The eventual and inevitable death of online poker

[geohearn]

The US government controls the internet? Not a chance. The freeworld will continue to play no matter what Herr Bush and his arrogant cronnies say. No, american laws do not apply here, so smoke em if you got em and gamble to your hearts content. They may send the Gestapo ie IRS after American card players but us free Canadians and Europeans wont be bothered, although we will miss the yankee fish.

[MicroBob]

The government does not control the internet....but they can regulate the ISP's. They can also regulate the financial institutions and make it extremely difficult to get one's money to the online-poker sites and/or neteller.

If the govt wants to take steps to prohibit internet-gambling amongst it's citizens it can and will succeed to at least some degree.
If the U.S. isn't playing then the quality of the games won't be nearly as good and will be more difficult to beat.

Yes.....you (and I) will DEFINITELY miss the Yankee-fish.

Again, it's not something I'm overly concerned with because there's nothing I can do about the idiot politicians in this country trying to over-legislate us in a country supposedly based on 'freedom'.
If they legislate/prohibit this internet-gambling stuff in this country then I'll just have to re-evaluate the situation and determine if the games are worth playing and if the hassles of getting my money back and forth and the risk/punishment of getting caught makes it worth it.

But the U.S. govt certainly has the ability to hurt/cripple these games if they want to battle the WTO ruling and take strong enough measures to do prohibit the funding of accounts from U.S. institutions.

[Cubswin]

If you want more info on this go back through CubsWins posts over the past couple months and you will find about a ga-zillion articles on this issue that you might not be able to make it all the way through if you read non-stop for the rest of the year.

Just FYI.... I am in the process of getting all these articles together and putting the better ones on my web-site-to-be. Already purchased the URL and am in the process of writting the code for the site. The process is taking a bit longer then i expected but hopefully it will be up and running in the not too distant future... ill keep you posted [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

cubs

[MicroBob]

cool.

[GrannyMae]

Already purchased the URL and am in the process of writting the code for the site.

sweet

[Cubswin]

What is MUCH more likely is that the government will begin prosecuting gamblers.

I am not convinced the federal government has the juridiction to do this. What federal statute would the federal government use to prosecute internet gamblers? State governments are the ones with much more clearly defined gambling laws but most dont have the resources to go after individual gamblers... at least not in large numbers. I believe only one e-gamer has ever been arrested for placing a bet online (i think it was in south dakota), and he was only arrested because the state law was clearly defined. Simply put, the federal goverment lacks the jurisdiction to go after individual gamblers while states lack the resources.

cubs

[Shaun]

[ QUOTE ]
My concern is that soon a story will hit the press about some underage kid blowing a huge amount of dough and then blowing his brains out. If this does not result in some radical prohibition then we are good for a long,long time.The addictive nature of the game and societies increasing level of sloth should ensure a bright future. Because of the rush involved with playing for real money it would seem to me that the fish would go to any lengths to fund their accounts.

I have also seen players express concerns about increasingly addictive forms of computer games on the horizon that would divert interest from poker. Howeve,even if you could feel like you were really squaring off with Darth Vader or banging Lindsey Lohan,the desire to gamble would resurface after the Dark Lord gives you a beatdown or Lohans cans are covered with your...well,you guys get my drift.

[/ QUOTE ]

LMAO. Excellent post!

[Cubswin]

McDonalds and your favorite 5 star restaurant both sell food - but to say they are competitors is a misnomer.

Exactly. The question i like to ask is "has internet porn put strip clubs out of business?"

Internet and B&M casinos have a symbiotic relationship in almost every gaming area... the two exception being sportbooks ( good news story about internet and B&M sportbooks) and to a lesser extent horseracing. But, these are not typically big money makers for casinos anyway so i dont think the B&Ms are all that concerned.

Poker and casino gaming on the internet should be viewed in a positive light by B&M casinos. Obviously, pokers online growth has spilled over into the B&M casinos... how many times have we heard ESPN commentators mentioned "he is a online qualifier".

Some of you might be unconvinced about the benefit of e-casino for B&M with regards to traditional casino games. I think the most important thing that e-casinos do is teach people how to play many different casino games in the privacy of their own home. Many people are intimidated about learning a new game in a casino... they dont want to look foolish playing a game for the first time... well e-gaming allows people to learn these games without looking like a newbie. Ive read that over half of e-gamers are women... i would bet a large portion of my bankroll that one of the fastest growing B&M casino cohorts is women.

Additionally, casinos have many other draws that e-casinos dont. Free drinks, waitresses with large assets, cheap eats, and other many many other entertainment events. Also, it is so so much different then playing online. You get to interact with other people face-to-face and shuffle real casino chips. Just look at the number of players on this board who go to casinos to play poker when they know their return would be much better playing online. E-casinos and B&Ms are two totally different experiences.

OK... now for a bonus question..... Any guess as to what is the number one reason why people go to vegas?

cubs

[Losing all]

I'll start looking over my shoulder when Moneymaker or Raymer get arrested. More Americans know they play internet poker then know the capitol of New York, yet the Nazi's haven't hauled them off to camp.

[westmt01]

[ QUOTE ]
Any guess as to what is the number one reason why people go to vegas

[/ QUOTE ]

Well my number one reason is to visit my parents, but I'm guessing that's not the case for everybody, so I'll say it's to go to an adult vacation spot where they can behave in a manner they wouldn't be able to at home (hence the much overquoted marketing line "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas).