June 19, 2009 (CAP Newswire) — You’ve probably seen his name before. Whenever there’s a new legal issue arising around online gambling in the U.S. (which seems to happen remarkably often lately), one of the first experts to be consulted by reporters is usually Professor L. Nelson Rose of the Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California.
Poker News Daily recently sought out Rose for his opinion on the latest controversy, the U.S. government’s seizure of more than $30 million on online poker payment processor funds that recently targeted PokerStars and Full Tilt players.
Is the action valid? Does the government have a leg to stand on, or are they stepping outside of their jurisdiction? “There is no Federal law that applies to players and half of the states don’t have laws on the books that make it a crime to place a bet,” Rose told Poker News Daily. “It’s a tremendous gamble on the part of the U.S. Department of Justice to go after players and even more of a gamble to go after poker players.” (Up until now, the government had typically enforced the UIGEA against sports books, not poker sites.)
Rose also added, “The unusual thing is that this is the Obama Administration. This isn’t the George W. Bush Department of Justice, so it’s unusual that they’re continuing to use intimidation.”