Online Poker

[Selcopa]

This past friday (April 15th 20111) the US government has raided the online poker giants Pokerstars,FullTilt Poker, Ultimate Bet, and Absolute Poker, you can see the seal's at NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE and NOTICE

The FBI is filing a 3 Billion dollar civil suit against these websites for Money Laundering and Fraud, saying that they tricked the payment processors, saying the money being transferred was for purchasing jewelry,golf balls, t-shirts, ect.

I've played online poker for a few years, and while I have bought T-shirts from them(using points obtained for being a Frequent Player) I have also requested many bank wires and checks from there, and have always received them with the title "Pokerstars" I will be surprised if this fraud charge really sticks.

However why is Internet Poker illegal? Do I not have the right as a consenting adult to play a game of skill with other people, I can play a game such as Bejewelled for money, and it is perfectly legal, I can play Freecell, Solitaire, and tons of other games for money, literally I can put my $5 against someone elses online and the winner gets the pot. But not internet poker.

Please do not use things such as "Cheating, Collusion, Bots" as for reasons to not allow Online poker, these things are easily defeated, and I would happy to spell out why they are not significant(and in some cases actually better than live poker) Also compulsive gambling isnt very effective either, as websites have deposit limits, transfer limits and even loss limits before you can lock yourself out of playing for a period of time.

[Locke4God]

Online poker isn't illegal first off, and that's not why they were raided.

It would be illegal, not because it's a game of "skill" but because gambling is involved which is illegal.

My take on it is that these companies were opperating as fronts for something else, but I don't know what.

as a fellowing online poker player though I would like to ask you if you can still access your online funds?

[nix]

The reasons he speaks of are true, any funds within their website were seized.

The company i work for along with a number of other poker rooms are now currently scrambling with advertising to pick up the loyal players of the affected poker rooms, see here:

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[Rocky]

The reasons he speaks of are true, any funds within their website were seized.

The company i work for along with a number of other poker rooms are now currently scrambling with advertising to pick up the loyal players of the affected poker rooms, see here:

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If I get a job there and move out to Ireland, can we be roomies?!

EDIT: rofl completely didn't realize that this in the ID thread.

Um to answer your question on why it's illegal, well you kinda answered it yourself? They tricked payment processors, which is fraud, which is illegal to do so, which can cause operations to get shut down and people sent to jail. As for your second paragraph, thats a great story and all and I guess you being surprised to see the charge stick is one thing, and I honestly doubt it will stay as well but I'm sure there will be some reworking involved as far as the processing goes.

From what the UNLAWFUL INTERNET GAMBLING ENFORCEMENT ACT of 2006 says, "Section 5363 does not make it illegal for a mere player to make bets or wagers. Rather, the Act applies only to those involved in the business of betting or wagering." So this means that the gamblers are not breaking the rules, but technically the programs allowing the gambling are, so they are illegal. One of the stipulations on getting a gambling license in the US is that the company can not be processing payments as an offshore company, which it was pokerstars/full tilt/absolute was. They committed fraud so players could cash their checks, and now they got their hand caught in the cookie jar, so there it goes.

As for why it should be illegal on the internet? Because it's the internet. I can be whomever I want to be while on the internet, who is to prove me wrong that I'm not actually a middle aged single woman with 9 cats living in New York? The "assurance of age" etc rules that these websites have in place are very easy to get around, all it takes for an underage kid to steal his mommy's credit card while shes cleaning the kitchen and some kid can get right into the middle of a tournament with money on the line. The legal age to gamble is anywhere from 18-21 in the states, and people are getting around that by going online to gamble, so therefore the activity is illegal.