As I am sure most of you already know, online poker has almost officially come to an end. Yesterday was Black Monday for a lot of us. Congress Passes Law to Curb Online Gambling It Was Slipped Through on the Back of Port Security Bill It took a backdoor move by the Senate Majority leader, but the bill designed to curb online gambling in the United States has passed. Sen. Bill Frist helped get the Internet gambling ban attached to a defense bill designed to boost security at nation’s ports. The bill passed Saturday. The bill calls for banks to work with the federal government to stop transactions between customers in the US and offshore gaming companies. The bill makes it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make transactions with online gambling companies. The bill considers online poker a form of gambling. Recently, online poker sites have worked harder to expand their customer base outside the United States, where about 80 percent of online poker players live. The bill would not target players but does call for prison time for people who run online gaming companies. Banks that don’t comply with the bill may also face punishment. A representive from the Independent Community Bankers of America testified to the House that its members will have trouble enforcing the act. The United States is moving in an opposite direction concerning this issue compared to the rest of the world. The United Kingdom recently moved to tax and regulate online gambling sites, and the European Union has made it clear that it considers online gambling a product that should be allowed to be freely traded. I, like most Americans have already pulled my money out of all poker sites which I have accounts with. I even got this from my favorite site PartyPoker. From the Party Poker Press Release: "After taking extensive legal advice, the Board of PartyGaming Plc has concluded that the new legislation, if signed into law, will make it practically impossible to provide US residents with access to its real money poker and other real money gaming sites. As a result of this development, the Board of PartyGaming has determined that if the President signs the Act into law, the Company will suspend all real money gaming business with US residents, and such suspension will continue indefinitely, subject to clarification of the interpretation and enforcement of US law and the impact on financial institutions of this and other related legislation. [emphasis added] Most of the other large sites like Bodog, Satrs, and Absolute have issued similar statemants. So to anyone who has not done so already you need to at least consider cashing out your accounts. The large sites like Party, Stars, etc should be safe as far as getting your money back. It’s the smaller sites I am very concerned about. I will be holding my breath hoping I get my money from a few of the smaller sites I have money in. Hopefully online poker will find someway around this, but until then I will have ALOT of free time on my hands. Thank goodness basketball season is nearly here GG online poker, GG!
how absolutely r****ded is this law??? why is our government so concerned with how we spend our leisurely time???
But they could get a piece of the action by regulating and taxing it just as brick and mortar casinos are regulated and taxed. I agree with you, however, about those *****.
Well gambling is technically illegal, so they are just doing what they should have been doing all along. I guess I'll withdraw my $40 from Paradise.
At least we get to decide hot to spend our money !!! Also, wouldn't this then open up a range of banks in Canada or the UK, where people would keep their money? What is to stop the US citizen from opening up an overseas account? DD
i love the how they discreetly slipped that bill in there b/c it couldn't pass on it's own merits. **** MAN, JUST READING THAT **** MAKES ME EVEN MORE PISSED OFF!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
I thought that's what these online gambling sites already did. Isn't that what all the online sports books do, or is online poker different?
F**K, It has already started! I got this email about 5 minutes ago... Dear Fox, The account information that you have registered with Betfred lists you as residing in the United States of America. Please be advised that, following the recent legislation, Betfred has regretfully had to take the decision not to accept any business through our website or call centre from any US citizen. All Betfred accounts which we believe originate in the USA will be closed with immediate effect. If you currently have funds with Betfred, we would be grateful if you would contact our Accounts department (accounts@betfred.com) to arrange for the balance to be repaid. Should you have any questions you can also contact our customer service team on 1-800 780 9364. On behalf of Betfred, we would like to apologise for this inconvenience and thank you for your previous custom. Kind regards The Betfred Customer Service Team. Luckily I haven't played at BetFred in awhile as it was a site that I mainly played only freerolls at. If I get an email from PartyPoker I am going to freak out. EDIT: I sent an email to PartyPoker asking them if US customers are going to be cut off. I will let ya'll know what they say (if anything).
