Shortly after the start of last week’s charity poker event to help the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Ben Affleck goes all-in with a flop of Ace-Nine-King and two diamonds. He winces when two of his challengers call the bet. He yells “Re-buy”, but the turn is a seven of hearts. Affleck is upset when a jack of diamonds is dealt on the river. He took the hand seriously even though there was no actual cash at stake. This is just the kind of thing that Affleck and several other online poker enthusiasts are pushing for.

Over $100,000 was raised for the paralyzed victims, but this was not the only function of the poker event held in Coors Field. Members of the Poker Players Alliance are working very hard to legalize internet poker in the United States. As part of their agenda, they are pushing to repeal the 2006 legislation Congress passed which forbids U.S. Banks and credit card companies from processing transactions related to online poker websites.

John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, is optimistic about the direction that the new congress will lead this decision. Pappas says that the alliance is pushing for a licensed industry, just for internet poker, and not for all online gambling. Pappas is interested in having a safe, regulated industry that all Americans can enjoy. The group is fighting for the rights of people and the privacy they deserve in their own home.

“There are misconceptions about poker and about internet poker,” poker pro Andy Bloch said in between hands during the charity celebrity poker tournament. “Some people think that online gaming is gambling like a slot machine, and it’s not.”

No Comments »

As more and more attacks occur from the United States government that try to eliminate the abilities of online poker rooms and online casinos to operate, it becomes readily apparent that the amounts of money invested into legal teams and representation for online poker rooms and casinos is highly justified. 

While the law certainly affords online poker rooms and casinos on the Internet a tremendous level of buffer zones and comfort overall, it is sometimes difficult to provide the tremendous levels of legal counsel and representation that is required for these types of poker rooms and casinos on the Internet such as Fulltiltpoker.com to stay in business.  Without these types of legal teams and representation, these online gaming and gambling establishments would very quickly be found guilty of some esoteric crime or even some type of transgression that it has been made up on the spot and run out of business. Until the laws are repealed or heavily modified in some way, it would appear that the Internet poker rooms and casinos will continue to require the services of tremendous teams of lawyers to combat the endless stream of legislation and litigation that comes down the pike out of Washington in an attempt to criminalize online poker rooms and casinos out of business altogether.

This is actually fairly common operating procedure for the United States government which has gone after many different types of organizations over the years and put them out of business under extremely suspicious circumstances and underhanded manipulation of legal procedures. With the unstoppable juggernaut that is the United States government, it becomes nearly impossible for any type of entity, including the online poker sites and casinos, to combat this type of overwhelming attack and comprehensive approach to the criminalization of online gambling and gaming on the Web.  While there is already a law in place that prohibits United States residents from establishing a poker room or doing any type of gaming and gambling over the web, there are further laws in place that will soon prevent individuals from even competing in these types of gaming establishments on the Internet. 

Due to the constant attacks from the United States government officials as well as legislators and lawmakers from around the country, online poker rooms and casinos have tremendous amounts of legal preparations on a regular basis that have to be attended to in order to effectively stay on top of the heap. 

No Comments »

Since the passage of new legislation that has made it extremely difficult to engage in playing online poker on the Internet, many players have made the effort to speak out against these types of legislation and laws. Participating in this effort, a lobbying group has come together to fight the online gaming ban under the Poker Players Alliance. Representing over 800,000 players from around the United States, the lobbying group has focused on repealing the laws of the United States government that restrict the abilities of online poker room players in a manner that makes it so difficult to fund the online poker players bankroll. With this ban on financial transactions between online poker rooms and the banks and financial institutions, the United States government has made it almost impossible for players to compete over the Internet against each other. Considering that so many individuals have spoken out against these extremely lopsided laws and the tremendous amount of legislation that is aimed at restricting the abilities of players to compete on the web, it is not surprising that the lobbying groups exist.

In the past, a multitude of experts have spoken out against the United States governments refusal to partake in the tremendous amount of revenue that is generated from online poker rooms and casinos such as Fulltiltpoker.com. In many areas of the world, such as Costa Rica, Antigua, and Aruba, the local governments have benefited greatly from hosting all different types of online poker rooms and casinos. Removing the ability of United States users and residents to profit in this way is restrictive, and somewhat unfair, as it allows foreign companies from outside of the United States to profit from the revenue generated from players inside the United States with zero reciprocity, a lopsided arrangement. In addition, the United States government itself cannot benefit from these types of revenue generating vehicles on the Internet, as they have regulated the government itself out of the revenue stream.

As this multitude of poker players comes together to fight the online ban on gaming, it becomes clear that there is no end of enthusiastic players who will stand up for the right and freedom to participate in these types of online poker rooms and casinos. Forming lobbying groups and focusing on fighting against the prohibitive legislation that has been handed down from Washington, players and online gaming enthusiasts have done their part in keeping the Internet-based gaming phenomenon alive.

No Comments »