An article by Howard Stutz at the Las Vegas Review-Journal states that the Nevada Gambling Control Board is considering establishing a set of guidelines between casinos and the .net section of online poker sites, which could lead to widespread changes into how poker tournaments are run in Nevada. In 2007, Harrah’s established a series of rules that prevented online poker sites that took US customers from registering their satellite winners directly into the World Series of Poker. Those sites were also prohibited from having their players promote .com sites, while they were allowed to promote their “poker school”, with a .net suffix.

When these guidelines will be finalized is unknown, they could have a huge effect on the World Series of Poker, North American Poker Tour, and televised poker programming such as Face the Ace and Poker After Dark if .net sites were also not allowed.

We saw it coming … Iowa is following in the footsteps of California, Florida, and Italy, pushing a measure to legalize intrastate online gambling. Poker, of course, included.

@BigRussPoker was unavailable for comment on whether or not he would be considering a move should the measure make it to law. But it’s an interesting concept, if this intrastate thing starts to take hold and spread … might you see some old-fashioned rounders traversing the country looking for the best action?

Even though I’ve gotten hooked on two-minute video interviews and have kinda taken a personal change-of-interest-pace and started paying attention to actual tournaments … big names are starting to win at the LAPC, WSOP-Circuit Tunica is kicking it old school, everyone wants to know how the Venetian Deep Stacks is gonna shape up with PokerStars heading to town, and I really gotta make it over to the M Resort to check out this whole PartyPoker Premier League thing … I still tune in almost-weekly to APCW Perspectives Weekly for a little catch-up on the international poker and online-gambling-related political scene for 10 minutes at a pop:

This week J Todd keeps us abreast of California and New Jersey’ desires to get in on the online gambling game from a state-size perspective, updates us on the online gambling fund-transfer cat-and-mouse game with MasterCard and Visa getting more serious (just three months before they are legally required to do exactly what they are trying to do), fingers the Eldorado Casino as a potentially shady site to avoid, and tease me with some affiliate business stuff that I don’t really care about but am interested to watch because of the hidden-camera + foreign-accent nature of the upcoming interview.

Here are a few other semi-related newsy links about how things are going elsewhere in the poker world:

The Mayor of Baltimore is pushing for poker+table games despite the governor of Maryland having less of an interest in making expanded gambling a priority.

Michael Barnier, the newly appointed EU Internal Markets Commissioner, promises to straighten out inconsistencies in European online gambling laws.

Police in suburban Alabama are cracking down on / raiding the real-money tournament scene there.

A report from CTV in Canada is reporting that Loto Quebec has received approval from the province’s Cabinet to allow online gambling, including poker. The Quebec site, expected to launch in fall 2010, would be restricted to residents of Quebec, but they would be able to play with players from the BC lottery and the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, which handles the lotteries of the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island in offering a common platform for the players in the six provinces, similar to what the government of Sweden offers with the Svenka Spel site, which offers legalized online gambling to its residents.

It really is amazing, when you think about it, that 10s of millions of people worldwide are competing in games (whether they be sports or shoot-em-ups) on XBox Live, and they’re doing it for no money!

But with Sega opening up a real-money poker room (and casino), you gotta wonder if the likes of Microsoft wouldn’t try to get in on the real-money gaming/gambling action if the UIGEA were suddenly to go away. ** (You also gotta wonder how the guy in the picture even saw the flop. Can you imagine how soft these Xbox games must be?!)

I don’t mean to overstate anything here — because poker is just a game, after all, that we know plenty of people enjoy playing for free.net — but the new Hoyle Texas Hold’em for Xbox Live leaves you wondering if they aren’t preparing themselves for a future where they stand to make more than $10 per download.

And looking at the key features of this new release …

Gamers can play as their Microsoft Avatar.
* Single player games against up to 9 AI players.
* Mixed Multiplayer games with any combination of up to 9 AI and/or human players.
* Fully customizable games let the player decide game type, table minimums, mix of AI vs. human players and much more.
* Ability to reserve seats for private custom games.
* Deep statistic tracking covers over 50 key stats categories found to be the most important to professional poker players.

You gotta wonder if any new players stepping onto the online poker landscape might not have a different outlook on things like bots and datamining than current industry leaders.

** The makers of Hoyle Texas Hold’em have slot machine games, and handheld iPhone versions, too.

ALT HED: Hoyle Sounds a Lot like Doyle

Sonic the Hedge-bettor.

More new players trying to get in on the online poker game … SEGA, the what-happened-to-them video gaming pioneer just opened its interactive online gaming/gambling sites … SegaCasino and SegaPoker … with more TK in 2010 they say.

At least we think the sites are live. With players from the US and Japan forbidden to play, I get a 403-Forbidden error when trying to access SegaPoker.com.

A clip from the CNBC program:

And here’s the CNBC press release:

CNBC Original Reported by CNBC’s Melissa Francis to Premiere on Wednesday, December 16th at 9PM ET/PT on CNBC

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., December 10, 2009-Beyond the Las Vegas strip there’s a thriving underworld of illegal gambling. It’s a multi-billion dollar business and millions of Americans are in on the action…

On Wednesday, December 16th at 9PM ET/PT, CNBC presents “CNBC Investigates: The Big Business of Illegal Gambling,” a CNBC Original reported by CNBC’s Melissa Francis that takes viewers inside this high-stakes business that brings some people immense wealth, while others pay the ultimate price.

More…

More kids and poker, man … it was gonna be an issue anyhow, and Joe Cada’s WSOP win maybe made it even more so. I got an email from a student at Rollins University who’s doing a paper for his English Composition class on something that has indeed become if not a hot topic, a warmer than usual one on college campuses across the U.S.

Below are the questions Tyler in Winter Park, FL, sent me. While #1 is probably the hardest to answer — and ahh, the memories brought back by #2 — I think it’s interesting to see where his thinking is coming from … how the internet is obviously part of the issue, but not nearly all of it … and in general, the starting perception that gambling is a “problem”.

Questions

1.What is your profession?
2. Did you gamble in college?
3.How do you feel college administrations should address this problem? Do we need more awareness or intervention programs on campus?
4.Do you think this is a serious/risky problem for college students today? Why? Does the internet play a major role?
5. Can you comment on these areas of my argument
-Gambling can lead to addiction (colleges already educate on alcohol and drug addiction)
-Gambling can lead to risky behavior (financial problems, crime etc)
-Gambling can negatively affect academic progress

Finally, someone asked President Barack Obama semi-directly about gambling legalization. The college-student questioner didn’t specify online gambling, and he lumped us in with drugs, prostitution, and other non-violent crime with revenue generating potential.

But it does give a little insight suggesting that we probably shouldn’t expect President O to wholeheartedly support the efforts of Barney Frank et al.

ALT HED 1: Come on, Flip-Flop!
ALT HED 2: Is that Isildur?

Free Pokerati T-shirt to anyone (college student or otherwise) who can get an on-the-record audience with the Prez and can ask essentially the same question, but being a little more specific about “online gambling”. Throw a few government stats in there, too, and phrase it in a way that allows less generic wiggle room.

(Or not. Maybe now we know we don’t want Obama getting involved in our issue?)

In case you missed it … an LA Times business columnist (different than the guy who did the Matt Savage piece) brought “our issue”™ to the non-poker fore the week before last:

Calling America’s bluff on Internet gambling
The U.S. approach to Internet gambling, which is legal in much of the rest of the world, is absurd. The activity is unstoppable, so let’s regulate it.

Writer Michael Hiltzik lays it out pretty good — right down to who has what interest in the billions of dollars at stake, the historic political principals in play, and the impracticalities associated with the unregulated, semi-legal status quo. Gotta like the quasi-wholesome, subconscious message the picture sends, too — seeing online poker positioned with Starbucks (manageable addiction) and golf balls (recreational pursuit).

While “our issue” hasn’t fully arrived until Glenn Beck starts chalking up a connection between Ace-Queen and Al Qaeda … this kinda ink does help the poker industry’s efforts to win hearts and minds of Americans who will give five seconds of thought to the matter or more revenue via safer+better online gambling/poker.

Freshman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) fears online gambling, but hopes his TV show does as well as 2 Months 2 Million.

I’m not sure how much we’re supposed to be sayin’ about this … it seems like a major change in online-gambling law could still be in play in 2009 … but if so, our peeps in DC may be trying to keep it all on the downlow. At least that’s what a staunchly anti-gambling Republican in Utah is trying to suggest.

“I’m raising the red flag,” Chaffetz told the Deseret News on Wednesday. “I feel the imperative to get this organized before it is too late.”

Rep. Jason Chaffetz is speaking to his constituents sounding the warning bells that the billions and billions from online gambling that government just may not be able to say no to could dramatically alter everyone’s way of life. And he doesn’t just mean the positive stuff that we see from being able to play in safe and secure US-based games …

Chaffetz says a chance meeting he had with Frank makes him worry that unlike similar past efforts that went nowhere, Frank is deadly serious about legalizing online gambling this year, and it could come up quickly without much time to organize opposition.

“I saw him in the airport in Salt Lake a number of weeks ago,” Chaffetz said. “I said, ‘Barney, what are you doing here in Salt Lake?’ He was traveling back from Las Vegas, which led to our discussion about his Internet gambling bills.”

Chaffetz said, “He assured me that come this fall, he would be getting these bills through his committee, and I believe him … He may be bluffing, but we can’t afford to take that chance.”

[...]

“This has an unfortunate and real potential of happening,” he said. “This is a big deal. I can’t impress upon you how big of a deal this is.”

Wow. Cool. Awesome. We know we have public support for “our issue” and in general our facts fall on the right side of the law … so I gotta think we only stand to benefit if a guy like Chaffetz is using Frank’s efforts to rally his own base in preparation for 2010 … because really, isn’t that his game here?

Link props: @TheEngineer2008.

UPDATE: Chaffetz is on Twitter, too, as @JasonintheHouse. And he’s also star of a new reality series on CNN called “Freshman Year”.

It is TV ratings season … and mainstream media folks tend to figure a few times a year that gambling stories are “sexy”.

I kinda thought interest in pushing through the Barney Frank bill (in 2009 at least) had waned … but the Wall Street Journal has an article on the tens of billions available to US coffers by lifting the perceived (if not ill-conceived) online gambling ban, theoretically keeping “our issue” on the table:

Bill Lifting US Online Gambling Ban Seen Raising $42B In Rev

More…

People may not realize this … because we have gotten along just fine even with the UIGEA for more than three years now … but December 1st is something of a D-Day for online poker. If no bill or procedural measure undoes the status quo in the next six weeks … well it’s not clear how the game will change, but it will. Dramatically.

That’s why the PPA has partnered with many groups to get this enforcement deadline extended — including the horse racing people, who should LOVE the UIGEA, since it specifically singles them out as A-OK. But even they know the law itself, as it was passed in 2006, is whack … and potentially will mess up their business big-time.

The PPA’s John Pappas gives a brief explanation:

More on BetonSports honcho David Carruthers’ surprising change of plea (in the UK press). Carruthers, of course, was the executive arrested in Dallas in 2006 — where the American government stepped up the level of their online gambling crackdown, showing the intent of not just confiscating hundreds of millions of dollars at a time, but also putting a new breed of white-collar criminal in prison.

We have two major news stories in online gambling. The first is that former BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers has withdrawn his guilty plea in Missouri. And the second is the closing of Pitbull Poker, with rumors of criminal activity and arrests in Costa Rica. Those stories and other industry news.

The idea of using online gaming tax revenues to help fund elements of health care reform became part of the Congressional conversation this weekend. On Saturday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a possible amendment to the Baucus bill (America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009) that would rely on the passage of Rep. Barney Frank’s HR 2267 to set up a regulatory structure that would provide health care revenue.

According to the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, the tens of billions of dollars collected by the U.S. government from online gaming could offset health care costs going forward:

An increased focus on the benefits of Internet gambling regulation are expected as the Senate Finance Committee considers a proposal introduced on Saturday to use Internet gambling revenue to offset the costs of health care reform. The amendment offered by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) would dedicate Internet gambling tax revenue generated through implementation of the currently pending Internet Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2267) to increase low-income subsidies provided through the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. A PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis shows that collecting taxes on regulated Internet gambling would allow the U.S. to capture up to $62.7 billion over the next decade.

Wyden is a chairman of the Senate Finance subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness.

The Feds have made another grab at money in US banks that at some point passed through online gambling and/or poker sites — seizing three more accounts held by payment processors with claims that the undisclosed sums in them are “forfeitable”.

This time it was the Maryland district going after accounts in California belonging to HMD, Inc.

In late July, Maryland-based federal authorities seized six other bank accounts from Electracash, Inc., also a payment processor alleged to be involved in laundering “proceeds of an illegal gambling business”.

Click here for a little more detail in the Baltimore City Paper, along with the latest seizure warrants.

In all these cases, the US District Court in Maryland has kept investigators’ affidavits calling for the warrants under seal. The New York Southern District handled their June payment processor seizures the same way, until the folks behind Gambling911 filed a motion that forced the courts to unseal them (with redactions).

A year ago, Maryland authorities charged (but did not arrest) two men — Edward Courdy and Michael Garone — with money laundering connected to $24 million seized from various bank accounts during an ongoing investigation of Bodog. The charges against Garone and Courdy stem from two specific transactions they allegedly facilitated — one from Germany to Georgia (for $1.5 million), the other from Dublin to Nevada (for $2.4 million).

G911 claims the most recent payment processor seizures involve online gambling and operations other than Bodog.

Mark it on your calendars (or just check back here) around October 22. The case of the Governor Beshear and the Commonwealth of Kentucky trying to claim the ability to seize 141 online gaming domains, or “gambling devices” as they were called, to keep them from accessing Kentucky residents will see the halls of the KY Supreme Court next month on an appeal from the Commonwealth.

Many months ago, a group of organizations representing internet freedoms and the rights of online gambling companies won an important appeal in the Kentucky court system, and that victory prohibited the Commonwealth from proceeding with its attempted seizure of those domains. The state promised to appeal to the Supreme Court, and that latest appeal was granted this month. Those fighting the state on the matter include iMEGA (Internet Media Entertainment & Gaming Association), PPA (Poker Players Alliance), ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), CDT (Center for Democracy and Technology, EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), Internet Commerce Association, eBay, and Network Solutions. (Can we win on number of appellees alone?)

According to iMEGA’s announcement:

The Supreme Court has set oral argument in Commonwealth of Kentucky v. IMEGA, et al for 11 a.m. on Thursday October 22, 2009 in the Supreme Court courtroom. The order allots 15 minutes for each side.

“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time, and we’re going to win again,” said Joe Brennan Jr., iMEGA’s chairman. “From the beginning, Kentucky law has clearly supported our position, and a win in the State Supreme Court will put the final emphasis on that.”

It was no secret that Harrah’s Entertainment planned to enter the online gaming business, especially after hiring former PartyGaming bigwig Mitch Garber as the CEO of its new Interactive Entertainment division in May of this year. But the next big step was announced today.

Gaming Intelligence reported that Harrah’s signed a deal with Dragonfish, a subsidiary of online giant 888, to support Harrah’s entry into the online market with the World Series of Poker and Caesars Casino.

“This is a ground breaking deal for 888 and demonstrates our ability to provide real value to globally renowned, land-based casinos and their leading brands,” said Gigi Levy, Chief Executive Officer of 888.

“We have the structure in place to realise our B2B division’s full potential over the next 18 months and beyond and today’s announcement of our partnership with an industry giant is further vindication of this strategy.”

Mitch Garber, CEO of Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment, added: “As we develop and roll out our interactive strategy, we have chosen to work with 888, primarily for their world-class technology, scalability, and a strong commitment to compliance, and responsible gaming,” said Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer of HIE.

No specific time frame was given for the official launch.

Funny, here in the USA we’re screaming, “tax us! tax us, dammnit! for all in the name of freedom!” Elsewhere around the world they’re saying, yeah, we should tax … which has some companies considering new homes.

Costa Rica plans to officially introduce a bill this week that has been brewing for a few months to tax and regulate the many online gambling entities with operations there. The assertion is that a 2 percent tax would generate $100 million in revenue. There also was talk of a 1 percent tax on the end users, though it’s not clear if that provision is included in the legislation.

(Does anyone notice how much faster bills seem to move through Congress in Latin American countries?)

An estimated 300-some online gambling purveyors make at least one home in Costa Rica, though some might consider moves to Panama should the new tax pass. Several, such as Bodog, have already moved to Antigua, the UK, and elsewhere.

More…

Funny … as Brazil accelerates efforts to ban online poker+gambling, Argentina is going completely the other way — looking to legally regulate it. And in a hurry, no less …

From Dow Jones via NASDAQ:

The Argentine government is working on plans to allow online gambling throughout the country, presidential Cabinet Chief Anibal Fernandez said Wednesday.

“We’re working so that this will become law within two or three months,” Fernandez said, adding that it could take notably longer and possibly up to two years.

Fernandez said the main aim behind the project is to combat illicit gambling that’s already occurring.

Wow, just a year ago Argentina was looking to ban online gambling — looking to force ISPs to block citizen access, threatening jail time for offenders, and shutting down a site run out of Buenos Aires ( FormoApuestas.com.ar ). So why the change of heart? Common sense, and money of course. But supposedly also soccer.

In what was a controversial Argentinean political issue this year, the government basically ran a hostile takeover of soccer broadcast rights from private cable operators (to the tune of $154 million) in an effort to bail out the AFA (their version of the NFL), which had several major clubs owing tons of back taxes and unable to pay their players. Though the government will neither confirm nor deny the connection, conventional wisdom south of the equator says that online gambling is what will bring in the revenue to pay for that.

Last November, Argentinean futbol got a taste of what the sites they want to regulate could bring to the table, when PokerStars (dot-net variety) — as part of its aggressive move into Latin America — signed on as a (very warmly received) sponsor for River Plate (pictured above).

A Brazilian UIGEA could seriously hurt their biggest national hero’s ability to bring in real-money players.

The Brazilian senate is soon to consider a bill modeled after the UIGEA — banning payments to and from online gambling sites. The original legislation was introduced 15 months ago, but more recently has grown some teeth. At President Lula de Silva’s behest, in an effort to move the bill forward and pass it before the end of 2010, the Senate has attached companion legislation that requires Brazilian ISPs to block access to prohibited sites, and calls for prison time for violations. Also attached to the bill now is a parallel ban on child pornography.

From GamblingCompliance:

More…

Apparently our good friends across the pond are a bit more optimistic about the notion of the US opening its online gambling market in 2010 than we are … and in preparation, the buzz around England is that Betfair — the British online poker-and-more company and title sponsor of WSOP-Europe — is getting serious about making an estimated £1.5 billion ($2.5 billion) initial public offering.

The intent would be to raise capital in preparation for all sorts of crazy consolidation and forthcoming acquisitions in the online gambling sector.

At least one Betfair exec dismisses the talk as little more than speculation, despite meetings with Credit Suisse and other banking advisors that have the European financial press getting their knickers in a bunch as “companies seek to position themselves to enter the world’s biggest gambling market.” Should the rumored floatation happen, it would be the first major listing on the London Stock Exchange since the global economic collapse.

$400k HORSE

At the same time, Betfair last week made another move toward American soil by pledging $400,000 to the New York (Horse) Racing Association as an overlay should two specific horses face off against each other in October at Belmont Park:

Rachel Alexandra, the first filly to win the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown since 1924, has won her last eight races. Zenyatta is undefeated in 12 career starts, including the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic.

LOL, I didn’t even realize they had ladies events in horse racing!

Across the Chunnel: Refashioning French Poker

Arnault.

Betfair also just got themselves approved to enter France’s online gambling market, which is set to open next year … apparently with some nice poker-friendly alterations to the rake. (The new French law originally had players paying tax on every bet and raise, on every street … which can totally screw with your pot-odds calculations!) Helping get Betfair to the front of the French licensing line, with a better rake structure no less? Heavy lobbying efforts from billionaire bling merchant Bernard Arnault, CEO of Louis Vuitton, 10 percent owner of Betfair, and the 15th richest person in the world.

New-and-improved Yahoo! Poker Coming Soon

We’re talking Yahoo! Uk & Ireland, of course, not Yahoo! USA. The British arm of the web behemoth just re-upped its partnership with GTech G2, for two years, to provide real-money gaming options — and part of that deal includes plans to unveil a fully downloadable real-money Yahoo! poker room, not just the (lame) in-browser version currently available.

Magazine Moguls Jump into Mobile Gambling

PartyGaming CEO Jim Ryan recently said that the biggest threat to established online gaming brands comes from major media outlets, not current competitors. And sure enough … Dennis Publishing — the mega-magazine company behind Maxim, MacUser, Computer Shopper, Bizarre, Men’s Fitness, and more than a dozen other publications (including PokerPlayer, Inside Poker Business, and Stacked) — just launched its Monkey Mobile Casino, offering real-money online gambling on handheld devices. (The current issue of Monkey, fwiw, features a picture of Lady Gaga’s recent nipple slip.

The Swedish Taxman Cometh

Meanwhile, the Swedish Tax Authority (Skatteverket) has been studying all forms of internet commerce tax evasion since 2007, and has concluded that online poker companies with offshore servers are one of their biggest sources of uncollected e-commerce taxes.

George Will and I rarely see eye to eye on anything (understatement), which is why I would never have seen this column had @TheEngineer2008 pointed it out on Twitter. But in his latest Washington Post column, Will stumps for the passage of pro-online poker legislation after what seems like a conversation with Howard Lederer.

The piece opines about the criminalization of online gambling, which imposes on personal freedoms. Keeping the government out of private homes used to be something that the conservative movement traditionally viewed as an important and core issue, and Will stays true to that belief with his recent article.

It is a poker skill to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. Congress probably should fold its interference with Internet gambling and certainly should get its 10 thumbs off Americans’ freedom to exercise their poker skills online.

Interesting, however, that he misses a key point when describing the threefold interest of Lederer in the issue…

First, his libertarian temperament — he lives in Las Vegas, where almost anything goes — is offended by mother-hen government. Second, he wants as many people as possible to have access to poker’s delights. Third, the more poker players there are, the larger will be the ranks of competitors, and the television audiences, for professional poker competitions. Hence the larger will be the potential winnings.

Full Tilt Poker, the cash cow of Lederer and others, stands to be one of the first sites to receive a license and legally cater to U.S. customers should the legislation pass. That doesn’t in any way discount his other reasons for pushing for the bills, but disclosing his part in FTP might be pertinent.

Interesting op-ed in the New York Times today about the WTO and China, particularly pointing out the need for China to not just stop pirating American music and movies, but also to respect WTO rulings outright:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/opinion/14fri2.html

China has also increasingly turned to the W.T.O. to defend its interests. Last month, it challenged an American ban on Chinese poultry imports. It has another case against American anti-dumping policy. And there will be more. China has as big a stake as the United States in a well-functioning, lawful trading system. If it wants to protect its own rights, it will accept the W.T.O.’s rulings.

Funny. You’d think in the world of trade, this might be a two-way street. Perhaps the NYT is just a bit clueless on the US’s thumbing its nose at the WTO as it pertains to online gambling? And considering that we owe China more than they owe us … who’s really in the driver’s seat on this one?

Ed. Note: Will be curious to see what gets more views — the latest episode of Perspectives Weekly or Face the Ace. LOL. -dm

Breaking News! A grand jury has just indicted an online gambling payment processor! Plus, a New Jersey Senator rolls out new poker legislation, and affiliate programs change their Terms & Conditions!

You can see how the debate over online poker regulation is getting more sophisticated. (And it makes a fun subplot during these times of health care debate.) While our side has effectively taken the argument away from our opponents about needing to protect children and potential addicts (and John Pappas’ TV skillz have gotten more polished), Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling is now claiming the online poker model is unsustainable because it relies on 10 percent losing players to profit. (I think Full Tilt and PokerStars would respectfully disagree.)

While the opposition argument may be one of those frustrating argghs from someone who clearly just doesn’t get it — poker profits are based on rake, not degenerates who can’t afford their next buy-in — you can see we are moving to that next necessary phase of poker enlightenment, which is separating poker from other forms of gambling.

We all know how difficult and complicated poker-related legislation can get/be in the United States … and we often look at Europe as providing a model of how things could and should be. However, things can actually get pretty complicated across the pond — different languages and all — and if anything, what we have to compare is how actively engaged so many different countries are in dealing with difficult online gambling legal matters … while we in the US seem much more content moving slowly as we figure out how we really will handle billions of dollars worth of online, multi-jurisdictional financial transactions in the 21st century … you know, in a way that doesn’t get the NFL’s fantasy panties in a wad.

Seriously, if it weren’t for the PPA — which we all know is a mere infant, toddler at best, amongst American political organizations — I’m not so sure we’d be moving at all on these matters … and the United States would be leaving it to the Europeans to establish frameworks for what ultimately will prove to be trillions of dollars worth of virtual finance in the future. That’s the undercurrent of why we’re all here in Washington DC right now … as much as we say, and many believe, it’s just about the freedom to bring more dead money into the game.

It’s a lot to chew on, I know. And while you may not have the inclination or scratch to lay down for Gambling Compliance’s new book on the online gambling situation in Europe, you can click here to read a 5-page summary of Market Barriers: An impartial and comprehensive evaluation of the current legal, regulatory and market landscape for online gambling in Europe:

An entirely new and independently researched 80,000 word survey, the report provides an impartial and comprehensive snapshot of the regulation of Europe’s online gambling sector – a market that the European Commission estimates to be worth US$10.1bn by 2010.

Detailed analysis of all 27 EU member states underlines how the proliferation of national level rules is steadily balkanising Europe’s gambling market and creating new conflicts and regulatory risks for operators:

Europe’s online gambling map is being redrawn with unprecedented speed. 19 of 27 member states across Europe are currently addressing online gambling through reform, while seven of these have made concrete plans to shift towards local licensing models.

Financial transaction (FT) and ISP blocking restrictions are gathering momentum. Since the introduction of payment blocking regulations in the United States in 2006, seven EU member states have introduced mechanisms for blocking online gambling, and a further eight jurisdictions are presently considering blocking measures as part of broader reform debates.

As the nature of European licensing changes, existing land-based casinos and national lottery monopolies are starting to move online while previously excluded private operators are entering markets as B2B service and payment providers.

A product of GamblingCompliance’s international legal research team, the report cites legislation, much of which is not available in English, and uses over 50 primary sources including exclusive consultation with regulators and legal experts on the ground in each jurisdiction.

Price costs £899 for non-subscribers and £799 for subscribers.

The American Government recently froze over $30 Million belonging to online poker players, and now a payment processor is fighting back! Plus, the British betting company Betfair prepares to bring legal online gambling to the US!

There’s a new company in the song (and video) downloading game — Zookz.com — and its entire business model is based on selling “pirated” copies of American songs and movies, as permitted by WTO sanctions against the United States for infringing on Antigua’s ability to compete in the online gambling industry.

Click below for the press release announcing Zookz’s existence. From what we understand, ZookZ offers a subscription-based model for unlimited monthly movie and music downloads. It is not pay-per-song like iTunes, nor a file-sharing “service” like LimeWire or BitTorrent. Members simply download stuff directly from Zookz’ servers in Antigua. Supposedly the new company operates within the parameters of the 2007 WTO ruling between Antigua and the United States, which allows them to break US copyright law to the tune of $21 million/year.

What’s not clear is if that means they can peddle $21 million worth of rights-protected bits, or run a business limited to $21 million in profit. Either way, I gotta think the ever-litigious RIAA won’t take lightly that much money being ganked from its artists. Could be wrong … we’ll see.

UPDATE: TechDirt, for a non-poker perspective.

More…

Editor’s Note: The previous week’s episode never made it up on Pokerati … but it should’ve — particularly as we enter into a summer-fall of political discourse on the plusses and minuses of online gambling regulation. Specifically, check out about 7 minutes in, where J Todd discusses how our good friends at Betfair were able to help protect the integrity of tennis by alerting authorities to a noticeably heavy bet-load on an obscure Wimbledon match.

Three more guilty pleas in the BetOnSports case in the United States, and the European Commission is now warning the American government to reconsider its ban on online gambling. Plus, industry news from Antigua and Wimbledon.

So says this class-action lawyer on the right in an interview on CNBC on Wednesday. The Jeffrey Pollack lookalike on the left doesn’t seem to buy it.

First Gambling 911 and Pokerati … then the Associated Press, and now MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times are following aware of the $33 million of online poker winnings that has been frozen at the behest of an Assistant US Attorney in New York’s Southern District, the court that has historically created the most headaches for all things online poker.

ALT HED: Neteller 2?

The banks are deflecting blame and criticism, saying they’re simply complying with a federal court’s direction. Not surprising, of course, considering they aren’t really in a position to defy their new dot-gov overseers. The non-poker media probably doesn’t even give a shit about poker players — they just care right now about the relationship between government and banks … but hey, good to know … because just like government officials found a villain in the form of online gamblers to justify fingering its way into the bigger world of cross-border internet commerce, now online poker has a potential villain in bad, old-school governmenting (relying on nearly 50-year-old laws) to justify its immediate need to revise the laws that affect our multimillion-UScitizen industry.

To understand the brass tacks of what just happened and is happening, be sure to read the NYT story here:

Web’s Poker Winners Face Delay in Collecting
(Thanks, Lana, for the link!)

In it we learn:

• Four American banks were hit with court papers — Wells Fargo, Citibank, Alliance Bank of Arizona, and one other — telling them to freeze the funds.
• In part because of the secretive nature of grand juries, it’s not yet clear whether all are court orders or just friendly requests. (Ha.) Wells Fargo’s was an order.
• Four online sites affected — Full Tilt, PokerStars, and two others.
• Southern District prosecutors told at least one bank the funds in question “constitute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses.”
• The accounts frozen belong to Allied Systems and Account Services, two payment processors (at least one of which seems to be based in Canada).

More…

Normally we wouldn’t think much of a thread on 2+2 about some withdrawal problems at a major American-friendly online site. Usually these problems get resolved in a matter of days or maybe weeks, but this time something’s different.

Developing …

We’ll hold off on saying too much until we get more solid information, but basically, checks from PokerStars are “bouncing”, particularly with New York banks. Instant E-checks seems to be the payment processor most notably affected at present. However, it’s not just e-checks … paper checks are proving uncashable, too. Reliable sources tell us that this is not just a little snafu, but that it’s the direct result of DOJ enforcement actions somehow connected to the Federal Court in New York’s Southern District.

This is the same court, of course, that handled Neteller way back when, and more recently came to non-prosecution agreements guilty plea settlements with Anurag Dikshit et al. While the Party Poker dudes are officially in the clear,* is it possible the Feds are now saying, hey, that was fun, and we got a lot of money … let’s try it again with those PokerStars guys!?!

The FBI offers more clarity on who’s agreed to what between Party Poker peeps and the Feds here.

The best I can tell, right now Stars seems to be the target. No confirmation on the fates of Full Tilt and UB payment processing.

UPDATE: Problems at Full Tilt, too. (Thanks, Ken, for the info/link!) And Ultimate Bet.

Regardless, whatever shakes down (pun intended), it raises a lot of questions at an interesting time, considering how much big money gets transfered passed between poker players — particularly in the summer — often on an online site in exchange for casino chips and/or bricks of cash.

Might the value of the Euro have just gone up, at least in the poker economy? Seems plausible if they’re the only ones able to convert online bankrolls into real American WSOP buy-in dollars.

* Cases against (with?) two other Party principals, Ruth Parasol and Russ DeLeon, are still pending in the same court.

Let’s get ready to rumble! It’s time for the next round in the battle of iMega vs. the State of Kentucky! Not only that, but this week we show video evidence of Governor Steve Beshear’s true motivations for banning online gambling in that state! Also, we have online gambling news from Intertops, Microsoft, and Denmark! What a show!

On Thursday, The Minnesota Department of Public Safety decided it was dropping its attempt to force ISPs to block several online gambling sites to Minnesota residents. The PPA press release can be found below.

UPDATE: Not so fast, my friend. Apparently, the Minnesota DPS hasn’t officially dropped its effort, but its expected to happen by early next week, stay tuned for further updates.

More…

Ding ding! Let the first round of the official debate begin!

U.S. News & World Report provided a forum for representatives of both sides of the issue of legalizing and regulating (and taxing) online gaming. When Rep. Barney Frank introduced H.R. 2267 on May 6, Rep. Spencer Bachus was quick to respond with a blurb about criminals, youth, blah blah. But the U.S. News piece allowed both parties to cool down and present their opinions with some bias thought.

In this corner, we have the winning argument from Frank, with a heavy concentration on the personal freedom aspect of the issue. He also takes the time to counter some of the arguments like the alleged criminal element and the sports betting worries. A few excerpts:

With Gambling, Personal Freedom Is Always the Best Bet, Says Barney Frank
There are many vices in the U.S. Those that hurt others must be stopped. Online gaming need not be.
Posted June 1, 2009
By Barney Frank
Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee

There is one major reason that leads me to oppose the ban on Internet gambling: It is an activity that adult Americans enjoy and that does no conceivable harm to anybody else…

More…

Leftover but good-for-viewing vid … PPA Executive Director John Pappas on CNBC … not just speaking on behalf of the latest Barney Frank legislation, but establishing the baseline for where discussion on these matters begins … it’s good to see the mainstream Wall Street press at least understanding the basics so they won’t have to waste their time filtering through the first line of crap the opposition throws their way:

via Wicked Chops.

Also … more online poker issues being laid out for the non-poker public in ESPN: The Magazine. And the Washington Post is letting people know that the American masses have spoken — directly to Barack Obama — and they want two things to get this country back on track: legal pot and legal online poker money transfers.

Thanks, Huff, for the latter link.

Semi-related to poker … was working on a post over at Soccerati (our baby brother site), about how an online gambling op (188Bet.com) has come in to buy up the jersey space on two English Premier League teams. It just seems kinda funny to me — considering that the NFL is so anti-online gambling, and the EPL is so pro. Soccer in general seems to have totally embraced the online gambling biz. Such a clear distinction between American football and European football.

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.

Kudos to Rep. Barney Frank for introducing the much-anticipated legislation this morning. The Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act of 2009 has no H.R. number attached yet, but the process has begun. The name of the bill doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue or make for a nice abbreviation – IGRCPEA? – but might just be referred to as “The Bill” going forward. (Catchy?)

The 48-page bill provides for licensing, enforcement, and consumer protections regarding legal internet gambling, as detailed on the House Financial Services Committee website.

SUMMARY
The Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act would establish a federal regulatory and enforcement framework under which Internet gambling operators could obtain licenses authorizing them to accept bets and wagers from individuals in the U.S., on the condition that they maintain effective protections against underage gambling, compulsive gambling, money laundering and fraud, and enforce prohibitions or restrictions on types of gambling prohibited by states, and Indian Tribes.

At the same time, Frank introduced a piece of companion legislation calling for the postponement of UIGEA regulations from this year’s compliance date of December 1, 2009 to one year later. Pushing it to 2010 gives “The Bill” time to progress as it may.

So, it’s on! According to Bloomberg, Harrah’s Entertainment and Youbet.com are already on board and ready to lobby on behalf of this bill. More to come in the weeks ahead, no doubt.

(Note: KevMath beat me to it again! Duplicate posts on this can be forgiven, eh?)

I’ll leave the analysis to those with more expertise in legislation and the law, but Barney Frank has issued two pieces of legislation in regards to online gambling. One bill is simply to delay the UIGEA by one year until Dec. 1, 2010. The more important piece of legislation is the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, a summary of which is provided here. The PPA have issued their own press release on the legislation. Plenty more discussion here and elsewhere over the coming months.

Rep. Barney Frank is set to introduce his pro-online gaming legislation tomorrow, complete with 10am ET press conference. With any luck, this will get some mainstream news coverage, but we can be assured of at least some C-SPAN live feed.

Someone at Bluff wrote a little ditty about it here, and the official press release from Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative below:

More…

The Minnesota Star Tribune has an article on a Republican’s legislation Monday to bar the state’s Department of Public Safety from attempting to block access to 200 online gambling sites without legislative approval.

Rep. Pat Garofolo from Farmington offered the following:

More…

Congratulations to Annie Duke (and Joan Rivers) for making the final 2 of Celebrity Apprentice. I never woulda guessed in 2008 that these two ladies would be such a significant part of my 2009. I’m personally thrilled Annie has gotten this far, because now maybe we can force Huff to give the topic even more airtime on The Poker Beat. I’m hearing two lines of commentary amongst poker players — either shameless rooting for “one of our own” or tales from the bitter about her oppressive bitchiness on the felt, in the hallways, and just about anywhere else she’s done business.

Serious question though:

Is there anywhere you can bet on Celebrity Apprentice?

I mean I’m sure you can’t now, because you know, a few people already know the results. But could you have, at the beginning of the season, or before? I’m pretty sure Vegas casinos don’t offer non-sports entertainment betting lines … but online?

More…

The state of Minnesota has decided to use the 1961 Federal Wire Act to target the online gaming industry, at the very same time Representative Barney Frank has decided to target the UIGEA for repeal! All this and a friendly warning for players and webmasters.

This just in, from the PPA:

Poker Players Alliance Statement on Minnesota Department of
Public Safety’s Announcement to Censor Online Poker

Washington, DC (April 29, 2009) – Matt Werden, the Minnesota state director of the Poker Players Alliance, the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide, and more than 21,000 in Minnesota, today issued the following statement following the press announcement by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety that they are attempting to block citizens from accessing any commercial gambling sites, including online poker sites.

“This isn’t simply a heavy-handed tactic by the government; this is a clear misrepresentation of federal law, as well as Minnesota law, used in an unprecedented way to try and censor the Internet. I don’t know what U.S. Code they’re reading, but it is not illegal to play this great American pastime online, and we’re calling their bluff.

More…

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is reporting that the Minnesota Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division, part of the state’s Department of Public Safety, has sent a letter to 11 regional and national ISPs asking them to block Minnesota computers from over 200 gambling sites. State officials believe they’re the first state to restrict access to online gambling sites. However, Kentucky may want to have a few words with you, Minnesota. The DPS press release is as follows:

More…

As the online gaming industry anxiously awaits the introduction of pro-gaming legislation, the mainstream media has picked up on the story – online gaming versus the NFL and Christian Coalition. And today’s newspapers are all over the story, looking at the possible revenue for the U.S. government and online gaming’s enemies. Could this mean that Rep. Barney Frank is ready to introduce the bill in the coming days?

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.

Fans of the National Football League probably didn’t start off on the right foot anyway, since football is done for awhile and they’re forced to see baseball games/references everywhere. But there is another source of annoyance for NFL’ers, and that is the knowledge that the biggest opponent of online gaming in the United States is their very own football organization.

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.

For those that wanted to promote their latest and greatest promotions for their online sites, PRWeb was one of the better places to go for your press release needs. However, PRWeb is located in Washington state, which has a law saying that playing online gambling is a Class C felony. This apparently wasn’t a problem until last week, when the Washington State Gambling Commission apparently sent a cease and desist letter to PRWeb, telling them to knock it off. The Casino City Times and many other sites surely will have more news as this develops.