I feel safer too! I'm just really glad that drug dealers and terrorists aren't hosting poker parties. Don't they have real work to do like the rest of us?

As for Tom Delay, the former exterminator and former Congressman... you suck man. Shilling for drug dealers and terrorists who were hosting offshore online poker parties. You should be ashamed of yourself. Think of all the kids getting drugged up and the kids getting terrorized because you got in the way of shutting down poker web sites. I bet you were against CAN-SPAM too. Without CAN-SPAM, we'd all be drowning in SPAM right now, you Republican Nazi kid hater.

Hopefully, tomorrow, the House will take care of online forums. We all know that they just facilitate drug dealing and terrorizing. The proprietors of online forums should be round up and shot, just like illegal aliens. Maybe with Tom Delay out of the picture, the House can finally act!

It's a dangerous step to start blocking one part of the web like this bill intends to do (since it does mention working with ISPs to block access to the gambling sites).

First, it'll be hard to do.

Second, it will make it that much harder to decry China's massive web blocking/censoring if we're doing ourselves.

Third, it's hypocritical to make exceptions for some forms of gambling (in particular the ones that pay US taxes).

The worst part is that for all this work, and posturing, and BS it won't do what it's supposed to. All the on-line casino has to do is route payments through PayPal or some other legitimate service and this law can't touch them. Blocking particular sites? There are many ways around this as well, just ask anyone that has tried to write rules to block SPAM sources. As usual Congress is run by morons who haven't a clue about tech.

When paypal was brought out by ebay they rid it of any online gaming transactions. Their loss was anothers gain like Neteller based in the Isle of Mann. Most US credit card companies have already stoped transactions like 2 years ago to online gaming sites. But the loop hole here is Congress cannot regulate you to move your money to a 3rd party bank like Neteller.

www.pokermaster.net
www.pokerontour.com

In law, there's a principle, "Qui bono"--who benefits? It often guides investigators to the root of scandals and crimes. In this case, who would benefit from outlawing online poker (or, at least, making access to it difficult)? Of course, there are moralists who will rail on against any gambling, but they have proved that they are rather easily manipulated (cf. the Abramhof/Reed/Focus on the Family hoohah). Who has a financial interest in this? Why, it's our old friends, the casino owners and operators plus video poker operators. Blocking online poker isn't going to do one damned thing to combat gambling addiction any more than making heroin illegal reduced drug addiction.

Don't we have a lot more serious things for Congress to consider, like flag burning and gay marriage?

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geoduck wrote:
The worst part is that for all this work, and posturing, and BS it won't do what it's supposed to. All the on-line casino has to do is route payments through PayPal

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gslusher wrote:
In law, there's a principle, "Qui bono"--who benefits? It often guides investigators to the root of scandals and crimes. In this case, who would benefit from outlawing online poker (or, at least, making access to it difficult)? Of course, there are moralists who will rail on against any gambling, but they have proved that they are rather easily manipulated (cf. the Abramhof/Reed/Focus on the Family hoohah). Who has a financial interest in this? Why, it's our old friends, the casino owners and operators plus video poker operators. Blocking online poker isn't going to do one damned thing to combat gambling addiction any more than making heroin illegal reduced drug addiction.

Don't we have a lot more serious things for Congress to consider, like flag burning and gay marriage?

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akcarver wrote:

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geoduck wrote:
The worst part is that for all this work, and posturing, and BS it won't do what it's supposed to. All the on-line casino has to do is route payments through PayPal

I have a PayPal card, and I can't make deposits into my PokerRoom account using it.

The only way to be completely fair about it:

1. Outlaw government embezzlement. Enforce it. It is a form of gambling, and they are not above the law.

2. Outlaw speculative investment in the stock market. It is a form of gambling.
3. Outlaw the lottery.
4. Close all Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Connecticut Casinos.
5. Outlaw speculation on property.

If online gambling is going to be wrong, so should all gambling across the country be wrong. Only investments in stable interest bearing accounts should be allowed.

Of course that would wreck our economy. What's the difference between drawing the line at poker, or any of the other forms of gambling?

Perhaps it's all about perceived complexity. Property speculation & the Stock Market seem like ventures you need to educate yourself in before embarking on "INVESTING". Where poker seems to be just a game where you can go in and "INVEST...Oops... I mean GAMBLE" without an in depth learning cycle. This probably explains why most of them lose whenever they log in to their online poker accounts, and why they are so ready to outlaw this particular form of gambling.

Lets earmark some taxes to teach Congress how to play better poker, then perhaps we can save our economy.