O-Poker

My head is spinning.

Must. Stop. Reading. Message. Boards. Must. Stop. NOW!!

I have gotten way to sucked into the drama, speculation, rumors, and facts surronding the new Safe Port Act. Our ports are secure - hooray!! Senators suck and like to slip last minute agendas (internet gambling financial transcation ban) into completely unrelated bills - boo!! hiss!! boo!!

I have done my best to filter through all the BS out there and have a simplistic take on the whole situation and how it relates to the online poker industry:

1. President signs the bill sometime soon. - Given

2. The weak sisters unwilling to laugh in the face of a vague somewhat ambiguous US law shut down. - Party Poker, Cryptologic Sites, Pacific Poker, and a few other smaller sites.

3. Pokerstars 50/50 (could go either way) - They seem to have been gearing themselves to go public over the last few years. They may have difficultly getting listed on the London Exchange if they still accept US business. Pokerstars is probably crunching the numbers on how much the stock would be worth without US business. If it is valuable enough in the open market without US customers, they may ditch us. I guess we have to wait and see.

4. Affliates are screwed - need to make sure your rakeback is through a foreign company. Affliates could be considered aiding in online financial transactions.

5. 270 days pass. Banks are told to stop allowing transactions to poker sites. If they have trouble blocking the transactions, they can not be held liable. They are not required to review paper checks to see if they are payments to/from gaming sites since it would be a major burden to install equipment to review every check.

6. Neteller blows up even bigger than it is now. You may no longer be able to have the poker sites pay insta-cash neteller fees. Bank---> Neteller---> Poker Site ----> Neteller ----> Bank. There is never any direct line from a US financial institution to a gaming site.

7. The sites that remain get bigger thanks to the Party Poker player base. Online poker is almost identical as it was two weeks ago.

8. Justice Department gets a little crazy and tries to shut down Neteller. Nope - Can't do it!! Not allowed!! Illegal!! Go back to Jail!! Do not pass GO!! Do not collect $200 Bonus!!! They can't shut down a foreign company that deals with poker sites and other service related internet sites. They can't regulate Neteller either, because they are located in the Isle of Man. It would be the equivalent of France trying to shut down Paypal because they don't like the fact that Paypal allows you to buy wine from places other than France. (weak analogy, but you get the idea)

9. Business as usual. A few less fish because they might have a little trouble depositing immediately when they hit $0.

10. One day in the distant future (I can dream) online poker becomes regulated. The good/great players profit enormously and even the mediocre players become profitable players due to all the fresh new faces that decide to give this regulated poker thing a try. Hello to BellagioPoker.com, HarahsPoker.com, etc., etc., etc.

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This is my last post on the subject in the near future. The issue is near and dear to my heart (and wallet), but I don't think anyone wants to read a blog that is a recap of all the rumors, speculations, and facts from the message boards.

So for the most up to date and best information go to:

Pocket Fives
Two Plus Two - Poker Legislative Forum

Good Luck and Let's all start talking about poker again.