thought I would start a new thread for this subject, even though it has been hashed before.

Any person that profits from the rake should be aware that they could be letting themselves in for a can of worms somewhere down the line.
This is solely my opinion/conclusion
(based on reading of laws past and proposed, including the Rico act, and conversations with others, many of whom are far more versed in the law than I).
There is still a very gray line for internet poker.
Ownership/partnership and/or participation in profit derived from rake MAY be interpreted as participation in a gaming entity. Although the gaming operation may be fully legal in a Foreign country, if you are a US citizen profiting from the rake, who may find yourself in hot water should the powers that be in our country decide to come after 'the little' guy.

Is it worth it?
Are you going to disclose this as earned income on your tax return?
If so, are you going to disclose it as money received from an offshore entity?
As a percentage of rake from players you recruited to participate in a gaming activity?
Will you feel confident disclosing this should you be audited?

This is solely my opinion.
Annie

[Cyndie]

Yes

[twistedbeats]

so if a site were to offer you 1.5x your rake back for playing a certain game, this may be construed as illegal? do you have to be a winning player for this to be true?

[gabyyyyy]

Good point adlin.

You see if you are an affiliate site and want to be on the up and up there are several things you can do. For starters you can have a disclaimer section, that says you do not condone people playing if it is illegal where they live.

Second, you can have other types of non-gambling advertising on your site.

Furthermore. never market directly to an area that you know prohibits online gambling.

In short they cannot prosecute you for simply advertising a site. This advertising falls under the first amendment.

Even if they did take someone to court just for advertising, a jury would probably not convict a person solely for advertisements. Just by advertising you are not operating the gambling site. You are simply putting the word out for a fee.

Also, most litegators will tell you that you should not act as a mediator in recovery of cashouts, or help with other complaints. By trying to resolve issues at a particular site you may cross the line into operation instead of advertising. An advertiser who simply puts a banner up has no idea of it's operations under law. For all anyone knows you are marketing your ad's to other countries and not solely to U.S citizens.

Unfortunetely for Cyndie, none of the above measures would help her case.

She is currently running a portal online gambling site. When someone goes to Night Or Day they think that they are playing at night or day poker, not some other room. Cyndie has crossed the advertising line and has moved into the operation aspect. That is what is illegal.

[annieadlin]

Sorry twisted,
It is a complicated subject and I should have been more precise, but then I could be typing all night about it and still not cover everything.

Profiting from the rake of another, would have been a better sentence.

Rabates to yourself could be constured as promotional money.
The whole thing is very gray. Like I said those in favor or opposed can find an argument for or against depending on which side of the fence their opinion rides.

At this point there is NO correct answer. Just opinions.

[Jim Kuhn]

The United States Government has digressed into a 'huge grey area' these past few years.

[dogsballs]

Heh, good point, Jim.