This is the link to the text of Barney Frank's bill which will legalize internet gambling. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c110:1:./temp/~c110vqqbxs:e1316: Bill legalizes ALL forms of internet gambling, unless they are made illegal under other laws. Bill allows for state and tribal regulation within their own borders and for state and tribal taxation. Bill makes it illegal to operate an internet betting site for US customers without a US license to do so.
I sure hope Frank gets some support. This is an idea that makes sense. Regulate it, tax it, and provide consumer protection.
Absolutely right, Ken! We keep comparing HoldEm tournaments to our BJT's (rightly so), and poker's meteoric rise in popularity was fueled by the Internet. Moneymaker's win at the WSOP was what kicked poker's popularity into overdrive - and he won his seat online. If UIGEA goes away and some sharp promoters start feeding big BJT's with online qualifiers, we could find ourselves faced with the unfortunate situation of picking and choosing which great tournaments to play. And that would not suck!
To link to legislation zweeky let me know that the link I posted wasn't working. So...to find the text of the bill, and related information; go to http://thomas.loc.gov then use the search facility (for the bill number) to find HR2267 that's Barney Frank's bill to legalize and regulate internet gambling.
Regulating online gambling is a fine idea BUT how do you do that? Let's look at some facts: Brick and Mortar casinos do cheat on occasions and that in itself is really hard to detect - often its probably never detected when it occurs. Isn't online regulation 10 times harder? The government cannot even determine the value of banks with all their complex transactions let alone derivatives. I don't know exactly what a derivative is - does anyone out there know? Can we really expect more when regulating online gambling? A clever line or two in a very complex computer program can easily cheat a player and go undetected maybe forever. Can we really expect government to uncover such irregularities? Our government doesn't even effectively regulate our food chain. Can we trust them to regulate online gambling? These are just a few thoughts. Do you really think online gambling can be effectively regulated? Maybe so - in LA LA LAND. And Barney Frank - didn't he drop the ball in bank regulation - or at least in enforcing the rules?
Regulation you are right toolman, regulating online gambling is very difficult. as is regulating bricks and mortar casinos. But, some attempt at regulation is better than none. Look at what happened at UB/AP. This was not some genius programmer scamming the software, it was non-programmers taking advantage of software features which were supposed to be for program development or administration, but were left open to illicit use. Any reasonably honest effort will help keep the scams down, and catch a lot of the not so swift scammers. and hopefully provide some recourse for those who do get cheated. Something is better than nothing.
Regulation Regulation of online gaming 100% may be difficult I agree but so is maintaining a maximum speed limit of 65 MPH, there may be offenders but with proper radar on both highways and the internet the offenders if any will be identified. I trust any USA legalization of online gaming will have a system included to identify offenders and offer more security as the online casinos will know they are being closely watched. Many of us either played online tournaments or gambled online prior to UIEGA without complaint of cheating by online casinos. Other than the UB scandle I personally don't know of any online casino accused of cheating customers. None of us have a 100% guarantee our life will not include being cheated by any individual/ business and legalization of online gaming cannot guarantee such. I believe internet gaming will be legalized in the United States with regulation when a method of taxation is achieved and "Brick and Mortor" USA casinos are legally included.
Online Gaming Regulation Hopefully any regulation of online games will be set up to be robust and effective. If regulators have access to the servers, and to the records of the hands played, online gaming regulation might actually be easier than brick and mortar regulation. The volume and ready access to hands played lends itself well to statistical analysis that would hold up as evidence in court. Just look at the work the guys who busted the UB/AP cheating did, working in an unofficial capacity. Regulators, with ready access to the records, could do the same, but much more easily. Regulators could set up bots that randomly observe games and flag suspicious activity. The incentives would do the rest. Online gaming operators, working legally in the U.S., would have every reason to keep games as honest as possible, just as the brick and mortar stores in Vegas do. The gains from cheating just don't justify the risk to one's license and reputation. It's hard to imagine Yahoo, Google, Harrah's, MGM, etc. running shady online games.
Toolman, Monkey, Rookie, RK - all very good points. There are likely going to be some scammers out there who will try to take advantage of a new ability to run a gambling website. Most operators will understand that running an reputable online casino will be a never-ending cash printing machine so any shady maneuvers would be a highly short-sighted business model. My point was that these types of websites could easily be used to fuel both interest and entry counts in live BJT's. I still think that UBT had a great idea with the original PlayUBT.com website. Imagine if Txtourplayer can get his admittedly ambitious idea of a series of BJT's off the ground, in conjunction with a website that runs sit-n-go's (or even cheap multi-level BJT's) awarding free entries at various levels in the live tournaments. We would have an actual BJT Tour roaming the country, with good standardized non-carnival rules, and rising entry counts fed by Internet qualifiers.
I only skimmed over Barney Frank's proposed law so I'm not sure of 2 things: 1) Does it actually repeal the section of UIGEA relating to money transfers? If not then the same problem will exist, i.e banks and credit card companies transferring gambling money. 2) As I understand it, individual states will have the power to ban internet gambling. Is this true? If so then millions will still be unable to play.
Frank's Bill Yes it allows the states to ban internet gambling, and to tax and regulate play from their state. Also says that you can't get around a state ban by going through a server in another state, ban is based on where you are located when you are playing. Bill specifically makes it ok for financial institutions to handle online gambling transactions.
