What can WE do to save online poker?

[RCNastermind]

I'm sure everyone else is as angry over the current online poker situation as I am. It seems that the poker sites and player representation associations (PPA) have not used their full resources to ensure the future of the game.

Not only am I a new poker affiliate, but I play the game for a living. I've called/wrote members of the government but only receive form letters saying "Gambling is bad Yadda Yadda Yadda". What more can I as an individual, and more important us as a group, do to save the game we love and profit from? I believe that regulation is a solution that benefits everyone, what can we do to get that to happen.

If online poker is going to die, I don't want to be left wondering if I could have done something more. I have faith we can make some sort of impact if we put our heads together. I mean, isn't that how this country is supposed to work? I'm willing to put in a good deal of effort to anything that might help, I'm just not sure what that is yet. So if anyone has any ideas, or wants to brain storm with me post here or send me a PM.

[corpfan1]

I think that this is going to be one of the great debates of our time...

Gambling is evil vs. Gambling is fun and entertaining


It is TRULY a shame that we can not choose. I love poker and sports betting. I do it for fun and for the chance to win a few extra bucks. Heck, I used to buy scratch tickets all the time and play slots when I visited the Casino...but I realized once playing poker that my "CHANCES" were much better because I was using my "BRAIN" to play instead of a coin flip situation.

I would love to sit down with 9 other politicians and play limit holdem or even no limit holdem for an 8 hour session and see if it I am just "LUCKIER" or if I am just "BETTER" at this game of "CHANCE". LOL

Sure you can get addicted...my girlfriend is addicted to ice cream...when is that ban coming? People are addicted to "24" and "FRIENDS", but they aren't cancelling the shows!

They say that you can lose your house if you are a gambler...you can lose your family and health by being "ADDICTED" or even "INTERESTED" in many other everyday legal things.

What a shame this all is...especially because we all know that this is "JEALOUSY" by the government for $$$$ they are not getting. Once they find a way to share in the pie...it will be "SOOOO LEGAL"!!!

I am not sure what we can do, I think the answer is TIME.

This is really just a short term example of how we are turning into a BIG BROTHER society.

Any of you teens out there who will one day have a family...you probably won't have to worry about a HEALTH CARD...I am sure all babies will have MICROCHIPS soon.

Time for ANARCHY...that is my solution!

Sorry for the rant, but I needed to do 1 this year.

[edmc]

In modern usage, the term "dictator" is generally used to describe a leader who holds an extraordinary amount of personal power, especially the power to make laws without effective restraint by a legislative assembly. It is comparable to (but not synonymous with) the ancient concept of a tyrant, although initially "tyrant," like "dictator," was not a negative term. A wide variety of leaders coming to power in a number of different kinds of regimes, such as military juntas, single-party states and civilian governments under personal rule, have been described as dictators.

[kaus]

This is an absoloute witch hunt. It's as if the US government knows they can not stop people from playing so they are going after the middles man. "We remove thier middle man we remove the players" Maybe I misunderstood the whole Neteller charges but there are sites that allow three types of gambling....poker/sportsbetting/casino. How easy is it for someone to transfer money to these sites than in turn use it for sportsbetting. Unless they did something directly with sportsbetting I personally do not see this as a really big deal. They were the middle man. If this be the cause should the governement not charge the individulas who opened these accounts and made the money wires, and to go further what about the financial institutions that allowed the payments to be processed both ways.


I think the governement is out for every reason possible to prove thier point that gambling is bad and people who gamble do illegal things. As far as people being addicted I do think they should maybe try Gambler's Annonymous. Have they taken alcohol away..no because it makes them money. Yet how many more lives are destroyed by someone who is an alcoholic vs a gambler. How many people have lost thier lives due to alcohol or the actions of someone who has been drinking. Yet the government still sells alcohol and heavly taxes it to thier advantage. They do nothing to help an alcoholic or thier families when they are in need. Yet because of some people who have extorted money for thier own habits, lost thier homes they feel the need to step in. Well when the governments and I am not speaking about just the US I mean Canadian politicians to can stop being hypocrits than maybe I will believe in the system. ( I think this Neteller issue will aggravate things here up north)

Maybe the US governement or even other poker players should start looking toward other countries to see how they have went about taxing this and regulating it. Other countries have shown that it is possible.

I also wanted to add that maybe I have missed such things but I have yet to see one pro on TV discuss the ban, promote gaming, and discuss the issues at hand. Like I said that maybe I have missed it but this I think is something very important to have those that make the money, who are superior in skills explain the reasons that this is wrong and why it is not luck. Having them support the players side in this on national tv recieves publicity. There are still people out there who have not heard or do not know the complete story of the ban. The more positive attention it recieves the better. Why wouldn't they I mean it is them that draws players to sites like Pokerstars and Full Tilt, kids wanting to win thier chance to play online with them, attend the WSOP, so in return they should be supporting the ones who want the freedom to do what they do.

[edmc]

They have just changed the Bill without changing it.

Ne-Teller is now an American Bank but not an American bank.

Poker is now a Luck game. The Lottery is a game of skill.

The Acts covers poker but has nothing to do with the ban of poker.

The USA is a Free Country as long as its taxed

[PokerProp]

Originally Posted by corpfan1

Sure you can get addicted...my girlfriend is addicted to ice cream...when is that ban coming? People are addicted to "24" and "FRIENDS", but they aren't cancelling the shows!

I agree very much that the addiction aspect used by anti gaming advocates is lame. Most of the population is addicted to their $50K per year jobs to the point that they chose to live broke and have no time or extra money to do things with and for their families. Seriously, how sad is that?

[GregK]

You got it Pokerprop

Work 'yer 40hrs every week (plus a little unpaid overtime) & consume, consume consume! lol

[RCNastermind]

This post wasn't meant to be another thread complaining about the government, etc. It was meant spark some discussion about what we can do to help save the game we love and profit from. The only thing I've thought of so far is writing to every major company/individual who profits from the game to see what they are doing to push for regulation. If I have a better gage of what's being done I might be able to come up with some more ideas.

[kaus]

If you are looking for ideas here are some.

First and foremost write to your politicians....not just once but repeatedly, weekly or twice a week if you have to. If you can find just one politician who would speak on your behalf, than I think part of your battle will be won

Write to newspaper editors..those columns where people get to speak thier minds. Prove the skill vs luck and show what is good about poker not the bad PR it has been recieving. Tell people about how the law was passed and how this violates peoples rights to freedom, there are still people who may not have heard whats going on. Be it they may not play poker but there sure are a hell of alot of advocates for these types of issues.

I do believe that the pros should be speaking out, write to them ask them what they are going to do to try and help this situation because in turn it does affect them whether directly or indirectly. These are some of the main people I think would have a really big sway in others minds on the topic of skill (Example I seen Negraneau last night on tv...local news station... with a bunch of amateurs and he showed them that based on thier play he could call out thier cards and he did. He knew exactly what they were holding. This is not luck) I am sure a interview on a prime time show would be tons of publicity, showing thousands upon thousands of Americans what thier country can do, and the sneaky ways it can be done.Plus they always like to discuss topics like this. Having pros discuss issues at hand on the sports channel is not going to get the message out far enough


Ask the poker rooms, they can't agree with this seeing as they lost a huge portion of thier revenue. They must have a way of helping. Since they promote many US players, Stars, Fulltilt, and they seem to like the revenue they generate from US players they should be able to do something to help.

Start your own group (instead of just the PPA) to fight this. I am quite sure this can be done very easily with the use of blogs and will gain in popularity as word spreads.

This might be way off but maybe look for someone who specializes in areas of regulation and see if it is possible to taxing it and coming up with a plan on doing so that is feasable, than show the politicians that "hey we have a solution that meets both of our needs her you go"


....just a start

[Graham]

I really don't think this is an issue of whether gambling is bad or not. This is more of an issue that they (the gov't) can't profit from it. If gambling really were so bad, do you think that land based casinos, government run lotteries (more so in Canada, not sure of US), horse racing tracks and all other forms of LEGAL gambling would exist. I think the only way to get to the bottom of this issue is to find out what the government actually wants out of this and come to some kind of compromise. I have probably lost more playing the stock market then I have gambling, but that's not illegal. People can pump and dump stocks and screw people over but thats okay. I think poker is pretty similar to stock trading in a way because the is a large percentage of skill with an element of luck involved, but I don't think they will make funding your trading accounts illegal anytime soon. All in all... I think the best solution... move up here to Canada