Archived May 2007 US Poker Updates

Go to our main US online poker page for most recent updates

Updated Thursday May 31

11:07pm – Although I’m not a big fan of the Poker Law writer, Allyn Shullman, over at Cardplayer she wrote an article titled ‘Attorney General Gonzalez Not Sure How to Enforce UIGEA’.

I wasn’t going to link up the article because if you follow our blog or any basic forum out there she just recaps some pretty basic stuff about her interpretation on what will happen after the UIGEA is published into the Federal Registrar by the Treasury.

I believe her outlook is MUCH more optomistic than it should be.  I’m optomostic too that the regulations won’t be too strong but she believes even if they aren’t watered down, that it’s no big deal.  Her view on deposit methods under the title “Still Looking” (last paragraph in that section) is WAY off.  She says there will always be ways for people to deposit using things like Western Union and sending cashier’s checks in.  Honestly, how comfortable do you feel about sending anything more than $100 through these methods?

That’s my first rant in 7 months on this blog just because I’m not too pleased with the articles she writes and feel like she doesn’t write her articles from the average players perspective.  On the other hand she seems to know her stuff from a legal stand point so I continue to give her articles credit of a referral.

Updated Wednesday May 30

12:58pm – Yusill from the NY US DOJ press office said there were no updates to the Neteller cases.  There were no scheduled court proceedings or return of indictments.  Last reports were that they were scheduled to meet 2 weeks from May 14th which would have been early this week.  The extensions continue.  Also, while we are talking about Neteller they now have 5 days (June 4th) left to announce a plan to release US customers funds.

Updated Tuesday May 29

8:31pm – In regards to my last post and news release I went ahead and sent in a reply to the email asking for some more details and if they could give us some concrete examples as to what’s going on and possibly a rough estimate of a date.  There are 44 days left for the “grace period” drafting to set in and it almost sounds like it’s going to take longer.  I want to hear them say this though.  Hopefully I will be able to get a hold of someone over the phone tomorrow.  All details will be posted as information comes in.

1:50pm – A few days ago we told you that we wrote in to the Federal Reserve probing about possible updates as to when the regulations would be released for the UIGEA.  Although we were hoping for a reply directly from Chairman Bernanke, head of overseeing the drafting, we instead got a letter from a representative of Bernanke.

12:40pm – Roxy Poker and (Roxy Casino) have stopped accepting US players.  They will cut all US players loose on June 1.

Updated Monday May 28

8:02am – Not much happened this weekend with the US progress.  I got an email this morning from J. Todd saying they released their podcast at apcw.org/podcast.  He’s the guy who is in those Perspectives Weekly videos I post every week.  Sounds like the podcast will allow users to call in, ask questions, and then he calls back during the show to go over the screened topics he wants to cover regarding latest US changes.

Updated Saturday May 26

1:41am – The Poker Players Alliance has brought on John Pappas to be the Vice President of government relations for the organization.  His job is lobbying to get online poker licensed and regulated in the US. .  On a side note, I noticed the PPA have almost 528,000 members now. 

12:01am – I wrote a letter just now to Secretary Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke at the Federal Reserve (both are head of overseeing the drafting of the UIGEA regulations) regarding the time frame and expected release of the regulations for the UIGEA.  I asked for any updates they could give me.  It’s a shot in the dark but it would be interesting to see if they get back to me.  I figure since they are getting accused of “dragging their feet” by certain special interests group they should at least respond to that accusation.  I’ll post the email if they do.

Updated Friday May 25

10:59pm – A new J. Todd Perspectives Weekly video was added to the videos section above.  He goes over Citadel and the Firepay seizures and an analysis of the Barney Frank Bill.  J. Todd also discusses the latest WTO issues.

10:53pm – Affective May 31’st Dream Poker will no longer allow US players to play for real money.  They are part of the old Prima Network which is now owned by Microgaming.

12:57pm – The United States said they will not appeal the WTO dispute with Antigua and instead will withdraw their treaty obligations in regards to online gambling.  As you might expect other countries are very upset over this including the European Union, Brazil and India.  There are World Trade Organization members considering filing claims for damages which is said to possibly cause massive damages to unrelated US business.  Antigua has now asked the WTO to suspend all intellectual property obligations to the United States!  Imagine if China, Japan or the European Union asked to do the same.

Updated Thursday May 24

1:24am –  Scott, a visitor to our site, just sent in a big, juicy nugget on Senator Kyl.  In brief, Senator Kyl who is pushing really hard for tough enforcement of the UIGEA and internet censorship actually proposed a bill in 2002 to STOP internet censorship.  It really is a great find and while I find reading Bills not exactly the highlight of my day, this one was worth it. 

Updated Wednesday May 23

8:46pm – Sam Brownback, a Republican Senator from Kansas has called out the Treasury saying,

“They are dragging their feet in launching the necessary restrictions to affectively enforce the UIGEA.”

He visited the Treasury to ask if they would be committed to the proper implementation of the UIGEA and putting the personnel in place.  Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council accused the Treasury Department of corruption by saying,

“The gambling forces seem to have some friends in those departments that might have been helping write some of those regulations,”

As of today there are 49 days left until the UIGEA enforcement deadline.

Updated Tuesday May 22

12:32pm – According to Gambling911 Tom Minnery, Vice President of Public Policy drafted a letter to president Bush asking to enforce the UIGEA with exactly what Senator Kyl wants.  They are both pushing for “a list” of gambling sites’ banks that process financial transactions for them and to have them blocked.  A lot is riding on how strongly the UIGEA can be enforced and it seems like without these ongoing lists not much will change from its current state.  I think Attorney General Gonzalez and President Bush both have much bigger things to worry about right now….

Updated Saturday May 19

8:38am – This little nugget was found by a twoplustwoer.  I’m mentioning it because the site it was found on seems to be owned by a well known online gambling lawyer, Lawrence Walters.  Here is a quote labled under VI. Website Blocking Provisions

“The Attorney General of the United States has now been empowered to unilaterally demand the immediate removal of any website he believes to be in violation of the UIGEA, in his unlimited discretion.”

8:11am – Full Tilt Poker has removed the use of myWebATM.  This could be temporary but as of right now it does not show as an option.

Updated Friday May 18

1:52pm – J. Todd has released a new video from APCW.

Updated Thursday May 17

4:00pm – According to Alwaysbluff.com Firepay and Citadel are in trouble with the US Department of Justice.  According to the article, they are in cooperation with the DOJ.  Chances are it involves sports betting.  Before this announcement both companies stopped accepting gambling transactions post-UIGEA.  Firepay was one of the first to pull out with Citadel leaving the US slightly later.  $9.25 million dollars was seized from Citadel by the DOJ.  Firepay has $19.2 million dollars in seized funds.

1:24pm – The Neteller arraignment was pushed back another 2 weeks by the judge according to the press office at the NY DOJ.

Updated Wednesday May 16

8:47pm – There was no press release issued by the DOJ today about Neteller so I’m assuming they either didn’t meet or didn’t come to an agreement….again.  I’ll have more details tomorrow when I call the NY District to see what exactly happened.

11:35am – The scheduled Neteller arraignment is once again expected today.  I will report on what happened as soon as I get a press release in.

Updated Tuesday May 15

11:35pm – As most know by now Poker.com the website is no longer an actual “poker room” where you can play.  They have since got bids for the domain name for $27 million.  Players can still play on the software which was advertised at Poker.com but it is now considered the Merge Gaming Software.

11:29pm – Gary Kaplan, the founder of Betonsports has pleaded not guilty to racketeering yesterday.

11:27pm – The Poker Players Alliance has hit the half million mark in terms of members.  D’Amato still says there needs to be around 1 million to really make a stand.

Updated Monday May 14

12:14pm – Cryptologic software is reporting that the loss of Betfair poker in the US market is one of the reasons their profits dropped nearly 80%.  Relocating the business also resulted in less than expected profits.  One thing Crypto didnt mention as a major factor causing such low numbers was the fact that Neteller stopped accepting Canadian players.  I think this had a big impact on their profits as well.

Updated Saturday May 12

10:51am – Charges have been brought against 7 people accused in processing gambling transactions for gambling sites.  This included payments for a site called BetUS.com.  The people are charged with money laundering, money racketeering, bank fraud among other things. 

Updated Friday May 11

6:10pm – J. Todd has released this weeks episode of APCW Perspectives weekly video.  He talks about Betonsports/Carruthers and also the WTO/USA latest issues.

Updated Thursday May 10

10:25pm – Mark your calendars here is a list of upcoming important events. 

9:33pm – Here is the interview with Barney Frank on HoldemRadio.com done last night.  It’s the best interview I’ve heard yet and answers a lot of questions about the bill he introduced to regulate online gambling.  The cliff notes are below because the audio page is no longer active.

Cliff Notes to HoldemRadio.com Interview

00:00 Introduction to the interview and Barney Frank’s bill
2:39 His thoughts on Bill Frist (the man who got the bill passed) and possible corruption?
3:47 Franks’ collegues that support him…..his thoughts.
4:44 What his incentives are to introduce this bill and why he supports it
5:36 Franks thoughts on compulsive gamblers etc. (He makes great points on this)
7:11 His thoughts on the HB 3186 (Poker in Texas)
9:52 What people should be doing to further this bill goes through
11:58 More about Senator Frist and his incentives to ban online gambling transactions
14:35 How his Bill would protect customers, underage gambling etc.
16:20 Franks’ thoughts on the chances of the Bill passing and repealing the ban
17:17 Frank talks about Rep. Berkley’s Bill introduced to study online gambling
18:20 Discussion about why sports leagues are pissed about Franks’ Bill and why he thinks they are mad

Updated Wednesday May 9

9:26pm EST – Holdemradio.com will hold a Q&A with Barney Frank in 34 minutes.  You can watch archived clips if you miss it.  The interview happens to coincide with LOST tonight.

11:51am – There is rumor that Neteller is going to be back in the US market and that the DOJ dropped everything against Neteller.  I had to laugh when I first read it too!  Probably someone just trying to spread rumors to raise the stock price.

Updated Sunday May 6

11:41am – Betonsports has agreed to plea guilty after long sought out advice from their lawyers and agreements with the US Department of Justice.  Pleaing guilty now will keep any of Betonsports directors safe from unindicted cases down the road that involved Betonsports.  Many players are still owed money from the company in unpaid withdrawls.

Updated Saturday May 5

8:54pm – Rochelle “Shelley” Berkley of Nevada has introduced a bill to study online gambling.  If the name rings a bell you might remember her from our videos section (2nd from bottom) above where she gets really pissed off before the UIGEA passes.  The bill is said to have 60 co-sponsors opposed to only 11 for Barney Franks bill.  Berkley has already adimately stated she wants to repeal the UIGEA.

11:13pm – Pokerstars sent out an email saying they will begin sending out checks to players from New York once again starting Tuesday.

Updated Friday May 4

11:19pm – According to Courant.com, the Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Bluhmenthal, says he plans to take legal action against New York for allowing online horse betting to Connecticut residents.  You can tell the Attorney General is looking out for nothing but the citizens interests on this one considering you can legally place bets on horses in currency or by telephone in Connecticut…….just not over the internet! 

Updated Wednesday May 2

8:17pm – AmericasCardRoom has been bought out by Bookmaker.com.  If you go to ACR’s homepage you see redirects to either Bookmaker.com for US players or Betcris for International players.

1:29pm – According to a quote on Egaming Review coming from Barney Frank, even he doesnt think the bill will pass the House.

“He added that at present he reckoned his legislation would have at most 130 to 140 votes out of 435 in the House of Representatives.  Frank said any progress would be a matter of “how many people care about this and push it”.

1:14pm – Not much has happened since the Barney Frank Bill release.  A non-online issue that is important for North Carolina citizens is that the Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that poker is a game of luck not skill.