In this week’s episode of Perspectives Weekly, J. Todd tries to get to the brass tacks of what’s going down with Bodog — and he confirms that as of right now, American players can’t get their money out (and the APCW is temporarily withholding any support of the site). But this is not a matter of greedy-corp malfeasance, Todd explains … but rather a situation created by the US Government’s seizure of $24 million from Bodog bank accounts and pressure put on American payment processors.

There’s a lot of political to-do over use of the term “illegal” in connection to online poker — whether that be in proposed legislation or general internet chit-chat. “Playing poker online is not illegal at all!” say the die-hards. “All the UIGEA made illegal was the transfer of funds blah blah blah!” Fair enough, but bottom line is that it’s easier to get weed in this country than it is to get your money off of Full Tilt … interpret as you see fit.

One Pokerati reader writes in with the latest on his difficulty getting $4,500 from Full Tilt into his American pockets:

Update:

After a month of getting the run around trying to make a check withdrawal ftp finally told me they could not and that their problems with the check processor persist. They told me to use the cash pick up option and that through moneygram, i could pick up my money at an authorized agent. I checked and there several in town so I sent a withdrawal request. I was told that once processed the money would be available in one to three business days. It showed as processing for a week and the ftp told me that the transaction was declined. I now have no means to get money out. I put in for a 50 dollar deposit to see if they would take my money and sure enough they did. I have a lot of cash in there and no way to get it out. Suggestion? Any similar stories? Arent you best friends with ftp pros. How can they work this way?

Damn, not good. As referenced in a comment to your previous post, there have been some 2+2 discussions about similar difficulties:

FTP checks thread
Why are there 65,000 people currently playing on FTP when we CANT get paid???

… so your situation clearly isn’t isolated. I personally have some Full Tilt cash supposedly waiting for me at MoneyGram — just haven’t picked it up because non-electronic banking is a pain in the ass and I’ve been “running good” at the live tables and bills aren’t due for a while — will try to cash out this week to see what happens.

As to all the Full Tilt pros being my best friends … absolutely, we are tight-tight and have partied all night long. And yet for some reason they all seem to have changed their phone numbers without telling me. I don’t get it!

The following industry analysis showed up in my email last night … but upon a single click I realized this market research was not current, but from February 2005 — before any of us had ever heard of Steve Dannenmann, let alone the UIGEA. Still, it took getting to the mention of Celebrity Poker Showdown before I fully realized this up-to-date info might be old, so that says something about how prescient €350 worth of research and analysis might have been:

More…

Perhaps inspired by the amount of money police forces take in from poker raids, police in Port Arthur, Texas, raided an internet cafe that was allowing patrons to gamble online — the first bust of its kind in our nation’s history. In a way this would be awesome if it forced the UIGEA into court — but we know the routine … plea down to an irrelevant if not disappearable criminal charge … shut down the operation and make the purveyors sign over any confiscated cash.

All I can say is wow. Can’t believe I didn’t think of opening such a joint I guess you can’t really have multiaccounting problems with online slots Wonder if federal authorities realize the UIGEA caused this, and if Texas officials see the clear citizen demand to expand gambling options in the Lone Star State. Interestingly enough, police say the problem wasn’t internet gambling per se — they don’t have much problem with it done in private — but with the public nature of a business set up to help senior citizens circumvent the banking nuisances created by the UIGEA.

Tomatoes/Tomahtoes, really … because you can arguably say police simply saw it as an opportunity to claim moral righteousness while adding to its asset forfeiture stacks.

HR 5767, the poker legislation providing the quickest route to undoing the UIGEA, failed to make it out of committee today. This means anti-UIGEA efforts will likely have to rely on more hard work to rally support behind an unpopular issue than slick process maneuvers for now.

The bill was bare-bones from the start, and the plan was to attach an amendment — the King Amendment (Rep. Peter King - R, NY) — which basically said, “Yo, the banks have to cut off some legal businesses (horse racing) because of this UIGEA thingy and it’s not very effective against the bad guys anyway, so let’s do our banking pals a fave and suspend the whole damn thing while we figure it all out. Cool?”

Sounds like sensible government to me … but apparently some members of the House Financial Services committee were suspicious that sumpin’ was up … and the amendment fell one vote short, 32-32. (It’s a 70-member committee — not sure how it broke down, by party or otherwise, nor who the abstainers/no-shows were.) Without the King Amendment passing by a WIDE margin, the whole strategy behind sneaking pushing a quick bank-fix vote through Congress proper kinda fell apart, so committee chair Rep. Barney Frank decided not to put HR 5767 to a role call vote.

I am pretty sure this effectively kills 5767 … little to no chance it will be resurrected. And I have to say, the results of today’s committee hearing are pretty discouraging. More TK on why, but click below to read the statement from PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato, which just came over the transom:

More…

Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas did another one of his WSOP fly-ins for a couple days — manning the hallway booth and meeting with pros — but much of his time was spent away from the Amazon and in his room at the Rio, on the phone/computer/Blackberry with Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) et al. about HR 5767 — which is scheduled to be voted on in committee Wednesday or Thursday. While getting this bill on the agenda brings the notion of pre-UIGEA poker one step closer to reality, the measure also faces the threat of being voted down and derailed ’til next year or never.

It’s supposedly an all-in push that should hold up … and if HR 5767 — co-sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and 17 19 others — passes muster in House Financial Services, of which Frank is the chair, then it moves to the floor of Congress for a vote — preferably having shown strong bipartisan support in committee.

So what does this mean for you, the non-political poker types who are fine-and-dandy with playing unofficial WSOP satellites on Full Tilt and PokerStars? More fish, basically … and poker industry people would in some way or another have a say in what may or may not constitute Unlawful Internet Gambling that the Treasury Dept. could look into/stop. (You know, like online site owners who peek at hole cards … that should be unlawful, right?)

More…

Oops, while rambling on in the previous post, i forgot to share with you the email Alfonse D’Amato sent out today that made me start writing it. He makes some good points while, of course, also trying to give away a seat to the WSOP. My one question for the for-sale figurehead retired senator is: When are you going to start blogging Why age 25? That seems weird.

Dear Dan,

On behalf of the Poker Players Alliance, thank you for being part of our landmark drive to sign up more than one million members nationwide. Speaking with one voice on behalf of the great game, we have become one of the leading grassroots advocacy organizations in the country.

We have expanded our reach coast-to-coast, opened offices in our nation’s capital, and we are fighting each and every day to preserve your ability to play the great game of poker. Politicians are hearing our message – that Poker Is Not a Crime.

Today, I am excited to announce that the PPA is ready to reward you for your participation. We are launching PPA Online, a new and improved Web site, and a brand new membership package of valuable benefits.

More…

Had a pleasant chat with PPA boss John Pappas yesterday about the state of poker legislation. “We have a new website!” he says. OK, that quote’s semi-made up, but he definitely wanted to pimp the Poker Players Alliance’s new forums, benefit packages, and webtronic goodies. Yeah, yeah, website uh-huh … I didn’t tell him that I get most of my PPA on MySpace, where they share rank with Ed, The Poker Atlas, and RawVegas TV.*

Anyhow, in hearing about what they’re trying to achieve, I came to realize just how much progress the PPA has made. There are currently five bills pending in Congress specific to our issue. You can say all you want about the “special interests” … but that’s what we are. And frankly a rather small one in the Beltway schema. Yet those five bills come with 98 unique sponsors — meaning nearly a quarter of the House of Representatives are more than familiar with poker causes and have affirmatively declared themselves on our side. That’s pretty impressive progress over the course of 18 months.

With that said, Pappas doesn’t necessarily expect to see a legally enforceable undoing of the UIGEA this year. Nor do I, nor does Lavigne in Austin, nor does anyone actively working toward that goal. This being a presidential election year, with so many big big issues in play and seats at stake, Congress just isn’t gonna get around to making the world safe for online poker in ‘08. I could be wrong on this — and hope I am — but I’m not. Fortunately the PPA leadership and lobbyists seem to recognize that hoping is seldom a good strategy … and while there’s always a chance poker could hit a political miracle on the turn and river, the PPA should shove all-in! what’s important now for the PPA is putting us in a position to succeed in 2009, when table conditions are sure to have changed.

* Pauly, dude, when are you gonna get on MySpace?

I like to troll Craigslist every so often for some hot, anonymous NSA poker action. Not looking for games — there’s no shortage of ‘em here in LV — just wanting to take the pulse of what people are pushing related to poker. Look at the ads all together and you get some interesting tells on the state of the poker world and its semi-anonymous inhabitants:

There are a lot of chips , tables, fancy custom tables and chips and tables for sale, of course, and for $15 a made-for-TV WPT video game. WSOP: Tournament of Champions for the Playstation goes for $8

For $150k you can have documentary footage of the rise and fall of Jamie Gold.

A WSOP baby’s blanket.

More chips, from the Aladdin, and from the Atlantic City Playboy Club. “Omaha Table” from Sante Fe Station.

Perhaps frighteningly, there are even poker bots for sale. At least one suspicious reader is questioning whether or not this is legal.

More…

In this episode:

Jon Kyl is Facing Reality!
It’s Lonely at the top of Morality Mountain…
There are still no regulations for UIGEA… Banks don’t want to police UIGEA… and others in Congress want to overturn UIGEA… I guess it’s time to face facts, Jon.

Chuck E Cheese is Facing Prison?
Pizza Selling Rat also promotes illegal gambling…
The great legal minds of South Carolina have concluded that the Skee ball and Whac-a-Mole games at Chuck E Cheese are a slippery slop to illegal gambling… and they must go!

News from both sides of the Atlantic
Lottery to Tennis… Texas to France…
In Texas, lottery officials are warning consumers about buying tickets online… and with good reason! And out of France, a judge has returned a ruling in the French Open vs Online Gambling case.

In this week’s episode:

What are the SSIGI and HR 5767?
It’s Bob Goodlatte’s Worst Nightmare…
Barney Frank and Ron Paul have introduced HR 5767 to target the financial powers of the UIGEA, and they are receiving the backing of several prominent groups including the SSIGI… or the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative.

ePassporte Pushed Out of Industry…
Another one bites the dust…
Last Friday ePassporte abruptly abandoned their US Customers with little explanation. This week we learn that the US Attorney’s Office in New York has been putting the screws to them. Imagine that!

Legal Online Gambling in the US?
It’s no lie…
American citizens can use credit cards and ban accounts to fund their online gambling activities at this site that the US Government not only knows about, but actually encourages you to play at!

Since the UIGEA became law, poker has desperately needed a superhero to save it. With the U.S. government breathing down our necks, it’s been uncomfortable and a bit scary.

Some organizations have played significant roles in attempting to come to our rescue. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative are lobbying on our behalves, but it was going to take some actual members of our Congress to stand up and gain support for our cause.

We seem to have two of them in Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). Not only have them spoken out against the UIGEA, but they have now proposed new legislation to stop it. H.R. 5767 was introduced on Thursday, April 10th, to prohibit the implementation of UIGEA regulations by banks and financial institutions, basically rendering the UIGEA ineffective.

Read the press release from the House Committee on Financial Services here.

Could poker’s superheroes be Frank and Paul? Bet on it.

Now is the time for the poker community to step up and show their support for H.R. 5767. Tell your Congressional representatives to back this legislation and push it through. The PPA and SSIGI websites make it easy to do.

PPA provides a simple form here, as does SSIGI here.

On Thursday, we read that one of our favorite poker podcasts, Beyond the Table, was “out with a fizzle.” And apparently that’s fo’ shizzle. The skies suddenly had grown ominously dark. Would we ever smile again . . . ?

Well, here’s what looks to be a ray of hope. (At least for those of us who like to play online poker.)

Late this week, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) proposed a new House bill, H.R. 5767, the sole purpose of which is to stop the feds from finalizing regulations for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. The bill comes on the heels of last week’s Congressional hearing at which multiple witnesses — including several representatives of U.S. payment systems and a couple of those involved with authoring the regs — communicated pretty loudly the unfeasibility of the UIGEA in its current state.

In fewer words than this post contains, H.R. 5767 pithily prohibits “the Secretary of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from proposing, prescribing, or implementing any regulation” the feds come up with regarding the UIGEA. As yesterday’s press release from the House Financial Services Committee states, “it was clear at the [April 2] hearing that the regulations are unworkable for the financial services industry, and this bill would, therefore prohibit their implementation.“

No word as yet on how fast this sucker may climb its way up the Congressional ladder, but given the overwhelming response against the UIGEA following last week’s hearing, it seems H.R. 5767 may have a lot more initial backers than those other anti-UIGEA bills (like Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act).

We’re happy, right? Okay, so we’re not laughing ’til we wet ourselves. But we are smiling again. I guess there’s life beyond Beyond the Table . . . .

In this week’s episode:

There’s No Cheating in Online Poker!
Now that we have your attention…
We thought that we should let ya know that some companies are boldly selling poker bot software for under $200, claiming big returns on your investment! Good luck with that! =0)

Our Tribute to the FBI…
We just LOVE the FBI…
I mean, why wouldn’t we love the FBI? They give us so much free comedy material that we would otherwise have to write for ourselves! God bless those brave men and women fighting the tyranny of online gambling!

Washington State to be a Battleground… Again…
The War Rages on…
First, it was J Todd battling the State Gambling Commission over his websites in 2006. Then our friend Nick Jenkins was actually arrested and charged with online gambling in 2007. Now, in early 2008, Attorney and poker player Lee Rousso is challenging the State’s online gambling ban in court!

In this week’s episode:

Congressional Hearings on UIGEA…
Barney Frank Heads to the Hill…
We all know our friend Barney Frank isn’t shy about speaking his mind, calling UIGEA the “stupidest”law ever passed. Now, he’s taking his straight talk about the law before Congressional Committees on the issue. See what was said!

Coverage of the Amsterdam Conference…
Reporting from Amsterdam!
We’re hear and we’re causing trouble! See our exclusive report from the Casino Affiliate Convention, and where J. Todd has been having to spend the night!

For months, concerns have been expressed by U.S. financial institutions and members of Congress about the ambiguous nature of the UIGEA. The government doesn’t know how to enforce it, and banks don’t know how to comply.

Rep. Barney Frank has been one of the most outspoken members of Congress on this issue, as he feels his own bill - HR 2046 - would be more appropriate to regulate online gaming rather than attempt to ban financial transactions to the sites.

Today, there is a Congressional hearing entitled “Proposed UIGEA Regulations: Burden Without Benefit?” taking place on Capitol Hill. The Poker Players Alliance has a live stream of the hearing on their website.

Click here to check it out. (Beware: There are long periods of silence when the hearing goes to recess between panels.)

UPDATE: The hearings seem to be over, but the written testimonies are available at the link above.

Sorry for the lack of personal postage last week and presumably this one … I have gotten caught up in the housing crisis and am moving again over the next couple days … even though I don’t know where yet. Seriously, housing crisis is very real here — our friends at The Poker Atlas were forced to relocate due to the house they were renting going into foreclosure; Rounder Club West got evicted from their digs a couple weeks ago because their landlord decided to desperately sell. When this sorta thing happens to three homes in an isolated niche, it can’t just be coincidental.

Anyhow, so yes, content … sorry for the lack thereof and sorry for the blog-cliche post about being sorry. There’s still plenty going on out there that the poker-minded populace shouldmaybe care about, regardless of my personal battle against homelessness.

As we know, the US is currently trying to figure out how to enforce the UIGEA — the AMERICAN BANKS say they can’t really do it — so now, instead of rewriting our own bad laws, we are pressuring the UK to change theirs.

And here’s an article about EL PASO’S rich gambling history - underground or not — over the past 100+ years, starting with a mayor in 1895 known as “Poker Bob” Campbell.

A NEW BLOG (to me) I am now following semi-regularly: David Matthews’ Gambling in Space.

Through him, I learned about FRANK GAGLIARDI, a California Lottery winner who also likes to gamble and recently won his very relevant (to me and you) court case vs. the IRS:

If this case stands, then it could effectively rewrite tax law and make it easier for gamblers to report losses and more difficult for the IRS to go after gamblers.

BALLY TECHNOLOGY also won a pretty big case in court — against SHUFFLE MASTER, which up to this point has maintained an expensive stranglehold on the automatic shufflers you see in poker tables.

And CALIFORNIA JEN may have loved the poker mockumentary THE GRAND, but not everybody did.

Crap, that’s hardly everything, but I have to run …

Joe in New York writes in with some clarification about Kwari – the online shooting game played for money with full awareness of the relevance of the UIGEA, despite its not-so-pokery nature.

Hey Dan,

Hope all is well. I just checked out your column where you mentioned Kwari had launched services and want to provide a little more information so your readers do not get a bad experience. Currently, Kwari is only available in the U.K. The US version has not launched yet. While you could download the game and play for money in the US, Kwari does not encourage this. If you log in the United States, there will be some serious lag issues as the games are based in the UK. Kwari is expected to launch in the United States towards the end of the summer. Thank you for your interest in Kwari and if you have any questions, please let me know.

Best,

Joe

Thank you, Joe. Will be interesting to watch how the concept of professional online gaming develops. Hey, I noticed that Kwari is based in Gibraltar … Be sure to tell our good friends and your presumable neighbors at PartyPoker we say hi before you shoot them for fun and duckets!

Microsoft, we know, likes to fight … and the company fired their first shot against cheaters in their online Xbox Live community by conducting a little neighborhood sweep. They aren’t banning players, but instead dropping their player points down to zero and marking their profiles with the digital equivalent of a scarlet C. Not sure how that would work in poker … but it shows the relevance of poker issues in a non-poker world, and perhaps suggests some potential allies who have an interest our fights. Online gam(bl)ing and online gaming, after all, aren’t that far apart.

Online video game competitions for money are already in play — the Fifa Interactive World Cup, for example, awards $20k to the winner. And the shoot-em-up game Kwari has started offering real-money competition, where you win cash for kills and the house takes its cut by charging you for ammo. Bullets, chips … tomato, D’amato … Seriously, how familiar does this sound:

More…

In this week’s episode:

The Man Behind Poker Dream… Meet John Dutchak…
The “dream” is over, but the nightmare has just begun. John Dutchak swears he’s not the owner of the now destroyed Poker Dream Network, but family, friends, and former co-workers all say differently. And did we mention that the hundreds of thousands of dollars in player deposits are missing as well? Yea…

Tusk Gaming Gone… Players Money is Safe… APCW Member Saves the Day…
We tried to tell players not to worry! Even though the Tusk Gaming group folded, we knew that MicroGaming would honor the player’s cash on deposit. What we didn’t expect was that Rewards Affiliates would step in and manage the casinos left homeless by the collapse… but that’s just what they did!

UIGEA Enforcement to be Debated Within Weeks… Barney Frank Expected to Speak…
It only took one year, six months, and five days, but it looks like Congress will finaly discuss how to enforce the regulations they passed into las on September 30th, 2006. Barney Frank is expected to speak, and we know he’ll remind them all just how stupid this law is… we just hope he uses really small words to do so…

Been a couple of news items over the last week or so regarding the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. You remember the UIGEA. You don’t? Look over yr shoulder. It’s that big black cloud over there, heading this way . . . .

First, a U.S. District Court Judge threw out the Interactive Gaming Media Entertainment and Gaming Association’s case against the U.S. government. You might remember iMEGA had attempted to have the UIGEA’s implementation postponed until it could be determined whether or not the law was unconstitutional. (They had some other points in there, too.) The case was dismissed, but iMEGA was recognized as having “legal standing” and so will surely continue the fight.

Meanwhile, we learned this week what the American Banking Association had to say about the proposed UIGEA regulations. Recall that back in October, the feds presented their proposed regulations & asked for comments. The comment period ended in mid-December, and now the Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System are considering those comments as they prepare to “finalize” the UIGEA.

The abridged version: the ABA thinks the UIGEA is not A-OK. Gives the banks too much to do — more than they can feasibly handle. In fact, the ABA believes the UIGEA will place most banks in what they call a “compliance trap” and thus do more to hurt the American payments system than it will do to stop folks from gambling online. Read Haley Hintze’s PokerNews article & also check out the full text of the ABA’s comments over at Kick Ass Poker.

And for more from those comments to the UIGEA regs — including some of what the “webmaster of the popular blog Pokerati.com” had to say about ’em — check out Jason Kirk’s article over at PokerListings summarizing them all: “Stakeholders sound off on UIGEA regulations.”