It was the King-Meeks amendment that assured the league the bill would exclude sports betting. One key supporters of this measure was John Campbell, a decidedly right-wing Republican from California who, incidentally, wrote the amendment that calls for a “blacklist” of “unlawful internet gambling enterprises”.

Photo special for Pokerati © James Berglie / BePhotography

Rep. John Campbell supports the rights of Americans to gamble online, so long as they can’t bet on football.

The effort to remove sports betting gives insight into the process of converting undecideds into supporters, as seen in the video below. Just a week earlier, Campbell had told the House Financial Services Committee, “You know I don’t gamble, and I don’t particularly like it; but freedom is not about legislating what I like to do and making illegal what I don’t.”

But as it became clear during markup that the NFL would be getting what they wanted and sports bettors would not, Barney Frank, who believes all forms of online gambling deserve the consumer protections HR 2267 advocates, couldn’t resist posing a somewhat humorous, if not uncomfortable question to his colleague from across the aisle:

With both the Campbell and King-Meeks amendments passing by voice vote, later that day Campbell signed on as the 70th cosponsor (and fourth Republican) willing to align themselves with online gambling.

According to PokerNews, an NFL representative cites the King-Meeks amendment to HR 2267 as reason for the reversal: “We don’t oppose it since it now includes the language we had hoped for. The amended language adequately addressed our specific concern. We are pleased with the outcome.”

The amendment of note, introduced by HR 2267 co-sponsor Peter King (R-NY) excludes sports-betting from potentially regulated internet gambling. Rep. John Campbell (R-CA), the bill’s newest co-sponsor, also gave support to this amendment.

A new-ish device, “eDeck”, lets you gamble Blackberry/iPhone-style theoretically from anywhere, but currently within the confines of three Las Vegas casinos — the Venetian, Palazzo, and M Resort. Global Gaming Business Magazine named it Best Table Game Product or Innovation for 2009. And none other than Doyle Brunson has been pimping it:

This ad has been airing in Las Vegas for the past couple months — on NBC during Poker After Dark, and on Fox during Sunday NFL games.

The product itself — developed by Cantor Gaming, a division of global financiers Cantor Fitzgerald — has more to do with blackjack and sports betting than it does poker. And Lagasse’s Stadium seems the perfect place to enjoy what it has to offer: Not only can you bet sports parlays while lounging on leather couches in front of monster flat-screens, but also it has “in-game betting” … meaning you can hedge losses, compound wins, or descend into a downward spiral toward broke-dom by betting on things like who’s gonna score next, and whether or not a team will make a field goal.

Awesome — and I don’t even bet sports! But what really got me when I first saw this ad is what it suggests about the future of gambling in terms of handheld technology, business relationships, and legal jurisdictions.

Seriously, did we ever expect to see:

A) A poker commercial without an online poker room anywhere near it.
B) Doyle Brunson as a marketable commodity outside of poker.
C) An ad airing during an NFL game that closes with the tagline, “a complete casino in the palm of your hand.”

Especially C!

Cantor has been working on the eDeck (branded “PocketCasino” at Venetian properties) for years. I first took note during my Thrillist days, when they were running trials and waiting on regulatory approval. Now, in addition to the comfort-fun at Palazzo, you can do your sports-betting without missing a blind at the Venetian poker room.

From a legal perspective … all this online betting and money-transfer is now totally allowable in the United States Nevada (at least for Cantor), so long as it stays within the confines of a (licensed) casino.

Seeing things that way, and thinking of states like California and Kentucky who want to regulate online gambling within their borders, you realize that the big issue in everything online gambling that will Congress may or may not debate in 2010 is really a matter of where do you draw the lines — not morally, but geographically — of where people can engage in recreational vice.

Here’s something similar, a simple iPhone app in England, where they are willing to let the transmission of data and money be “free” throughout the country:

click for more Darvin

We’ll see if we can’t find out what sorta deal is in place there if any, or if this is just a friendly gesture to the card room where he won his seat into the WSOP. Regardless though, it does make you wonder why sponsorships from the likes of The Venetian, Caesar’s, Bellagio, and other B&M card rooms have yet to come in play.

Beyond being the alligator on Darvin Moon’s Izod, here’s what we do know about the place, via the ThePokerAtlas:

Great Room
Wheeling Island
Wheeling, West Virginia
by fiftyouts

Even though this room has only 20 some tables it is very nice. Great staff and friendly folks. This is a “MUST PLAY” room if you’re in the area. The casino is upscale (you might think you’re in Vegas) with good action. This is the ‘Best Kept Secret’ of West Virginia !!!

photos: IMPD for WSOP.com

UPDATE: A Dallas Cowboys scratch-off also went on sale last week.

In Massachusetts, Patriots lottery tickets are selling at a record pace, and have already awarded their first two million-dollar prizes. Wanna be a little disgusted by one of the poker industry’s biggest political opponents … check out the familiar pitch the NFL itself is using in promoting their rake game:

New England Patriots, the newest $5 instant game, is a partnership between the perennial NFL powerhouse and the Massachusetts State Lottery. Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill and Robert Kraft, Chairman and CEO of The Kraft Group, announced the historic partnership last week at Gillette Stadium.

“Our winning partnership with the Patriots will enable us to raise millions for taxpayers while strengthening the Lottery’s portfolio and market presence,” said Treasurer Cahill, chairman of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission. “This is a perfect example of doing well by doing good.”

[...]

Derrick Gorman, a Plymouth factory plant manager, had the choice between moving his wife and four kids to Illinois with his company or going on unemployment. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he scratched his $1 million ticket after putting his kids to bed on Tuesday night.

“I really didn’t want to relocate the family to Illinois. My wallet told me to go, but my gut told me to stay,” Gorman said. “I just got off the phone with my boss and told him that we wouldn’t be going. We own our house and I’ve lived here all my life. This is a huge relief for my family. This is once in a lifetime.”

The New England Patriots instant ticket is expected to generate more than $151 million in sales, reward players with more than $116 million in prizes and raise $22 million in local aid.

That’s right football fans … if you’re at your bottom dollar, make sure you spend it on NFL lottery tickets! The more you buy, the more chances you have to win!

How’s this playing in the sports media:

I’ll go ahead and argue this is all good, actually, because the more gambling the better! because it weakens the NFL’s political arms’ position in Washington DC. And don’t totally hate on the NFL quite yet those goddamn motherfuckin hypocritical buzz-killing asshole moralist greedmongers … the Menedez senate bill suggests they might be willing to soften their anti-poker stance (so long as we keep sports betting out of it) … and they theoretically can support the idea of raising tax revenues via card games for a good cause.

Meanwhile, the NFL — partnered with the NBA, NHL, and MLB (but not MLS!) — is headed to a federal appeals court this week, seeking an injunction to stop sports betting in Delaware from kicking off on September 1st, until the matter receives a full hearing in December … you know, the same time the UIGEA is supposed to really go into effect, stopping online poker play while allowing people to buy lottery tickets and bet on fantasy sports online.

We cover industry news from France to the United States, as professional sports leagues & governments have a dramatic affect on gambling. The NFL joining with others to sue the state of Delaware? Plus, an announcement about Bodog.

Why has the well respected online casino, Intertops, parted company with the worlds largest online gaming software provider, Microgaming? Find out why, and see what Harrah’s Entertainment and the National Football League are up to!

In fact … check this out … you have very major teams across the pond (and a few minor ones) that have direct links and betting pages on their official sites. The Spurs, for example, are supposedly working with their sponsor Mansion to develop a Tottenham skin, and already host weekly freerolls for game tickets.

The people making money off Peyton Manning jerseys hate online poker; meanwhile the other kind of football teams proudly support it — or are being supported by it.

Now you know I’m not much of a boycotter — really, I generally think they’re stupid and ineffective — but it does occur to irk me how much “free advertising” poker players give NFL teams by wearing their jerseys. Considering that American football gives nothing back to poker, and in fact subtracts from it … maybe it might be time for poker players to hang up their lucky Tony Romo jerseys, ya know? Just sayin’ … all it takes is watching a little soccer to realize how wearing any NFL promotion at the WSOP wouldn’t be too different from wearing a Bill Frist or Jim Leach campaign button un-ironically.

The NFL, unsurprisingly, filed a brief with the Delaware Supreme Court against the bill. Their reasoning for blocking the bill is surprising; because they state that sports betting is a game of skill, while Delaware state law states that only games of chance are allowed. Could they be unknowingly opening the door to allow all sorts of gambling on games of skill, such as poker?

Eric Pfanner of the New York Times writes about the chance for legal online gaming in the U.S. here.

Frederic Frommer pits poker players against the NFL in this Chicago Sun-Times article.

The pressure – and the press – is on.

The NFL has promised to fight any effort by Rep. Barney Frank to push legislation that legalizes online gaming. With a lobbyist, an office in D.C., and a PAC donation committee in place, the NFL is ready to fight online gaming with the help of the Christian Coalition and Rep. Harry Reid of Nevada. Wait…What? Reid on the same side of this fight as Bob Goodlatte? Yessirreee.

Well, one NFL fan in particular sees the ridiculousness of it all. Dan Boone, of Bleacher Report:

The NFL, always a bright beacon of morals in a blighted land, has decided to self-righteously step into the public morals debate. The NFL does not want a bill allowing online gambling, that is a current bill legalizing poker, to pass.

The NFL behemoth is so against people playing online poker that they have hired a high priced Washington Lobbyist, opened a DC office, and set up a PAC Donation committee to help its noble cause.

So that’s where ticket increase money goes. That’s why the stadium beers are nine bucks and the exhibition games are full priced flops. Perhaps that explains the PSL’s. The league needs just craves some spare change to pay some politicos for favors.

Read the rest of “NFL Declares War on Poker” here.

Poker Players Alliance Chairman Alfonse D’Amato first put his thoughts into an article for The Hill with regard to the bipartisan support that has been building for this effort. Shortly thereafter, the Associated Press reported that the PPA has allocated $3 million for lobbying Congress during this upcoming session. (More details can be found in my article on the Bluff Magazine website.)

Sure, the NFL and other opposing groups may have stacks big enough to call that raise, but the PPA might just have the best hand in the end. Still early in the game…

In one of the most unique episodes of Perspectives Weekly ever, we discuss major industry news as former Bet on Sports CEO David Carruthers enters a plea in St. Louis. Plus, we follow-up on Party Gaming’s deal with the US Department of Justice, and the National Footbal League’s takes a strategic aim at our industry.

You may recall a post a while back about the heated non-poker competition in the Michalski family, where I was proving my prowess as a no-spread football picker. Of course in the week right after that post, I totally tanked — dropping dramatically on the family leaderboard and several percentage points nationwide.

But as in poker and life, you’ve gotta play 60 minutes of football! … And with that (as well as the knowledge that I probably shouldn’t post about my non-poker greatness) I clawed my way back to the top. With a last-minute switch to the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday, my end results for the 2008 NFL season:

Nationwide: 277th out of 145,498
For people playing through the LVRJ: 33rd out of 9,727
Michalski family: Tied for 1st out of 13

Total winners picked: 176 out of 266 (66 %)

So clearly, I need to develop a sports-betting habit in 2009 to make up for all my rivers that don’t hit in poker.

From the International Business Times:

Bush Administration Moves Forward on Midnight Rulemaking to Force Banks to Ban Internet Gambling

NFL Lobbyist Turned Political Appointee Accused of Improper Involvement in Rush to Issue Regulations

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Bush Administration is working to finalize regulations to enforce a ban on Internet gambling despite concerns raised by leading financial service companies that the regulations are ambiguous, burdensome and not likely to stop millions of Americans from gambling online. It is expected that the regulations, issued to implement the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), will be finalized at the last minute before they can be stopped by the Obama Administration – an orchestrated move being linked to a former National Football League (NFL) lobbyist now working in the Bush Administration. The NFL has actively campaigned against clarifying UIGEA and has opposed legislation introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to regulate online gambling in order to protect consumers and generate billions for critical State and Federal programs.

“At a time when the financial system is in crisis, it is irresponsible for the Bush Administration to rush through a fundamentally flawed regulation that even representatives of the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve have stated on record is unworkable,” said Jeffrey Sandman, spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. “We are skeptical of the Administration’s motivation to get this done at the very last minute, especially given the apparent involvement of a NFL lobbyist turned Bush appointee.”

Last week, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) asked White House Counsel Fred Fielding to detail what role Deputy Director of Public Liaison William Wichterman played in the Treasury Department’s decision to send the proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget for final review on October 20. In a November 7 letter to Mr. Fielding, Rep. Cohen said he had been told that Mr. Wichterman “has been a source of considerable political pressure to speed this regulation through.” The letter further stated, “The National Football League has been among the most vocal advocates for the proposed rule and the underlying law. I am sure you will agree that, at a minimum, the appearance of a conflict of interest is undeniable.”

As recently as March 2008, Mr. Wichterman was a paid lobbyist for the NFL, which has been a strong opponent of all forms of Internet gambling except for fantasy sports – an activity that generates more than $1 billion a year in revenues. Mr. Wichterman recently left the law firm of Covington and Burling, which represents the NFL, to serve as a political appointee in the few remaining months of the Bush Administration.

Movement on UIGEA comes despite a commitment by the Bush Administration not to issue final regulations after November 1, 2008 except in “extraordinary circumstances.” A delay in issuance of the final regulations was also expected given the September passage of the Payment System Protection Act by the House Financial Services Committee. The legislation would have delayed UIGEA implementation in order to develop regulations that do not harm the payments system.

“The Bush Administration is setting a horrible precedent of pushing through flawed regulations at the very last minute to deliberately circumvent the in-coming administration,” added Sandman. “The special interests, including the NFL, are clearly the big winners with this last minute maneuver, leaving already struggling banks and financial companies to implement costly and poorly crafted regulations.”

A fundamental flaw in the proposed regulations to enforce UIGEA is that they leave U.S. financial service companies to interpret ambiguous State and Federal gambling laws, which do not clearly differentiate between legal and illegal Internet gambling activities or transactions, according to a report issued by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness.

Representatives of the Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve System acknowledged the challenges U.S. financial institutions will face in attempting to comply with UIGEA in testimony before Congress in April. Since most payment systems are not designed to comply with this law, “it will be very difficult to shut off payment systems for use of Internet gambling transactions,” said Ms. Louise Roseman, Director, Division of Federal Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. “The implementing statute will not be iron clad at all.”

At the April hearing, representatives from the American Bankers Association, Financial Services Roundtable, Wells Fargo & Co. and Credit Union National Association unanimously opposed regulations proposed to implement UIGEA. They all questioned the fundamental approach taken by Congress in enacting legislation that forces financial institutions to implement unreasonable and costly solutions to achieve compliance.

“The UIGEA and the Proposed Rule do not provide a rational path towards halting unlawful Internet gambling,” said Wayne Abernathy, American Bankers Association’s executive vice president of financial institutions policy and regulatory affairs. “The path leads to an increased cost and administrative burden to the banks and an erosion in the performance of the payments system, but it will not result in stopping illegal Internet gambling transactions. Imposing this enormous unfunded law enforcement mandate on banks in place of the government’s law enforcement agencies is not likely to be a successful public policy.”

Mr. Leigh Williams, president of the technology division of the Financial Services Roundtable stated in his testimony concerns that enforcement of the proposed rules “could impose significant compliance burdens on financial institutions by increasing their role in policing illegal activities, determining whether a transaction is illegal, or by imposing ambiguous compliance requirements that could be subject to wide variations in interpretation by regulators and law enforcement agencies. We believe these functions are more appropriate for law enforcement agencies.”

The testimony supports over 200 comments submitted to the Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve System on the burden and ambiguity in the proposed rules to implement UIGEA.

“The reality is that UIGEA is unclear, burdensome and doomed to fail,” said Sandman. “It simply does not make sense to impose more costs and burdens on financial companies, while the activity they are expected to stop flourishes in an unregulated, uncontrolled and underground marketplace. Congress should look to regulate Internet gambling in order to protect consumers and collect billions of dollars that are being lost to offshore Internet gambling operators.”

The Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007 (H.R. 2046), introduced by Rep. Frank, would establish an enforcement framework for licensed gambling operators to accept bets and wagers from individuals in the U.S. It includes a number of built-in consumer protections, including safeguards against compulsive and underage gambling, money laundering, fraud and identity theft. A companion piece of legislation that would ensure the collection of taxes on regulated Internet gambling activities, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2008 (H.R. 5523) was introduced by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA). According to a tax revenue analysis prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers, taxation of regulated Internet gambling is expected to generate between $8.7 billion to $42.8 billion in federal revenues over its first 10 years.

I play in a little free NFL pick’em league with my family each year — hosted online by the Las Vegas Review Journal with 7-Eleven gift certificates and Fatheads for prizes — and this year, seven weeks into the season, I’m kinda kicking butt.

Having correctly picked 71 of 102 winners, I’m in the top 1 percent: 21st out of 9,379 in Las Vegas, and 155th out of 131,525 nationwide.

Among the 13 people in the Michalski group, I am in first place. While I’m proud of that, you should realize that competition includes my 1-year-old nephew who always picks teams named after animals, Uncle Ray who writes in “Ditka” for every pick, and my cousin-in-law Phil the Filmmaker:

There’s also a cool little “Survivor” sidegame, where you have to pick one team that will be a certain winner each week — you get to use each team once. I’m still alive in that, too … 400 of us are in LV, and about 3,400 nationwide. I think winning that comes with some real prizes actually … man, if/when I go out in that, I know I’ll be feeling some serious withdrawal.

OK, sorry, back to poker …

Hmm. Seems like a smart move — grab all the poker dorks viewers at once, on a day where they’re likely camped out in front of a TV somewhere … and if they happen not to really care about the Sunday night NFL game … golden.

Only semi-related, was previously watching some election coverage and can’t help but wonder if the best of what McCain/Palin are offering is simply a matter of too-little-too-late.