Per this article re the forces behind making net gambling a felony in the state of Washington, does internet gambling and live casino & club gambling really contend for the same limited pie of gamblers or has net gambling expanded the pie?
If it weren’t for internet poker then I’d be willing to bet that those Washington card rooms who are so concerned about it wouldn’t be making anywhere near the profit they’re making. People who would probably never have seriously considered going to a cardroom five years ago have learned how to play poker online and as a result many of them play occasionally live. Outlawing internet poker, assuming it can be enforced or is even enforcable, will do nothing but help choke off a supply of new players and new revenue.
I wonder how they’re planning on enforcing the law, since in 99% of the cases the crime will be committed in the privacy of the perpetrator’s home. If someone does get arrested, I hope their lawyer makes a terrific amount of hay at the hypocrisy of the state. It’s perfectly fine with them to have degenerate gamblers gathering together in numbers in public places, but solitary players in their own homes are a threat to the state.
I hope the various players’ associations boycott the fuck out of the state.
What rationale do they have for making it a felony? Are they a state-granted monopoly? The linked site is blocked by my IT department.
Sailboat
Here are the Senate and House bill reports. Since they’re from the state legislative site maybe you’ll be able to view them.
The rationale is pretty much that the law simply “clarifies” existing law and prevents the state lottery system from using the internet to sell lottery tickets.
I suspect using similar methods to whatever’s used to track down kiddie-pron downloaders. Probably leaning on the ISP to notify the authorities when something ‘illegal’ is going through their network.
One of the things they’ll achieve is to prevent people from using credit cards to gamble, thereby making it much less convenient. That will have a chilling effect.
I thought internet gambling was already illegal in the US, which is why most of those gambling sites are oversees. Was I wrong?
I was under this same impression. And I thought that this was why my bank won’t let me use my debit card to send money to PokerStars.
My understanding is that gambling over phone lines is illegal, which has been interpreted to mean that online poker is also illegal. I don’t connect with a phone line, so I don’t see what law I’m breaking. YMMV.
Meh. As it stands now most credit cards aren’t allowing US customers to fund poker accounts directly anyway. All a credit card ban does is put money in the pockets of people like Neteller.
The federal government is sending mixed messages on the legality issue. The Justice Dept has taken the position that it’s illegal, which is why you used to see ads for the dot-com poker sites and now see dot-net ads instead (the dot-nets only offer play money betting). OTOH, Congress is considering a major bill on the subject now, and the chief sponsor of the bill has admitted that existing legislation may not in fact make internet gaming illegal.
Cardplayer Magazine recently ran an in-depth analysis of the federal “Internet Gaming Prohibition Act.” Worth a read, and worth the time of any internet poker player to contact your federal representatives and register your opposition.