Forbes Magazine Profiles Online Poker Vs The Feds

[wildspoke 2]

Interesting article about online poker and the back and forth battle. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0301/gam...line-poker.htmlThe profits of pokerstars and fulltilt – staggering.

[Sparkywins 0]

I wish my name was DikshitThat was a good read. I hate Barney Frank but this is one thing I can agree with him on. Of course I'm sure he'd want to overtax it like alcohol and cigarettes.

[StrippersNBlow 0]

Good article, thanks.

[lurbz 2]

tl;dr, cliffnotes?

[FCP Bob 1,320]

Good article that puts some of the legal issues in a nice package for people who aren't familiar with what is going on.The part of the article that I think is the most interesting I'll quote below.

Why hasn't the government yet cracked down on the poker firms? One possible explanation is that prosecutors figure they are better off bluffing than having to show their hands before a jury. "The federal government is not going to take any action against them because they would stand a chance of losing it," says Frank Catania, who used to run New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement and now advises online gaming firms.case law on online poker is mixed. The Wire Act was enacted in 1961 to suppress interstate gambling and bookmaking. It clearly makes online sports betting illegal. But for online poker the Wire Act's wording is less clear. Another law the feds have used, the Illegal Gambling Business Act, requires a violation of an underlying state law--and many state laws say gambling is only illegal if the outcome rests largely on chance, as opposed to skill. Poker is, to some degree, a game of skill. "In poker the skill elements of the betting and folding usually determine the winner," Lederer argued in an article published online.In the end what the government usually cares about most is whether gambling is providing a mechanism for other criminal activity, like money laundering, underage gambling or cheating. If it isn't, maybe there are bigger things for the police to worry about. For his part Doyle Brunson insists: "The poker industry as a whole is ready to have a fight."