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Forbes Cover Story: US government cracking down on online poker?

Comments (15)
by , Feb 10, 2010 | 4:58 pm

A cover story in the latest issue of Forbes magazine (the main story asking if Al Qaeda is bankrupt) features an article discussing the US government’s possible crackdown on online poker with the impending June 1 deadline for the UIGEA to be enforced. The article can be found on their website here and includes a slide show of the big names behind online poker.


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  • http://ESPN.com Andrew

    I’m not sure how much I loved reading that article. I mean, it’s not like any of this was new information, but the venue of that infomation isn’t good for poker.

    Regulation please?

  • Kevin Mathers

    I agree the information isn’t new, but I think a real catalyst on getting regulation may require someone to be arrested. There’s a huge gray area regarding online gambling that the DOJ uses to its advantage to put pressure on payment processors, banks, etc. to keep the status quo.

  • DanM

    Nothing new in it … but having this sorta outside (but still informed) take on it has the ability of showing us and others the forest through the trees. This is the online poker world we live in, boiled down, in a nutshell, all that stuff … with battle lines clearly drawn and spelled out.

    PokerStars and Full Tilt make out pretty well — coming off more as conscientious objectors than conscious Federal nose-snubbers.

    I think when the history of poker is written, this will be one of the seminal articles. Think of who reads Forbes, too. This simplified but thorough explanation of all we already know is a real tide-changer.

  • http://www.JohnnyHughes.com Johnny Hughes

    …..So, Dan and Kevin…What is the substitute product effect for live poker: casinos and home games? If people learn poker on the web, and are banned from it, will it help live poker, especially in casinos?

  • Kevin Mathers

    At one point, I’m sure several B&M casinos thought so, which is why companies such as Harrah’s were at one time opposed to online poker. However, most of them saw the light (Steve Wynn is an example of someone who is still opposed) and want to get into online gambling.

  • http://wisehandpoker.com scott diamond

    I saw Jeff Madsen reading Forbes Magazine during a break at Borgata! :)

    With California trying to allow on-line gambling to reduce the State Budget deficit by taxing those of us who would play, as well as the site itself, it could set some ground work for the USA.

    Some say it could bring in as much as 800 million dollars annually to California. What they are working on right now is regulation and licensing issues.

    The good thing here California is seriously considering this and if successful how many other States will follow?

  • http://www.JohnnyHughes.com Johnny Hughes

    If they get weed and poker, I’m moving to California “where they sleep out every night.”

  • http://jasonkirk.net/blog Spaceman

    I second Johnny.

  • DanM

    guys, you do realize that california has virtually legal pot and poker already?

  • http://wisehandpoker.com scott diamond

    The poker is legal in card rooms and Indian Casino’s …The pot is legal under California Law but not Federal Law and this has caused problems for some of those businesses popping up who sell the medical marijuana.

    Local Law Enforcement does not mess with them, the DEA does though.

  • DanM

    not to make it all about pot, officer friendly, but i thought the feds stopped going after them. and the users there haven’t had their bank funds frozen like online poker players have.

  • http://jasonkirk.net/blog Spaceman

    Dan, the feds have stopped going after them…unless they decide to go after them.

    1. As recently as last September, long after AG Eric Holder’s promise otherwise, they were still cooperating on dispensary raids in California. (http://www.canorml.org/news/SDRaids.html)
    2. In October the DEA released a statement that said it “will continue to identify and investigate any criminal organization or individual who unlawfully grows, markets or distributes marijuana or other dangerous drugs.” With the conflicts between state and federal law still unresolved, this means in practice that the DEA will continue to pursue the same line as it always has. (http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr102209.html)
    3. Also, the newly appointed DEA Administrator is a career anti-pot crusader. (http://reason.com/blog/2010/01/26/meet-the-new-dea-administrator)

    The difference between “virtually legal” and “actually legal” is still a pretty big one.

  • Brian G.

    Al Qaeda went bankrupt playing online poker in the caves. They couldn’t lay off 7-2.

  • DanM

    i figured you were gonna tell us what a liberal rag Forbes was, BG.

  • Brian G.

    Dan, obviously you did not get the joke. 72 virgins for marytrdom….never mind