Online Casino Edition – Casino News News about online casinos and gambling

The American Gaming Association has been very supportive that more legal action has been taken against online gambling organizations. But, the president and CEO, Frank J. Fahrenkopf, stated that this form of action is not enough, calling it a “half measure.” The problem has still not been solved. He feels that what is needed is federally sanctioned licensing and proper regulations concerning online poker.

Fahrenkopf stated that “Strong enforcement against illegal operators and unambiguous U.S. laws are vital. Unfortunately, these indictments are only a half measure. The full solution is law enforcement and federally sanctioned state licensing and regulation of online poker for gaming companies that currently abide by U.S. law.”

He added, “Legislation is needed that removes the current ambiguity of UIGEA and provides a strong regulatory framework to preserve states’ rights to determine the online poker options available to their residents.”

The Present Situation

Every year, millions of Americans use foreign websites to bet billions of dollars. As long as they are able to access these sites and place their bets, it seems that they will continue to do so. This clearly spells massive, possible revenues for the US government which is being lost to the countries overseas.

After April 15, coined “Black Friday,” there was, in fact, a rise in business for the 300 organizations that continued to function within the USA. At present, it has been calculated that there are over 1,000 real money sites being controlled by operators conducting their businesses offshore but targeting the USA. As long as there is a demand and Americans are willing to bet on these sites, offshore operators will continue and will simply find new ways in which to get past any barriers put in place to stop them.

Poker Black Friday

Poker Black Friday occurred on April 15 of this year. It has been seen by many as the beginning of the government’s war against online poker. On Friday, an indictment was unsealed by the US Department of Justice against 11 defendants. These defendants included the owners and founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Piker, and Absolute Poker. Five web domains were also taken over. Five charges were put forward which covered nine counts against all the defendants. It was thought that this action would lead to the breakdown of all sites within the USA, but, as yet, this has not occurred.

A Possible Way Out

Taking Fahrenkopf’s viewpoint, it’s thought that if licensing organizations and enforcement agencies collaborate, it would be possible to do the following:

• Stop online poker sites being used for illegal reasons, for example, money laundering.
• Prevent minors from using such sites.
• Limit or prevent the online poker playing of people who live in states where this form of gambling is illegal.
• Provide tools so that people are able to control how they gamble more effectively.
• Make online poker games fairer through proper regulation and controls, for example, by stopping players from using poker bots to cheat.

There still appears to be a long way to in terms of regulating online gaming in the USA.

A three hour testimony took place recently in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It was on a bill, Assembly Bill 258, which is being pushed by PokerStars to instigate online poker into the state of Nevada. However, so far, no conclusion has been reached.

The Testimony

PokerStars is one of the largest online gambling sites. Visitors can play a wide variety of games and tournaments over the Internet. A number of witness, ranging from lawyers and economists to professional poker players, were put forward by PokerStars in an attempt to win over the committee.

A main argument put in place was that such a bill would bring in a large number of jobs, 1180 according to Jeremy Aguero, an economist from Las Vegas. The yearly salaries would then amount to $7.7 million which would mean taxes of between $37 million and $65 million. One of the fears is that if this bill isn’t put forward, other businesses could move into Nevada and begin their own Internet poker enterprises.

Another benefit is that it’s felt women will be more drawn to Internet poker. Casinos are a particularly male dominated environment and some women may be intimidated. However, gambling online takes away from this discomfort.

The Opposition

Currently, however, Assembly Bill 258 has not had the approval of the Nevada Resort Association.

A major issue is that Internet gambling is currently illegal. Last year, a bill put forward to change this was dismissed by the Senate. Members of PokerStars hope that a federal law will see that Internet poker is legalized throughout the nation.

One of the reasons why Internet poker hasn’t been given the legal go-ahead is that children could easily steal credit cards and could then use these online to gamble. A concern is that there’s no sure way of controlling this. The main argument against this is that in order to play you need to proffer other forms of identification, including digits from Social Security numbers and how long an individual has occupied their present address.

Another argument put forward was that if people could play online, why would they bother visiting any of the casinos? Restaurants and bars would also lose out due to a reduction in tourists. The counter argument to this is that it would, in fact, achieve the opposite and encourage people to visit Nevada.

The Current Situation

At the moment, within Nevada, poker doesn’t bring much money into the state. In fact, the revenue is used to simply keep the industry going. A major fear of PokerStars is that a federal bill could be a long time coming. What this will mean is that other states will be able to steam ahead and start bringing in the profits, leaving Nevada far behind. In essence, it appears that if the state really wants to reap in the rewards, it should take action now.

Many US residents and lawmakers are of the opinion that the US government has turned down an opportunity to create thousands of jobs in the country even as they brace up for the State of the Union address by the President. The President is expected to discuss a number of hot topics with creation of new jobs topping the agenda.

Thousands of jobs could have been there for the asking for US residents if online gambling regulation bill brought to the table by Representative Barney Frank and Senator Harry Reid had become a law. It would have changed the lives of thousands of unemployed Americans.

According to gaming analyst Steve Schwartz, the online gambling industry is one of the most profitable industries in the world. Regulations of the gambling industry at the federal and state level can assist the government create a million plus jobs within the industry.

Under the plans that have been put up for approval, all online gaming companies would have got the requisite licenses to operate legally in the US. This would have brought in foreign companies and their need for staff to handle hundreds of operations. The promise of creating more than a million jobs as estimated by Steve Schwartz does not look much off the mark under the present circumstances.

While lawmakers from the US irrespective of their political affiliations are truly serious about their efforts to generate new jobs, they do not seem to be interested in tapping into the huge potential of job generation that the internet gambling market can offer. The online gambling market in the US has largely remained unexplored by the federal government.

Supporters of the online casino legalization bill have tried every trick in the book to make the decision makers see sense in the tremendous potential of this untapped pool of revenue and job generation. As it stands today, all US customers must send their money overseas to be able to play at their favorite online poker sites.

The President is also expected to speak in the State of the Union address about reducing the deficit. This is another area where legalizing of online gaming industry can help to a great extent. Regulating the online gambling industry can literally bring in billions of dollars to the government coffers and can help the government have a better control on the rickety economic situation.

Bipartisan support is the biggest stumbling block in getting the online gambling bills passed. Many conservatives have in the recent past shown signs of being positive in making some changes to the current online gambling laws. However, when it comes to the crunch, their commitment levels falls much short of expectations. Gambling prohibition is a top of hot discussion whenever there is a debate about the economic affairs of the country.

The key word is cooperation. Unless both parties come together on a common platform, the online gambling legalization bill will continue to flounder at the post as it has done so many times in the past. The President is expected to stress on the need to make a definitive move on the issue at the earliest. The need for cooperation is central to providing millions of online poker players the protection that they deserve while playing online.

Online gambling enthusiasts in the U.S can now look forward to a great year in 2011 and towards 2012. The absence of any gambling related legislation getting passed during the just concluded lame-duck session has pushed away any chances of the gambling legislation coming into effect the coming year.

For most online players, this essentially means that their skills will continue to be well compensated. The bill that Senator Harry Reid has been pushing for would have halted all online poker action for more than 18 months. It was therefore quite unlikely that online gambling companies would have continued to patronize American clients as this would have meant risking their license. It is been observed that the bill introduced by Senator Reid has many flaws. Even those lawmakers who are strongly in favor of online gambling legislation point out that the Reid bill will in only help the bigger establishments located ostensibly in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. It is speculated in political circles that there is more than meets the eye as far as not taking up the online gambling bill in the current session is concerned.

The biggest piece of legislation that was passed in the lame duck session was the tax cuts bill. It is being argued that Senator Reid could have attached the online poker bill to the tax cuts legislation which needed to be passed at all costs. However, Republicans who were well aware of such a move was being planned long before the session began took the appropriate steps to get it stalled before it could be put up for vote.

Online gamblers are not too bothered by the development. For several years now, they have enjoyed their online gambling games without being protected by any legislation. That’s how they like it and hope to continue without being harassed by unnecessary and restrictive legislation. They are well aware of the fact that the Conservatives who have gained control of the house during the November mid-term election have amongst them some of the biggest anti-legislation crusaders. This would make it highly unlikely for the online gambling legislation to come into effect at an early date.

Representative Barney Frank is among those few senators who have made continuous and sustained efforts to have the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 turned back. The effort has met with little success despite some dogged persistence. His bill appears as good as dead with his loss of control in the House Finance Committee, though it has passed the Committee.

There is more news about online gambling legislation emerging from North Carolina. The state is facing a huge multi-billion dollar deficit forcing Governor Bev Perdue to explore gambling legislation as an option to generate more revenue for the state and bridge the huge fiscal gap. Online gambling is thriving in North Carolina. There is however, a huge question mark over the legality of these gambling outlets the state is not many any tax money from these gambling establishments. There has been a persistent effort by the authorities to shut down many such gambling outlets but for every unit closed, there are many more that opens at different locations in the state.

The Governor believes that providing licenses to these outlets can help the state authorities’ control them better while earning great revenues for them at the same time.