October 12, 2006 10:46 AM PDT
Poker giant says it's exempt from gaming ban
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The world's second-biggest Internet poker firm says poker is a game of skill and not subject to U.S. Net waging ban.
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You can argue that poker is a "game of skill", but still, there is no getting around the fact that it is "subject to chance".
And, I'm sure congress intended to include poker, so they can always go back and "clarify" the law.
UH-OH, I guess that day-trading of stocks, or in fact any buying or selling of stocks, is now illegal online. It has always been the best and biggest gambling game in town. But all good things must end, especially in post-9/11 America. Poker now, day trading next, then the rights of assembly and free speech if we are not careful.
Pretty odd that online you can play an always-losing game for entertainment (e.g., click here to see a naked lady performing for $29.99) but it is now illegal to play the one game where you can actually consistently earn a living and feed your family (e.g., click here to bet $4 that your aces full of kings will win).
It is also pretty funny how they can claim that games of intelligent risk-taking like poker, are "gambling" and detrimental to society, when in fact intelligent risk taking is the basis of capitalism (a game of sorts, with winners and losers on a grand scale!!!) and the essence of survival and prosperity in the modern world.
One more freedom flushed down the drain by Bush in the name of the WAR ON TERROR and/or saving us from ourselves.
I wonder how many more thousand barrels of oil per day will be burned by poker players driving to distant casinos, and how many of them will die when bird flu strikes, when they could have saved gas and stayed safe playing online at home.
Personally, I'll drive to the nearest poker casino 2x as much as I already do (playing online half the time now)...and thereby donate an extra $2500 to the Saudis, but I would prefer to stay at home and let them eat their oil.
The bill should have at least grandfathered in any pros who actually declare and pay tax on their consistent winnings.
If it were strictly a game of chance, everyone would eventually win and lose at about the same rates. They don't.
The problem is the wording of the law. It plainly states "a game subject to chance". Note...it says "SUBJECT TO"...not "entirely comprised of".
As anyone with a beating heart can tell you, there is an element of chance in poker. You can't predict what will flop or what cards you will be dealt. This is where poker is "a game subject to chance".
The poker gaming sites just got plain greedy and blew it. They have nobody to blame but themselves, and I'll tell you why.
All gambling is illegal in my state in the US. But, the state runs a gambling operation it calls a "lottery", of which about 1/3 was earmarked for education - so that makes it OK.
It is evidentally not "a game subject to chance" if you most certainly will lose every single time you play. But I digress...
Had the greedy morons at the online gaming houses donated 1/3 of the US income (probably a lot less) to education (or whatever...) there is NO WAY (nope, not a chance in hell) that this legislation would have ever passed.
If its one thing a politician won't give up, it's money to burn.
Talk about blowing a golden opportunity.
There is no "computer" player in online poker, so dealing "bad" hands would affect everyone equally.
They make their money by taking a percentage of each hand. Now stfu.
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