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Traffic on Tropicana Avenue in Las Vegas, Nevada, passes in front of the MGM Grand.
SAN FRANCISCO -- To prime itself for the U.S. debut of legal online poker, MGM Resorts International, owner of such Las Vegas Strip monuments as the MGM Grand, the Bellagio and the Mirage, wanted a partner that knew the ropes.
So last October it hooked up with Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment Plc, a London-listed, Gibraltar-based specialist that rakes in more from Web betting than any other publicly traded company. MGM Resorts took 25 percent of a new venture 65 percent owned by Bwin.Party, with smaller Las Vegas casino operator Boyd Gaming getting the remaining 10 percent.
Reuters
MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren attends a news conference in Hong Kong on May 19, 2011. Murren says his company's online poker tie-up with Bwin.Party, backed by onetime phone-sex and porn entrepreneur Ruth Parasol, gives it a competitive edge.
"We'll be out of the gate as soon as anybody," MGM Resorts Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren boasted to investors in February.
Online expertise isn't the only thing that distinguishes Bwin.Party. In 2009, an earlier incarnation of the company paid $105 million while admitting to U.S. prosecutors it had run an illegal gambling operation and engaged in bank and wire fraud.
Among its principal backers: a California-born woman who made a fortune in phone sex and Web pornography businesses that, like the pioneering online-gambling company that became Bwin.Party, faced multiple allegations of wrongdoing.
MGM Resorts' choice of Bwin.Party as a partner while applying for online poker licenses in Nevada might seem unusual. It isn't. The alliance reflects the calculated risks that major casino operators, Native American tribes and social-gaming giants Zynga and Facebook are weighing as they angle for a slice of a market valued at billions of dollars a year.
Caesars Entertainment Corp is prepping for online poker by tying up with an Israeli company that in 2007 acknowledged settlement talks with the U.S. Justice Department over alleged breaches of anti-gambling laws.
A group of Native American tribes in California has signed up to use software from another Israeli company, run by a man who served prison time for stock manipulation and bribery. Another tribe last week announced a deal with Bwin.Party.
Zynga, eager to convert some of its tens of millions of virtual poker enthusiasts into cash gamblers, also has been in talks with Bwin.Party and others that have had brushes with the law, according to people familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, offshore gambling outfit PokerStars is considering buying its chief offshore rival, Full Tilt, and making a run at the U.S. market even though founders of both were indicted by the Justice Department last year on charges of illegal gambling, bank fraud and money laundering, according to people familiar with the situation.
All this comes as Nevada prepares to license the first online poker operators and software suppliers late next month -- and as California, New Jersey, Iowa, Massachusetts, Delaware and other states debate similar moves.
Many of the cash-starved states, encouraged by intensive industry lobbying, have felt freer to act since December, when the Justice Department declared that one federal anti-gambling law, the Wire Act, would no longer be enforced beyond sports betting.
But casino operators, Indian tribes and Internet powers bent on offering online poker lack experience delivering it. Online poker is a business that involves processing billions of dollars worth of bets and battling the fraudsters, cheats and robot-player software that can ruin the games. Hence the casinos are cozying up to some tech-savvy offshore partners whose pedigrees might give regulators pause.
Most states have "suitability" rules designed to keep crooks out of the gambling industry. Nevada requires that successful license applicants and their large shareholders possess "good character, honesty and integrity." Nevertheless, the big casino operators and their offshore partners are betting that regulators will look favorably on their license applications for two good reasons: tax money and high-tech jobs.
Early indications are that they are right.
At a hearing on a Caesars deal with the Israeli company last year, Mark Lipparelli, chairman of Nevada's Gaming Control Board, said: "I don't think as we look at companies that we can have perfection as the standard, because I think that would be a disservice to the state in attracting business here." The board unanimously recommended approval of the venture.
Gambling foes warn that states are putting fiscal worries ahead of public safety, exposing a huge and vulnerable population to the potential for compulsive betting. "The governments are so desperate for revenues that they will partner with these lawbreaking outfits," said Les Bernal, executive director of the nonprofit Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation in Washington, D.C. "They will create addiction in order to feed off of it."
Porn and cards
Jim Ryan, co-chief executive officer of Bwin.Party, acknowledged in an interview that when the company was looking for U.S. partners, its history was a chief concern of MGM Resorts and other U.S. companies.
Reuters
Jim Ryan, co-CEO of Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, sits on a discussion panel during the GiGse online gaming convention at the Westin hotel in San Francisco on April 24.
"Suitability is the very first question on all of their minds," he told Reuters during a recent business trip to San Francisco.
It's easy to see why.
Bwin.Party grew out of PartyGaming, a brainchild of San Francisco-area native Ruth Parasol, who has a history as colorful as Las Vegas. After earning a law degree, Parasol first prospered in the 1990s through 1-900 phone-sex and other services that were sued by multiple states for aggressive billing and collection practices. In North Carolina's suit, the judge ordered a company she co-founded to pay $270,000 in damages.
Then Parasol put her money behind Internet Entertainment Group, which gained notoriety for releasing an early Pamela Anderson sex video and promising an initial public offering that never happened. Employees accused the company of routinely overbilling customers, and Chief Executive Seth Warshavsky fled to Thailand as authorities investigated. Warshavsky didn't respond to an interview request.
Parasol managed to emerge unscathed, and in 1997 founded Starluck Casino in the Caribbean, providing online gambling to customers in the U.S. and elsewhere. The company had a big hit with its PartyPoker website, which became the dominant force in U.S. online cards, and then renamed itself PartyGaming.
Parasol, who has been living in Gibraltar for most of the past decade, declined requests for an interview.
In 2005, PartyGaming's IPO became the largest London had seen in four years, valuing the company at more than $8 billion. Just then, debate over the U.S. legal status of online gambling flared.
Poker players sue to get to bottom of online cheating scheme
The Justice Department had long argued that Internet poker violated the Wire Act and other federal and state laws. Despite the success of PartyGaming and other offshore companies, no U.S.-based companies offered alternatives for fear of prosecution.
In 2006, Congress clarified the matter by passing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, or UIGEA, explicitly barring processing interstate or international poker transactions where state laws forbade such gambling. PartyGaming responded by pulling out of the U.S., leaving two-thirds of its players behind to be claimed by privately held offshore companies.
The law didn't snuff out online poker in the U.S. as players migrated to other offshore providers. Research firm H2 Gambling Capital estimates the U.S. accounts for about $400 million of global annual online poker revenue of nearly $5 billion, or 8 percent. Depending on how many states ultimately legalize online cards, that share could rise to as high as 28 percent in five years, the company says.
PartyGaming's problems didn't end when it left the United States. In 2008, co-founder Anurag Dikshit pleaded guilty to gambling via the wires in federal district court in New York. He forfeited $300 million and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, leading PartyGaming itself to settle in 2009. The company paid $105 million to avoid prosecution for pre-UIGEA violations. Dikshit couldn't be reached. His lawyer didn't return calls seeking comment.
In 2010, prosecutor Arlo Devlin-Brown told the court that the probe was continuing and referred to documents under seal. He recently told Reuters he could not comment further, leaving open the possibility that Parasol could be charged if she returns home to the United States.
PartyGaming's fortunes recovered as it began to focus on non-U.S. customers. Last year it bought rival Bwin Interactive of Austria and changed the merged company's name to Bwin.Party, with annual revenue of 691 million euros, or $902 million.
During the merger talks, the regulatory suitability of PartyGaming and Parasol became an issue. Parasol and her husband, Russell DeLeon, agreed that the board could force them to restructure their more than 13 percent stake in the merged company or sell it if "required by any gaming regulatory authority in connection with business opportunities," according to merger documents filed with regulators.
That clause wouldn't apply, however, if the licensing process is "more burdensome to the principal PartyGaming shareholders than the licensing requirements currently imposed by the state of Nevada." That means the couple's stake could, in effect, block deals in states with tougher standards. Bwin.Party's Ryan said he couldn't imagine the couple standing in the way. DeLeon couldn't be reached for comment.
Now partnered with MGM Resorts, Bwin.Party has applied for a Nevada license to offer Internet poker software and services. Co-CEO Ryan said the joint venture will handle all U.S. games where players pay to play and can cash out their winnings.
In the meantime, he said, Bwin.Party will promote its brands through a social game, to be announced soon, without the ability to cash out. Ryan said negotiations with Facebook, a likely game platform, are continuing.
Facebook declined to comment. MGM did not respond to repeated interview requests about its choice of Bwin.Party.
'Prettiest girl in town'
One of Bwin.Party's top rivals is also listed in London but based in Israel. That company is 888 Holdings, founded by a dentist inspired to put poker on the Net after a 1996 trip to Monte Carlo. The late Aharon Shaked and his brother Avi mortgaged their homes to fund the company, and their families and a co-founding family still have majority control.
In 2006, 888 joined PartyGaming in pulling out of the U.S. market. But for a time before that, 888's Casino-on-Net gambling website was among the top 10 buyers of banner ads aimed at U.S. home Internet users, reaching more than 10 percent of them in a single week, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
In 2007 the company acknowledged it was in settlement talks with the Justice Department over suspected breaches of pre-2006 anti gambling laws. No charges were filed.
The 888 deal with Caesars that Nevada regulators approved last year was a trial run of Caesars-branded online poker in the British market, where such games have been legal for years. Caesars, operator of the Strip's Caesars Palace, Harrah's and Rio, has since expanded its relationship with 888, agreeing to use its software in the United States once states approve.
Ambitions are running high at 888. "The most exciting market opportunity for the industry must be that of the States, and we are definitely the prettiest girl in town, with everybody keen to have discussions with us," 888 Chief Executive Officer Brian Mattingley told investors last month. Officials at 888 declined interview requests, as did those at Caesars.
Lipparelli, the Nevada Gaming Control Board chairman, said scrutiny of the initial Caesars venture was lower than what it would have been for a U.S. venture. He said current investigations of Bwin.Party, 888 and more than 20 other license applicants would be far more rigorous than anything the overseas outfits had experienced in their home countries. "Some will probably not make it through," Lipparelli said.
He said confessions of pre-2006 wrongdoing wouldn't automatically prevent licensing, though. Gambling executives say they expect smooth sailing in Nevada because regulators want to add local technology jobs. Concern about past lawbreaking "has all gone away," one casino executive said.
One big test could come in the case of PokerStars, based in the Isle of Man, and Full Tilt Poker, based in the Channel Islands, which together snapped up most of the U.S. market after the 2006 law was passed and PartyGaming ran for the exits.
Last year, on an April day known in online poker circles as Black Friday, federal prosecutors unsealed indictments alleging illegal gambling, bank fraud and money laundering against the founders of PokerStars and Full Tilt. Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Full Tilt had operated as a Ponzi scheme, relying on new players' deposits to cover payouts to older customers while executives and advisers took hundreds of millions of dollars from player accounts.
The indictments prompted Wynn Resorts Ltd to drop a weeks-old "strategic relationship" with PokerStars. The main owner of Station Casinos, which serves Las Vegas locals at 11 casinos off the Strip, abandoned a similar tie-up with Full Tilt. Neither Nevada company returned calls seeking comment.
Full Tilt has shut down while it negotiates with the Justice Department. But PokerStars remains the biggest site worldwide, with what others in the industry believe tops $1 billion in annual revenue. It harbors hopes that a deal with prosecutors could pave the way for a return to the U.S.
People familiar with the situation say that as part of the settlement talks with the Justice Department, PokerStars is considering buying Full Tilt and refunding U.S. players hundreds of millions of dollars missing from their accounts. PokerStars confirmed the settlement talks but declined to comment on Full Tilt or its American aspirations. Full Tilt officials couldn't be reached for comment.
'Concerned about probity'
In California, casinos and gambling-software companies already are scurrying for deals with the tribes and others that would be eligible for direct licenses under a bill pending in the state senate. Caesars manages the Rincon tribe's Harrah's casino and is hoping to build on that with software from 888.
A coalition of tribes and card rooms known as the California Online Poker Association has signed up to use software from Playtech Ltd, a London-listed British company. About 40 per cent of Playtech is owned by Teddy Sagi, an Israeli billionaire who pleaded guilty to stock manipulation and bribery in 1996 in a scandal known as the Discount Affair. He was sentenced to nine months in prison. Playtech didn't respond to a request for comment.
The tribes are aware of the risks of choosing partners that won't satisfy the state Justice Department, which the current bill would empower to approve license applications.
"We are very, very concerned about probity," said Joaquin Fletcher, president of the Pechanga Development Corp, owner of the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California. "We don't want whoever we pick to just create more nightmares down the road."
Similar concerns are on the minds of social media companies.
Zynga, the dominant provider of recreational games on Facebook, has 36 million monthly average users of its Texas HoldEm Poker, the second most popular game on Facebook after its CityVille, according to market research firm AppData.
The card game doesn't require regulation because players don't receive cash payouts, though they often pay for extra chips to play with. Those virtual chip purchases have made the game one of Zynga's top earners and opened the company's eyes to the potential of the real thing.
Lazard Capital Markets said in March that it expected Zynga to move "aggressively" and capture an extra $100 million in annual profit by offering online poker with cash payouts and prizes.
Zynga has held talks with Bwin.Party, 888, multiple California tribes and card rooms, and the big brick-and-mortar casinos, people familiar with the discussions said. The company might experiment first with poker in well-regulated overseas markets such as the United Kingdom, they said. Zynga declined to comment.
The gambling majors have seen the promise of social networking as well. MGM Resorts, like Bwin.Party, is planning its own game without cash payouts but with social networking built in. Caesars recently bought game application developer Playtika, which has a popular free slot machine app on Facebook called Slotomania, and it launched a Caesars-branded casino game suite there, too.
Despite the enthusiasm, the risks of a regulatory, legal or public-relations setback for Zynga and Facebook are substantial, even if they partner well.
With millions of free players, "it's very likely these people can be converted" to playing for real money, said one longtime offshore poker executive. "But do they want a headline saying some kid lost $10,000 playing poker on Facebook?"
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With the economy like it is, and so many people unemployed. Wages for most working people just enough to
live comfortably. My question is why are people so willing to give their money to these creeps? Gambling
is so stupid, yet the lotto's, Indian Casinos, Vegas, Reno and now on line gambling just suck money out of
peoples pockets. Saving your money and watching it grow is just as big a thrill. Slower yes, but in the end
you have it. Just saving the money that would be spent on drinks, cigarettes, gambling and for junk you
don't need, you would be surprised how fast it adds up.
My town advertises 'Games of Skill' like it takes some skill to push a button or pull a handle on a money
sucking machine.
So Ines-1159800, put your money in a bank let them gamble with it for free. If they loose it it's protected by the U. S. Government who has no Money, you get low interest, and that is what you call fun.
I don't call losing all your money in a hurry fun. You can lose it much more quickly in a casino than the stock market if you have any brains at all. I know. I did. I went to a Casino in AC twice. Busted out in less than 30 minutes. Both times. I quit. Never looked back. But I had to satisfy my curiosity about why anyone would be attracted to this. To this day, I still don't know why. And I don't care. Oh, yeah, I also consider the stock market to be casino gambling without free drinks and pretty girls. The players still mostly lose there nowadays too.
My friend, this is not about Gambling. Its about Poker. Poker is a game where money is transfered from bad players to the better players. It is a highly complex game and thus people enjoy the competition and the money it can make you when you work hard at it and figure out how to beat your opponent. Gambling on the other hand are games of low complexity (like pressing a button, or picking a number) where money is transfered from the player to the casino.
Peopel play poker for fun and some do it to make money and many as a profession.
What the goverment did cost america about 50k jobs (professional players) plus a whole industry that is no gone. So i am guessing over 100k jobs easy.
Needless to say. It is not the governments job to tell me what to do with my free time and what i should enjoy or not. It is also not its job to kill jobs and whole industries.
Rule #1: The HOUSE always wins in the end.
If you are foolish enough to gamble Do it directly with a pardner and skip the middle man. Toss of a coin is the best odds you will ever have.
HAHAHAHA! Really?! People with checkered pasts are into GAMBELING?! Is this really news?
Next news flash will be "Las Vagas did not begin as a Mormon vacation spot!"
People who gamble on-line probably walk around with word "sucker" on their forhead.
Speak for yourself. Since I was actually born yesterday, (and on a side note, I fell off the turnip truck on the way home from the hospital). I was quite surprised to see that gambling related companies might have a seedy past. Really, what's next, the mortgage industry or the health care industry? I am sure that this is just a fluke. People always put the needs of others before their own greed, so this did surprise me quite a bit.
Wow, next you'll be telling me congress is bought up by these rich dudes. And laws are made to be broken. And Goldman Sacks, Chase, Bank of America are lobbying against banking regulations.
What's next?
I have a few $$$ (not a ton) in Full Tilt.. I easily played over a year on a mere $100.
Playing was not about winning or losing exactly, but more as an alternative form of entertainment as well as a practice area for "Live Play".
But ask yourself..
If someone came along and said, "you can't do that" how would you feel?
This hurts no one, it hardly hurts the player.. I dare say, more people were hurt when the Justice Dept seized the sites and effectively denied access to the deposited funds of millions of players.. But for those persons who do lose..
Who are you to say they shouldn't have the right to lose their money.. ???
Funny, most people that oppose Online Poker don't think the Government has the right to tell them to buy Health Insurance..
So, its okay to tell your neighbor they CAN'T waste their own money, but its not okay for the Gov, to tell you you must spend your own money...
Donks!
I agrre with you. I do not agree with gambeling. But if that is what people want to waste their money on- who cares if they waste it on that or at a night club on alchohol or driving around in a car club, or motorcycle club. Non of those prove to e a good consistent Return On Investment.
I just think it is humorous people would be surprised that a criminal element may be involved in gambeling. The criminal element is attreacted to it because a lot of suckers are... not that all gambelers are all suckers.
Sucker definition; one who is so consumed with benefitting from something they do not deserve- they make poor decisions and are easily taken. (or soemthing like that)
RIO when calculated as only $$$ you have a point..
How would you calculated 1000's of hours of playing time with 0+- $$$ RIO???
Or even a minor - RIO???
Again, that hardly matters..
I do not tell others what they should or should not do if they are of legal age... it is none of my business...
If it was.. (which it isn't)
I would happily tell people not to purchase Stocks online... after all... more money has been lost trading Stocks historically and currently, than will ever be lost playing online poker for the rest of eternity... (obvious exaggeration)>
It is hardly the place of Government to protect people from themselves... especially when they are adults.
Protect me from my enemies, not from myself, otherwise, stay out of my business, collect my taxes and focus on the business of Government.
Papa? Papa? Come home papa. Mom's sick and we don't have anything to eat. Why are you losing all our money to the casino? We can't survive if you keep gambling.
talon,
"This hurts no one, it hardly hurts the player..."
Are serious?!! Go talk to all those unhurt people who have had their lives turned upside down because a family member just can't control their gambling addiction. And don't give me that "well it's only a few people who are addicted to gambling" crap either. That is as dead wrong as your stupid opinion.
And: "Protect me from my enemies, not from myself,..." you just may be completely blind as to who is the more serious threat. It reminds me of "I'm not an alcoholic; I can stop anytime I want.". Except they can't and everyone else can see that but the boozehound.
@ Richard 3165941 I was married to one of those compulsive gamblers before we had casinos in Arizona. There were home poker games, bets between friends, and state sponsored lotteries to lose your paycheck on then. Now there are casinos statewide. How does online poker being banned make things better?
I spent a lot of time playing poker online. I didn't win much money but I didn't lose much either. I was ANGERED when Bill Frist crammed that anti-poker bill through the senate. I hate to be told what to do like I am a 5 year old cretin.
Amazing some folks talk about ruining lives and families with online poker for money. Poker is played against other players and not the house. There are tons of books and tutorials online about how to play better. Lotteries are in just about every state, and can be played online in some states,legally. Lotteries have a lot higher potentail for gambling addiction and have ruined peoples lives and families. Just stand outside a convenience store and watch some people play scratchoffs. Lotteries have the absolute worse odds of any gambling, yet they are legal. Sometimes we make no sense in this country about these issues. Online poker should be legal, regulated as to age verification and keeping the game free of cheats and bots, and taxed for the good of the citizens. Kat
If 2 poker players of equal ability play each other in a cash game both go broke as their wins and losses eventually balance out and the rake eats up both their chips every hand dealt to them. With a 5% rake a player needs to be 5% better than his opponent just to stay even. For every dollar I win someone has to lose $1.10... In state run lotteries someone has to lose between a $1.50 - $1.60 for every dollar paid out.
This is where the corrupt and greedy side of the human heart is truly revealed. it is revealed through gambling when you need money then when you truly desire you crave more and more. realize that it is just paper people. it has monetary value only cause the government says so. you've noticed how easily money equivalents nothing. a piece of government paper is what has thrown this whole damned world in to utter chaos all because of pieces of freaking paper labeled with fancy letter and number.
Ah money. It's just backed by the American citizenry. You know what? That's alright by me.
Americans, they're worth more than gold any day.
My freind you got it wrong. The reason why the government went after poker is corruption and lobbies.
Take a look at the laws being proposed, they are all about preserving or generating monopolies for existing casinos. The law in NV/Vegas only allows existing casinos to offer online poker. So that the existing casinos who pay for the lobby and corruption can control the market.
If this was about making money there would be a very easy way to just make it legal, regulate it and tax and let everybody compete like in a normal free market.
In fact the governemnt does not care at all about making money or doing whats right for the country and the players.
There are already casinos in 48 of the 50 states, so why people are hand wringing about online versions is not at all clear.
All the state and federal governments are doing is jockeying for their corporate clients to get future advantages in the market.
That was the reason the casino industry bribed congress for the passage of UIGEA, so that the more successful offshore operators would be taken out the game and, now, forced to partner with American casino interests.
It'd be nice if they could wrap up their little corruption fest so that those of us who want to play can get back to it. Gambling has been well regulated in Great Britain since the 1950s and we are way behind the curve.
For those who don't know any better, there's no such thing as a professional roulette player, but there is such a thing as a professional poker player.
The reason it's so popular is that it can be won at all.
People who call poker gambling does not know how the game is played so when or if they did try to play it they are essentially gambling, therefore it is not incorrect that they conclude it as gambling. I respect if they realize they are not capable of playing the game they should quit instead of getting suckered in but obviously they have no respect to others' rights to exercise their freedom.
Wait for those who claim that they know better, that the game is rigged, these are the narcissists losers that suddenly find there is a game they cannot win, it crushes them, it really does.
The way the tax code is currently structured the average working person is better off gambling than working!
Only Losers Gamble.
here is one
In my reply to Richard 316... above, I forgot to mention that I did play poker online and lost my money when Full Tilt was seized :( , but the money I lost was money I had won in freerolls. I never deposited any money, so until it disappeared it was all pure profit. We are talking less than $100, but winning it bit by bit was fun. If we should ban things that might cause addicted people and their families problems, should we ban cigarettes, alcohol, and sex? What about the workaholics who hurt their families by lack of time spent with them? Should we ban gainful employment? It is impossible to protect people from themselves, and it is not the government's place to try.
Be glad when we have it. I'm not a big gambler like some. It was very relaxing playing for 25 cents each game. Never made a profit, but I would get $25.00 enjoyment for afew months. Winning some and of course losing. Personally, I would never trust computer poker for high stakes, but that's me. It doesn't happen often, but I've read where they caught a dude with the program, winning at high stakes. Usually most at high stakes are professional and can detect a crook after awhile. At 25 cents a game, you can have a ball and lots of entertainment. It was over a year or two that I played for about four months and found out it wasn't legal, so I dropped out immediately. The old saying, don't waste money you can't afford on them sure things. I've always noticed the Casinos are the big winners. Computer poker is no different. If you start feeling your a pro after playing 25 cent games, you might go mow the grass instead of betting big. At least you will have your grass mowed and still have your money. Las Vegas loves the one's that think they are pro's.
So now we know the REAL reason they busted the big 3 online poker companies. It wasn't because of what they were doing (although Full Tilt seems to have been shady), but because they were about to allow U.S. companies in on it, and wanted to give them even footing.
I wouldn't be surprised if they end up letting Pokerstars back in....but I can almost guarantee you they'll wait until the American companies have been around for a while.
Who said crime doesn't pay??
---Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker, Pokerstars
--Al Capone
---Martha Stewart
---Paris Hilton
Pokerstars is a legit company unlike Full Tilt or Absolute Poker / Ultimate Bet.
I had money on all 4 at times. I took my money out of AP & UB well before black Friday. Had like 80 on FT & 300 on PS I got my 300 back pretty fast from PS. I doubt I will ever get my 80 back from FT
Whenever there is money involved someone will find a way to cheat you. These poker programs are programed by human cheats and any player or game can be targeted at any time. If you think they are totally random then you deserve whatever you get. Or you can just have your banked money in a on-line poker site used by others for their own means and unable to get it out. Then you let some Poker Star give a endorsement for a site only to have it be closed for fraud, money laundering whatever enterprise the perpetrators want to use it for. Some people are just waiting to be used like cattle. Sorry, but facts are facts.
Anyone playing poker on line needs treatment. There are too many ways to cheat. The computer system may take a cut. A group sitting at the same table can rob you blind.
Frankly, I don't care how gamblers entertain themselves. But states should figure out a way to tax it because God forbid they can't raise the income tax or their political careers are over.
There is cheating in online poker. There is cheating in real casinos. There is cheating in real life too. Your logic makes no sense. Should living be illigal cuz there might be crime?
Online sites have effective measures against cheating and actually poiling quite well.
Now if we could just make cheating online illigal and punish people properly now that would actually help > hence we need regulation!
Here's a tip for casual gamblers.
Do not tell yourself I'm only going to lose $ whatever, because you will play till you lose.
Better, is to set the loss limit and the win limit. Play till you hit your loss limit but also quit when you hit your win limit.
I don't gamble that often, about once or twice every year, when I was in my 30's and have yet to lose anything to the casino. All but one time I paid for the trip and that time just broke even at the tables. Personally craps is a much better game than blackjack, but you need to know how to play it. All the stuff you can read and understand by looking at the board DON'T BET ON THOSE. Learn how to play first.
After seaching Go Daddy for The BEST generic gambling and betting domains, it's interesting to see that they are ALL held by 1 company - " ONLY BET.com " . Watch this company - they will be a KEY strategic partner for someone thinking online. I can't find any listing for them anywhere ? Does anyone know anything about them ?
What you are saying is inacurate (personally I find it dumb too).
1. First of all Poker is not gambling. Maybe read the article again. The law in Vegas is about poker.
2. "The house always wins" is either wrong when you are talking about gambling (you can actually win) or does not apply to poker, because when you play poker you don't play against the house. In poker the house charges you a time fee or rake. About $10 per hour.
Playing poker is harmless casual fun for a lot of people. Yes, it can be harmful when someone becomes addicted, but I hardly want the government involved in banning anything addictive or potentially harmful. What's next - cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine, video games, chocolate, red meat, cars that go more than 20mph?
If someone doesn't want to play poker, hey, that's fine. But it's out of line to take it away from people who do want to play just because you don't see the appeal.
Typical online poker hit piece. It's standard that the people who are so against it are also people are also people who dont play poker and no nothing about it.
Spoken like someone who never learned to play poker. Particularly texas holdem or omaha.
Very interesting games once you learn them.
Cake poker wasn't mentioned in the article, and is very popular also in the U.S.
Poker played on Zynga is so unlike cash games in level of aggression and skill required to profit, it's truely unfair to compare the two.
Poker is NOT gambling...it is a game of skill. Some have it, most don't. You are not playing against the house, you are matching wits against another individual, and the house just takes a cut of the action up to a certain limit depending on the game. Black Friday happened because the US Government, the biggest house in all the land, wasn't getting their cut. I lost ton's of money from FT as they never payed out...PS payed me within two weeks. Never had any money at UB, due to the cheating scandal and all.
Let them regulate, moderately tax it, and keep out the cheats and the tracking sites, and I'll be balls in...getting tired of making the trek down to Parx.
You should study a betting guide before playing online. No doubt luck is a crucial factor, skill also plays a part too.