Of course all of the online poker players in the US are still in shell shock over the fact that our NANNY government keepers are watching out for us by putting a massive headlock on our right to play online poker. Thank you, Big Brother, I could never manage my own life or finances without you up my ass with a flashlight searching through the remains of last night’s meal to see what I’ve been doing and set up steel bars to protect me from doing it again.
Gee…do I sound bitter?
Am I bitter? Not really, but I am sick of the way our government has taken control and completely ignores the fact that a majority of us would like online poker legalized and regulated. For all of you nay sayers that think we aren’t controlled and it’s not going to get a lot worse, you are very mistaken. We have no freedom. It will become more apparent as the noose tightens and we realize that we should have stood up and argued long ago. The choice to play online poker should come from the individual, not from NANNY.
I truly believe that most of the people that are against online poker simply do not understand poker. Hence, online poker is evil, it shouldn’t be allowed. Poker is a game of cards, no different than Uno, or Crazy 8s, or any other game – if you believe gambling doesn’t go on in those card games please go in and see about having that bucket surgically removed from your head. Gambling is available in everything, there’s always someone ready to make a wager and someone ready to take it, so grow up, get real, figure it out, open your eyes, plan on a brain refresher course so you can keep up with the rest of us.
This statement is a classic IMHO: “I just think some of these arguments are utter nonsense,” Prentice told ESPN.com. “You mean you’re going to move so you can play poker? Gee, lots of luck in your life. … I have nothing against card playing. That’s fine. If you want to do that, but I’m sure not going to worry about someone … you know. Let them go pump gas.”
Do you think Washington state Sen. Margarita Prentice, an ex officio member of the Washington State Gambling Commission would move to another state if she was making $200K + a year – FROM HER HOME – and found out she was forced out of her job by a state law? Or would she be down at the local gas station filling out an application where she might make upwards of $12 an hour?
All the screaming about ‘protecting the children’ and ‘problem gamblers’ and cheating are just bullshit. First of all, the parents need to take responsibility in protecting their children and teaching them how to deal with life. As the child ages, the parents need to be more involved in the family plan of helping and protecting their child from making bad choices. Problem gamblers? They are out there, how about the ones that put their name on a list to not be allowed to play and then play anyway and when they lose, they want to sue the site for allowing them to play? Cheaters? They are definitely out there, lurking the halls and rails of online poker, waiting to jump on a hapless victim and rob them of their bankroll and online poker sites do their best to keep this from happening – and it’s up to you to submit anything suspicious to their support to have it checked out. So, what it comes down to is online poker sites have the ability to set controls and are willing to do that but they aren’t given the opportunity to prove it to NANNY.
Another classic: Interestingly, the Washington State Supreme Court also dove into a moral assessment of internet gambling in its decision. The verdict read in part, “Internet gambling introduces new ways to exacerbate these same threats to health, welfare, safety, and morals. Gambling addicts and underage gamblers have greater accessibility to online gambling – able to gamble from their homes immediately and on demand, at any time, on any day, unhindered by in-person regulatory measures.”
Moral assessment? Do we need NANNY to write our moral code for us? How does internet poker exacerbate threats to health, welfare, safety, and MORALS? If I like to play poker online, my morals are shaky and something’s wrong with my upbringing and overall ability to function between right and wrong?
I won’t go into the argument of how much money the NANNY government could make if online poker was regulated and legalized. It’s a boatload of dough! But one thing I will go into is that all of the states that have began thinking about legalizing online gambling, the politician that begins the process always has the positive statement that it would bring in much needed revenue. WOW! Is that a novel thought? Get that bucket surgically removed boys and girls. That’s like a “NO SHIT?” kind of thing. All the money that is being raked up by offshore gambling operators could be raked up and stacked right here in the good old USA – even if our morals were at stake, we would still be filling the coffers of the NANNY government to help pull us out of our eternal, money draining, death spiral.
One thing that bothers me A LOT and everyone should think about it. All of the states that are considering legalizing intrastate poker are simply going to break their own players. For all of you politicians that don’t know shit about poker, if you don’t have incoming fresh money on a regular basis, the game dies, leaving only the busted that are scraping trying to get a buy-in together. If you have 1million players in a state – say Nevada for an example – the cost of set-up for licensing, taxes, etc., for the poker site is always going to be passed on to the player. The game runs 24/7, the rake is going to be taken from every pot. The skilled player can knuckle down and grind out a living, the newb or fun player is pretty much destined to go broke and rebuy (how many times and how often can that happen before the player can no longer afford it?), the games get tighter and are bad for everyone, including the house (state ran site).
What if there are two or more sites licensed in the state? It’s even worse. The sites begin promoting bad beat jackpots, sign-up bonuses, reload bonuses, and any promotion possible to bring players to their site. Bad Beat Jackpots are one of the worst things that can ever happen in poker. If you’ve won one, you probably argue about it, if you’ve played for years and never smelled 1c from one, or you removed the bucket before the surgeon’s knife got to you, you know they are horrible deals. They pull money out of the rotating poker pool and lock it up, sometimes for months on end, and when the jackpot is hit, it goes to a select few and the house takes a % for handling the jackpot. Over a period of time, the house cut for handling the bad beat jackpot can range up in the millions, that’s like double raking a poker game.
So now you have 1million players – not all of them play full time, split up between possibly two or more online poker sites. The bonuses and reloads and jackpots all have to be funded somehow, guess what Dear Player, you are paying for them even if you don’t see the writing in your face, and you’re paying rake. If there is no fresh money coming in, figure in about five years you are all fighting over the same $100 bill…so to speak.
We need federal legislation to provide regulated, legal online poker that allows us many choices of different online poker sites and the continually refreshing poker playing pool of the entire world. That way we have choices…even if we don’t have morals (sorry, couldn’t help but throw that in).
Think of the ripple effect that’s happening with the ‘big three’ shutdown.
- Hundreds of thousands, literally, of players have money in accounts in those sites. Now their money is locked up until? Does the NANNY government feel that it is their right to confiscate that money, after all, in their eyes it’s all illegal. Can the NANNY government access all of the banking transactions and obtain all of the player’s information?
- Along with player’s money being locked up, those funds are probably needed for daily living expenses which sends people scraping to pay the rent/buy food/etc., and the job market is going to be flooded with people that were self sufficient and earning out of their home and now need a job.
- The ripple effect will work its way down to cable companies that supply internet service and computer/equipment sales.
- The media force that cover poker events and provide information to the world may find their ranks decreased drastically and needing to find new employment.
- The WSOP may suffer drastically in main event registration.
- Players that won a seat to the WSOP or other land based events are simply out of luck, this could have a long, resounding effect on their entire poker career since they are deprived of the opportunity to prove themselves.
- Citizens of the United States losing their freedom of choice.
Do I sound bitter? I thought about it a little more and I am. Poker has been a big part of my life for many, many years. I’m a granny that was given the opportunity to step out of the world of dealing live poker to the position of editor at PokerWorks.com and working out of my home where I could play online poker any time I wanted. Now I may lose all of that because the NANNY government has chosen to protect me from myself.
Time to rally, go to the Poker Players Alliance and let your representatives and the President know you want online poker. Call your Senator, call your Representative, get all of your friends to join and become active in the fight to maintain freedom in the United States.
The Gov is just like the MOB.There getting short on money so they want to strongarm are poker site’s..they just want a cut of the money..Greedy Basterds..There like Mushrooms all we need to do is feed them alittle bullshit and keep em in the dark.
Our wonderful state (oklahoma) has the lottery and tons of compacts with the Indian tribes.
The pick 3 daily lottery game has a state hold back of 50%, so if you get the pick 3 you win $500 (1000-1 odds) and if you box your 3 numbers you get paid $160. I don’t think Keno has odds that bad. And if it did no one would play it.
Every poker room in NE Oklahoma rakes up to $5 (4 + 1 bad beat) per pot. No way to profit playing poker because between the rake and the tipping you can’t get ahead unless you play at limits that require a bankroll of 10-15K.
At least bookies and bookmakers only get 10% of the bet and the rake is usually 10% or less on most sng’s and tournaments.
It’s funny that states have a moral compass when they rip their constituents off because of ignorance for the betterment of “education” or whatever is earmarked for the lottery proceeds.
The big NANNY here is not the government, but the B&M casinos and other corporate interests who own the government. The online sites made moves out of desperation to maintain a U.S. presence that anyone with a brain could see were completely illegal (talking about the laundering and bank fraud issues, NOT the gambling part), and the corporations that want to take over that turf are getting their lapdogs to do their bidding in shutting it down, collecting the fines that will surely be ordered by the courts, and paving the way for big business to do what it always does, squash the little guy. Online poker will be back quite soon now, only it won’t be Stars and Tilt, but Harrah’s and Casesar’s and all the usual suspects.
It ain’t got nothin’ to do with morality, it’s just all about the Benjamins.
And yes, it does feel good to have cashed out a few months ago….. Just wish my timing had been that good when I was dabbling in the real gambling in America, the stock market.
Hey Jan, The thought has crossed my mind that since Harrahs signed with 888 and some kind of a semi-deal was approved in NV, that they instigated/pushed this whole thing. I wouldn’t put anything past anyone when it comes to the nature of the business and the amount of money to be gained, that they would wear a golden halo in all of this.
Out of curiosity, what do you think prompted Bill Frist’s initial bill? It wasn’t casino competition in those days, do you think?
The whole thing sucks big time.
Good question. On the face of it, Frist was just a standard Republican, spouting off about less government, less government, unless it involves getting involved with our personal rights, in which case the government has to protect us from our own depravity. But here’s an interesting little blurb from Frist’s Wikipedia entry:
“In September 2006, working with Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, Frist was a major Senate supporter of H.R. 4411 — the Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act. Frist’s bill called for restrictions on banking transactions for online gambling, while Frist has received contributions from land-based casinos. The bill, which passed without debate as part of the Safe Port Act, also allowed horse racing and lotteries to remain legal.” Hmmmmm? Was the fix in from the start?