ITH Poker Forum

[Bullajami]

Staying at a hotel in Pittsburgh, so I picked up a copy of the WSJ this morning. Page 5 has an article stating that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is quietly advocating for a bill to be passed that would legalize online poker. Apparently some of his biggest backers in the recent election were the B&M casinos in Nevada, and they want in on the online action. The bill would allow existing land-based casinos (and horse tracks) to operate online poker rooms in the US for 2 years, and then possibly open up to other operators coming in after that.

Not really the holy grail, but interesting, I thought.

[kinnipak]

They killed online poker "quietly" by burying the UIGEA on the Safe Port Act.

Sweet Irony if it comes back "quietly" as well.

Sounds like a step forward to me.

[Doc T River]

They killed online poker "quietly" by burying the UIGEA on the Safe Port Act.

Sweet Irony if it comes back "quietly" as well.

Sounds like a step forward to me.

Three lawmakers, including Spencer Bachus, have come out against slipping gambling legislation into a larger must pass piece of legislation. They called it undemocratic. This must mean they are against the method used to pass the UIGEA.

[bb88]

Love the bill and the way it's being passed, but the 15-month blackout period really upsets me... I'll probably transfer some petty amount to UB or some other website that'll stay in the U.S. illegally and play microstakes for fun and to keep sharp when the 15-month period passes and the fishing hole opens back up.

Long-term I think this is obviously very, very good news, but I feel terrible for those who make their living playing online poker. I hope everyone is able to figure something out in the mean-time.

[Doc T River]

Love the bill and the way it's being passed, but the 15-month blackout period really upsets me... I'll probably transfer some petty amount to UB or some other website that'll stay in the U.S. illegally and play microstakes for fun and to keep sharp when the 15-month period passes and the fishing hole opens back up.

Long-term I think this is obviously very, very good news, but I feel terrible for those who make their living playing online poker. I hope everyone is able to figure something out in the mean-time.

And what about the poker book publishers like Matthew?

[DoubleDown89]

Would poker book publishers really be affected by this law? I mean, if you wrote a book SOLELY for online poker ALONE, maybe. But I've never heard of a book that you couldn't withdraw something else from. I think book authors and publishers will be fine. Online poker is also happening outside of the US.

[Piscivorous]

And what about the poker book publishers like Matthew?

Freedom of speech allows you to write about anything you want really. You have stuff like the Anarchist's Guide to Bomb Making. Big story last month was the guy who wrote the book on practices of pedophilia that Amazon yanked.

I have a friend who is a patent attorney and asked him how the heck Full Tilt patented Rush Poker and his earnest answer was the anything can be patented even if deemed illegal by the US Government.

Now if Matthew moved to the state of Washington.....them guys are crazy.

[nsidestrate]

It appears that the bill is dead, by the way.

[chrisjp]

Very dead....you wonder why Reid did this in the first place. He has to know that this legislation favoring his cronys in Nevada had zero shot. Did he do it just to make them feel like he was paying them back? Very screwy but not surprising.

Chris