Recently, Playtech has begun preparations to enter the United States gambling market if the laws to overturn to UIGEA go through. The Chief Executive Officer for Playtech Mor Weizer thinks that the online gambling industry will be totally dominated by gaming companies within the U.S.
The main U.S. based companies that Weizer may have been talking about are MGM Mirage, Las Vegas Sands, Harrah’s Entertainment, and Wynn Resorts. Steve Wynn, who is the owner of Wynn Resorts, has been against online gambling being legal in the U.S. for a long time.
Playtech is a company that gives online gaming software to companies that run Internet gaming sites the world over. Playtech has taken recent steps to make sure that when online gambling is legal in America, the operators will be able to get licenses to use the software that Playtech offers.
Weizer recently stated to Dow Jones Newswires, “The timing is not clear but we see a genuine and positive momentum (towards online gaming regulations). We see a lot of interest from operators in the US, and we are in discussions with various local groups.”
One of the American groups is Harrah’s Entertainment, which has already moved into the Internet gaming industries in countries around the world. Harrah’s launched Internet casinos, with the Caesars brand, even though they do not take player from within the United States. Many gambling experts are under the belief that Harrah’s was getting ready for the online gambling market to be legal and open in the U.S.
U.S. Representative Barney Frank has already passed an Internet gambling bill through the House Financial Committee, which Frank chairs. The bill will move to the House, but it is not likely that the gambling legislation will get to the floor before the November mid-term elections. If the legislation id delayed past January 1, 2011 Frank will have to begin the process to make online gambling legal and regulated all over again.
There has been a lot of support within the legislature, which has been steadily growing for the last few years, to overturn the controversial Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. The UIGEA has crated a ton of controversy, as since the law was implemented this June it has not done much at all to thwart the online gambling that is rampant in the United States even though it is technically illegal. Many think it is only a matter of time before online gambling is legal in the U.S. since the country has the biggest Internet gambling market in the world.
August 31st, 2010 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Rumors | No Comments
At the end of last month a big date for the battle to legalize online poker happened, as the House Financial Services Committee passed Barney Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act vote of 41-22-1. This is the first time that they bill that regulates and licenses the Internet gambling industry in the United States received a positive vote on the federal level.
Just because the bill passed it does not mean Internet poker will be legalized. However, it does show that the views towards online poker are changing. Only 4 years ago Congress voted 6-1 against online gambling, as there was a lot of support for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. In last month’s vote online poker received a positive vote by almost 2-1.
Former Senator Alfonse DíAmato, chairman of the Poker Players Alliance recently stated, “The fact is, online poker is not going away. Congress has a choice — it can license and regulate it to provide government oversight and consumer protections, or our lawmakers can stick their heads in the sand, ignore it, and leave consumers to play on non-U.S. regulated websites in all 50 states. I’m glad the Financial Services Committee today overwhelmingly chose to act and protect Americans as well as preserve the fundamental freedoms of adults and the Internet.”
Frank’s bill got major support from the Democrats, who voted 34-4 in support, and they also received some bi-partisan support from the Republican Party as well. The Republicans had 18 votes against the bill 7 for it.
There were 14 amendments made to Frank’s legislation, most of which were supported by the Poker Players Alliance.
The controversial additions to the bill for poker players were a couple or amendments that would keep websites that have been seen to be in violation of international gaming laws from getting licensed in the U.S. This deals with such websites like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, which are a couple of the bigger poker websites the world over. The federal law is in a gray area in terms of online gambling.
Pappas stated the PPA would support the legislation as long as these current website operators are given the chance to apply for a license. Pappas believes the websites would have the chance to make their case before regulators under the current laws that may soon take effect in regulating online poker in the U.S. He also believes the poker sites of PokerStars and Full Tilt will continue to support the legislation as well as the effort of the PPA’s efforts. Pappas stated, “It’s not our job to guarantee a license. It’s our job to guarantee an open market where everyone can apply for one.”
August 17th, 2010 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker | No Comments
In the last couple of years there have been 2 big issues that lawmakers have been divided on. One is the issue of same sex marriage and the other is Internet gambling. Recently a federal judge gave those who favored same sex marriage hope and now online gambling being legalized may be next.
In California Proposition 8 banned same sex couples from getting marries, which irked many in the liberal community of the state. However, Judge Vaughn R. Walker recently overturned Prop 8, as he claimed that the law was one that was unconstitutional. The ruling garnered praise across the United States.
Internet gambling may be the next issue on the agenda and there is a good chance it may be legal soon. Washington lawmakers have already begun writing a bill that would not only make online gambling legal, but it would also regulate the industry and that would reap the US government billions of dollars.
Recently Representative Barney Frank, who has been at the forefront of making online gambling legal, passed the legislation through the House Financial Services Committee. Taking the legislation to the House is the next step and that may not happen until next year since the legislative session will be in a recess soon. After the session break is over the focus will then shift to the mid-term elections, which are slated to take place in November of this year.
The issues of same sex marriage and online gambling have had lawmakers in the U.S. in a heated debate for some time. Earlier this year legislators in California have talked about regulating the Internet gambling industry. Millions of residents in the United States already play poker online and online poker has become a billion dollar industry.
The state of California is known as a very liberal state, which is why it is a tad surprising that they banned same sex marriage from the get go. For the Internet gambling issue the Govenator Arnold Schwarzenegger has been in favor of gambling expansion for most of his time as the Governor.
Other states in the U.S. have already considered regulating the Internet gambling industry. A couple that have been aggressive in passing the regulation are Florida and New Jersey, but neither of the states have passed any laws making online gambling legal. New Jersey would like to make Internet gambling legal so it can help the struggling land based casinos in Atlantic City.
August 7th, 2010 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker | No Comments
The Internet gambling issue will be at the forefront in the Nation’s Capital and leaders of the Democratic party that want online gambling to be legalized and regulated now have a little more ammunition in their arsenal. Carte Goodwin will take over the Senate seat in West Virginia for the departing Robert Byrd.
The Internet gambling debate will start in the House Finance Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Barney Frank who has been on the forefront of the online gambling issue. Frank has proposed legislation that will overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and has set up a blueprint for online gambling regulations. If the legislation makes it out of the House Finance Committee the House will then debate the issue.
If the legislation passes the House the online gambling issue would then go to the Senate. It is the Senate where Goodwin may play a key role in the future of Internet gambling in the United States. The Senate is currently controlled by the Democrats, but they need, pretty much, every member of their party for Frank’s legislation to not be stalled in the Senate. Since Goodwin, who is a Democrat, is taking over a seat of a Republican it gives them another vote for their party in the Senate.
Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz recently stated, “If Frank can get his legislation to a vote before the November elections, there is a stronger chance it will be approved. Having another Democrat on board can only be a good thing for Frank and other Internet gambling regulation supporters.”
Frank has also begun to receive some non-partisan support for his legislation. There have been several Republican lawmakers that have signed onto his bill to legalize and regulate online gambling. Frank’s bill is H.R. 2267 Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act.
West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin wants a vote on the issues to come this November to find a permanent replacement for Byrd’s seat. There are 2 years remaining on Byrd’s term and Goodwin is the early favorite to win the seat election after he was recently appointed the seat.
July 18th, 2010 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Rumors | No Comments
US Representative Shelly Berkley was not in favor of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) even before it became a law. She opposed the UIGEA and is currently a leading legislator in overturning the controversial law.
Berkley has stated that the UIGEA should be called the “Unworkable” Internet Gambling Enforcement Act since it places a major burden on US financial institutions. This is even more important for Berkley since she is a Representative from the state of Nevada, which is the biggest gambling state in America. Other lawmakers in the state have been hesitant to stand behind the legalization of gambling over the Internet thinking it will take away revenue from the state.
However, Nevada gaming officials are beginning to warm up to the idea of online gambling. The owner of Wynn Resorts Steve Wynn is a huge gaming mogul and he has not been quiet in his opposition to online gambling being legal. He has suggested that if the online gambling industry was regulated it would be detrimental to the land based gambling industry.
Conversely, Harrah’s Entertainment has already launched Caesar’s Palace on the Web where people can make wagers online outside of the United States. Harrah’s sees that online gambling will eventually be legal in the US and they are getting ready for it.
Representative Berkley has the same school of though that Representative Barney Frank does, as both are against the UIGEA. They both believe that citizens of the United States should be allowed to gamble online if they wish.
Berkley recently stated, “I firmly believe adults have the right to choose how they spend their leisure time and money, and that includes the ability to participate in Internet gaming from the privacy of their own homes and computers.”
Berkley has also explained that technology has changed and that websites can put safeguards in place that will keep underage people from laying wagers. Both underage gambling and problem gambling have been at the forefront of issues why Internet gambling should be illegal.
Frank has already introduced legislation that would overturn the UIGEA and make online gambling legalized and regulated in America. That legislation was to be talked about early in 2010, but the economic woes in the nation was a more important issue for the House Financial Services Committee, which Frank chairs.
The issue of Internet gambling will likely be spoken about in the fall or it may be the case that Frank will wait until the November elections are over. This would mean that talks would not happen until the early part of next year. However, Berkley is one lawmaker that wants to deal with the issue now stating, “Just as our nation learned from prohibition, when the law actually helps the bad guys instead of protecting Americans against criminals, and only makes matters worse all around, it’s time to start over.”
July 13th, 2010 | Posted in Casinos, Gambling Thoughts, News, Rumors | No Comments
It has almost been month since the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) went into effect and things seem to be going well. The law was supposed to halt gambling online by US residents by stopping the source of funding for websites, but it has not done much to slow down Internet poker gambling.
John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, recently stated, “I think we’ve seen very little impact on the ability of Americans to play poker on the Internet. For many Internet poker sites and players, the ill effects of the UIGEA were felt several months ago if not several years. Most sites migrated to other responsible payment systems and the players migrated to that as well.”
The Poker Players Alliance asked for its members to contact the organization if they were coming across problems withdrawing winnings because of the UIGEA, which was to only have an impact on financial transactions of Internet poker websites. Papas stated that the organization has not received a lot of complaints on the matter.
Papas said, “We’re kind of the front line. If our members have problems they e-mail us, and we haven’t really seen an uptick of complaints from our membership.”
The UIGEA has stopped any chance of credit card deposits, but Internet poker websites have changed to work around the laws. It is interesting that the websites that are having problems are ones like Internet horse ranking sites that were exempt from the UIGEA laws, but are still being overlooked by credit card companies and they did not have any other options prepared to take money from customers.
There have been meetings with representatives of the House of Financial services committee and the PPA to resolve the issue. The committee is expected to look over the Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, authored by Barney Frank, in July to see why the UIGEA is not properly working.
Even though no date has been set for the markup of the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, which Frank stated should have been done in may, a hearing will take place in July or August.
To make preparations for the vote the PPA is having a promotion to raise money. They are asking for donations, which began July 1st, and can be made at the website of the PPA. Pappas stated, “This is a historic vote and the PPA needs everything in place to do what is necessary. We’re hoping the poker community steps up and donates to the PPA to get us the funds we need to carry out a successful month of July.”
June 28th, 2010 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker | No Comments
Representative Barney Frank has been on the forefront of legalizing online gambling in the US. He is looking out for the millions of Americans that want to gamble over the Internet, as Frank not only wants to legalize online gambling but regulate the industry as well. However, there is a group that is not in favor of Frank’s proposed legislation.
For the most part US Attorney Generals are not in favor of any kind of online gambling regulation on a federal level. The reason for this is that if the federal government licenses Internet gaming companies to offer American residents the chance to gamble online stats may be powerless to stop it.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller recently stated, “While I recognize that Congress considers various scenarios for plugging the deficit in the federal budget. “Our concern is that licensing and taxing Internet gambling in this way would circumvent and preempt the autonomy of state government.”
Zoeller’s comments are not only his, as there have been several Attorney Generals that have made similar statements in Washington to try to make sure that they do not regulate the Internet gambling industry. However, it looks as if Washington legislators are heading to regulate the industry, as there have been studies that have shown that by doing so would reap the US government billions of dollars in tax revenue.
The states know that if the federal government is ahead of them in regulating Internet gambling they will lose out on licensing fee rights, as well as other revenue that is derived from online gambling. This is the reason that the states of Florida, California, and New Jersey are looking into their own regulations of the online gambling industry.
Another revenue generating idea that states are looking into is sports gambling. The state of Delaware has already authorized the legalization of sports gambling and New Jersey may soon follow. However, there is a law on the federal level that will prohibit the expansion of gambling on sports within the United States.
Frank will likely start online gambling talks in the House Finance Committee in the next few months. There has been speculation that Frank may have to wait until after the elections in November before he can really begin the fight to legalize Internet gambling in the US.
June 17th, 2010 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Rumors | No Comments
In 2006 the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was not a bill by itself, but part of a bigger bill dealing with port security. In 2006 lawmakers in America saw past the perils of the law and in the House the UIGEA was passed by a vote of 317-93. Of the majority vote more than a third came from Democrats.
Legislators in the US that have become more knowledgeable about the online gambling industry will not look to overturn the UIGEA. The House Ways and Means Committee will have the first chance to change the law, as they will he a proposal from Representative Jim McDermott.
In McDermott’s proposal online gambling would be taxed in America and is a part of a bigger legislation from Representative Barney Frank. The bigger bill would not only legalize online gambling, but it would also create the blueprint for regulating the online gambling industry in the U.S.
When the UIGEA was passed in 2006 there was less info available to the lawmakers about the online gambling issue. Since then there have been studies that have shown that the United States would reap billions of dollars in taxes from the gambling revenue.
Since the U.S. economy is struggling right now the billions of dollars would be of great help. McDermott has stated that he has come up with tons of ideas on how to increase revenue and that taxing the Internet gambling industry was the best one.
A major complaint against Internet gambling is the problems that may arise from more options for gambling. However, supporters of the legislation that Frank has proposed have seen how the Internet gambling industry has taken measures to protect underage gambling and curb problem gambling. These days there are many safeguards that are in place at Internet gambling websites.
Millions of residents of the United States already gamble over the Internet. Lawmakers in American, unlike a few years back, now know that cannot keep gamblers from finding ways to gamble over the Net. Frank thinks this is yet another reason why the online gambling industry should be a regulated one, as U.S. residents will feel ok with putting their money in gambling accounts that are government regulated.
The landscape has changed politically in the past few years in the nation’s capital and that may help push through the regulation of the online gambling industry. Currently, the House and the Senate are controlled by the Democrats and there are also Republicans that are aware their votes will have ramifications for the elections this fall. Because of these reasons the online gambling industry has a good shot at becoming legalized and regulated in the not too distant future.
May 19th, 2010 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Rumors | No Comments
Even though it looks unlikely that there will be no legislation on the federal level to regulate Internet poker in the United States there is a politician that thinks the next 8 months will have the first state to legalize online gambling.
New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesniak recently stated in a phone interview, “I believe we will have established Internet gaming with poker-type games by the end of the year. It means a lot to New Jersey because we have a wealthy state and a densely populated state. It will be a big boost to the economy if we are able to get it going.”
Legislation was introduced by Lesniak in the New Jersey state senate in January of last year, which would allow casinos in Atlantic City to run online gambling websites that would have poker games and casino games for New Jersey state residents. A bill similar to this one was already introduced in the state assembly of New Jersey. There has also been a hearing on that bill in the New Jersey senate and Lesniak is planning another hearing later this spring and then there will be a vote this fall.
There is talk on the federal level that Senate Majority Leader and Nevada state senator Harry Reid could introduce another similar bill regarding online gambling regulation. A Reid backed bill may gain momentum even though it is not clear how much a bill from Reid would be endorsed by the poker community after he will not be looking out for his constituent casinos in his home state of Nevada.
Since it is already May there is no movement on the online gambling bill by Barney Frank on the federal level so it looks unlikely a bill would pass this year. The best thing that can happen is a talk about the issue on Capital Hill.
If New Jersey if online poker would become legal it may have a domino effect that may pressure the federal government to get the ball rolling on the issue.
Earlier this year Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association chairman Joe Brennan Jr. said, “If it looks like the states are going to start moving on this one by one, the federal officials might realize they have to start some sort of federal license tax or the states are going to take over and they will be cut out.”
Also, Lesniak has introduced New Jersey state legislation that would offer betting on sports and he filed a federal lawsuit that challenged the law that makes it illegal to bet on sports in every state except Montana, Oregon, Delaware, and Nevada. Lesniak has stated that he would like to get a decision on this by the end of this year so New Jersey could look further into that bill.
May 9th, 2010 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker, Rumors | No Comments
Full Tilt Poker and Party Poker are two of the biggest poker sites on the New today and each has recently unveiled a couple of great new promotions.
Steps Tournaments Launched at Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt Poker is happy to announce that they have launched a new Steps Tournament promotion for its players that give them a chance to win entrance into bigger buy-in poker tournaments. This allows players to win bigger prize money, as they will have to work their up the steps of various progressive poker tournaments.
The buy ins for the Steps Tournaments will be for as little as $3.30 and they are set up like regular poker tournaments, but players will be battling it out to make it to the next step of the series. If the players do not finish high enough to advance to the next step Full Tilt Poker will still be giving away seats to other tournaments. Players at Full Tilt also have the choice to buy directly into any step the want to or buy Step Tournament tickets.
The Tournament Tickets are another way that players will be able to buy into the tournament they want to play in, which will feature many options as well as a range in monetary denominations. Every Tournament Ticket is worth a pre-determined buy-in amount and then can be used to get into any poker tournament for the value of the ticket bought.
Full Tilt players can also win the tickets in the Steps Tournaments, which are satellite poker tourneys, which include the Full Tilt Steps Main Event ones, that give their players the opportunity to win an awesome $12,000 World Series of Poker Main Event Package. All this for a buy-in of only $3.30!
Party Poker to Give $1 Million for Royal Flush
OK, so a Royal Flush is not easy to get, but if you do get one while playing at Party Poker from May 4th to May 23rd and you will get a cool million. This promotion is called the Million Dollar Hand and you never know if Lady Luck will be smiling at you and deal you the lucrative hand.
The premise is simple: you will get a card for every 15 points that you get at Party Poker from May 4th to May 23rd and if you get a pair or better you will win cash. If you get a Royal Flush you will be awarded one million bucks.
There is not a limit to the amount of Royal Flushes you can get. Also, the chances are even better for you to come out on top, as the first Million Dollar Hand card that you receive will come free of charge.
April 30th, 2010 | Posted in News, Poker, Promotions | No Comments
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