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My 2 cents:
Online gambling may or may not become illegal – nobody knows, and none of us will know for sure until it actually happens, period.
The anti-gambling bill may be passed but it also may just be the usual once-an-year-wheel-greasing. What I mean is that some people want to get a cut of the profits and they will, in a form of lobbying (while they can). I just dont see how a few casino companies with over a billion dollars in actives would let this happen.
If it does – it will not be banned on ISP level. For example, child pornography is absolutely illegal, and yet the ISPs fail to block the content. What the bill aims to do is work with the banks and cut the gambling from its means of funding – no gambling related bank transactions. This would be very hard to achieve as there would be so many new payment methods available to mask the real purpose of the transaction…
Another though – with so many people gambling online it will turn millions of people into criminals, thus the dovernment could wire-tap, look into bank accounts etc. of millions of their citizens just as they would on suspect…
Thanks for the response Stupid.
I hope some other folks offer their views, and especially explanation of how everything that is going on now actually ties together, as well.
So far I don’t see much of anything happening I didn’t see before.
Now is the time when all the politicians meet with all the lobbyists and that is
how decisions are made.Now is when all the other gambling places get their two bits in too – The Indian groups, Lottos, Land Casinos etc. One interesting thing is that the land casinos have new technology avaliable that does make use of the internet – and they want to use it to bring their offers up to par.
Lots of thing are happening now, all of them behind closed doors. Riders and amendments are written – usually in the past those alone have doomed the bills.
I am not particularly disturbed so far.
Yes, I am sure should a law pass we will have time to take down sites and move on. Laws are not usually retroactive. Now that would really be impossible.
Lawyers do not post on frums as a rule. They can be legally held responsible for advice.
You will be able to talk to Larry in Miami.
Of course my comments are in no way to be construed as legal advice. You can only get that from a lawyer.
My opinion (I’m not a lawyer either) is that the best thing for the affiliate industry is for online gambling to remain in legal gray area. If it becomes a federal crime to play online poker from your home, then the industry takes a hit from newbies afraid of prosecution and oldbies not wanting the hassle. This also opens the door for the DOJ to prosecute those American’s who they know are in the industry (ie: one of the owners of Party Poker, etc.). If it is legalized, then the big players from Las Vegas will move in quickly and dominate the industry with their well known and trusted brands. Think we will still get 25-40% from Harrahs and MGM?
I can’t see an ISP ban working either, that’s called censorship, plain and simple and just wouldn’t withstand a Constitutional challenge. That leaves a bill that basically says American banks and credit cards can’t fund your gambling account. This situation already exists and is the reason for Neteller becoming a publicly traded company.
Drakos was an idiot, he clearly violated the Wire Act, and even worse, met with people (finally an officer of the law) to take their bets. I think most everyone here knows that will get you in trouble. Not to mention he had his name, photo and phone number on his site.
There’s still a long way to go for this bill. It’s really a fight against time. The session will no doubt be a little lax shortly as we are in an election year and incumbents need to campaign.
It will take, most likely, a couple more months to get out of the House and over to the Senate, where the bill must go through the same long process. I would not be surprised to see the Senate attach a rider, which would revert the bill back to the House and most likely kill it.
Anyway, looks like the Bill was Reported out yesterday. There will be committee reports written, which will take a little more time and then it will go to a full chamber debate. After that, the House will vote on the Bill. They could send it back to committee, pass it (and send to the Senate), or defeat it.
The next few months will tell if the bill is going to the Senate or not. Only around .005% of introduced Bills pass each year. Since this is not a “heartstrings” type of bill or a threat to national security, I am putting my bet on the bill not going anywhere.
voodooman wrote:Thanks for the response Stupid.Sorry for being OT, but that sincere expression of gratitude gave me a good chuckle.
Thanks everybody for your replies and I’m sure everybody appreciates getting different viewpoints on the situation.
Webber–I agree with everything you said, but you seem to imply at the end of your post that it is WRONG to let people know who you are. I dont hide my identity, nor does the Prof or others here.
I know where the Professor lives (dont be afraid Prof!) since I only live about 20 miles away myself. When we all meet at the various conferences we see what each other looks like etc etc
I agree with all of your points about Drakos being an idiot, who used his Website to promote HIS OWN BOOKMAKING business where HE WAS THE ONE TAKING BETS. AND HE WAS A COKE DEALER.
But I dont think we should hide in fear because of what we do here and the end of your post seemed (to me) to imply that we should.
Just my 2 cents.
The point is that Drakos was caught partly because he had his name and photo on his website. I’m sure the authorities could have done a whois lookup to find out who he was as well, but he made himself that much easier a target. l wouldn’t advocate publicly displaying yourself on your site if you are in the US since it could make you a target as well.
It has nothing to do with showing your face, standing up tall and proud for what you do; etc. Heck every year there is a huge conference in Vegas, right here in the States. If they wanted to nab people they would raid that event and take out hundreds if not thousands of top affiliates in one location.
This drako character was doing sports betting, operating phone lines, and meeting betters in person to set up bets. Sounds like he was more or less a bookie himself. The wire act clearly makes those acts illegal. There is nothing on the books that clearly makes gambling online illegal, and there is positively nothing on the books that make advertising / free speech illegal. With that said; protect yourself as an advertiser; put up a disclaimer clearly stating that users of your site should check with local laws etc. – tell them if its illegal in their area to click exit now.
To think that a lot of media outlets have came to their knees at the threats of DAs and the DOJ is sickening to my stomach. Really says a lot as to where our country is headed when mere threats based on outright lies brings big companies to their knees because they are afraid of the machine.
@axl]There is nothing on the books that clearly makes gambling online illegal, and there is positively nothing on the books that make advertising / free speech illegal. With that said protect yourself as an advertiser; put up a disclaimer clearly stating that users of your site should check with local laws etc. – tell them if its illegal in their area to click exit now.[/QUOTE wrote:
excellent plan..:happydanc
axl wrote:It has nothing to do with showing your face, standing up tall and proud for what you do; etc. Heck every year there is a huge conference in Vegas, right here in the States. If they wanted to nab people they would raid that event and take out hundreds if not thousands of top affiliates in one location.This drako character was doing sports betting, operating phone lines, and meeting betters in person to set up bets. Sounds like he was more or less a bookie himself. The wire act clearly makes those acts illegal. There is nothing on the books that clearly makes gambling online illegal, and there is positively nothing on the books that make advertising / free speech illegal. With that said; protect yourself as an advertiser; put up a disclaimer clearly stating that users of your site should check with local laws etc. – tell them if its illegal in their area to click exit now.
To think that a lot of media outlets have came to their knees at the threats of DAs and the DOJ is sickening to my stomach. Really says a lot as to where our country is headed when mere threats based on outright lies brings big companies to their knees because they are afraid of the machine.
I have nothing to add to that but: ditto!
Market Junction’s synopsis gets my vote.
1) Some Bill Has Passed..What does that mean? When will we know? What could happen?
2) If online gambling is ultimately declared “illegal” and we lose yet another one of our freedoms and are no longer permitted to advertise the casinos, won’t all our sites be shut down at the ISP level or, at a minimum, be given a chance to remove the offending sites/content? As opposed to all of us being the targets of some clandestine sting operations to put us all in jail-LOL! I mean, people on this site are somewhat visible. It’s not like the Prof and the Moderators are some dark figures shrouded in mystery without real names and addresses!
Here are very well written explanations regarding this topic. I say it again, U.S law is unpredictable, government practically bans and arrest pharmaceutical stay-at-home-business competitors, and they can probably do it too in the casino industry too as it takes billions of dollars in profits from land casinos. Check this post out…
http://www.casinoaffiliateprograms.com/bb/showthread.php?t=10169
-Joaquin
