The CEO of Caesars Entertainment Gary Loveman wrote an Article last week talking about his desire for online poker to be completely legal and fully regulated in the United States.
In the article entitled Online Poker: Legalize it!!”, Loveman said that the recent indictments of the founders of Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker, and the seizure of their domain names might actually be the catalyst that is needed to speed up pro-poker legislation.
“”It’s not often that opportunity arrives in the form of a federal indictment. But that’s exactly what’s happened in the world of online poker.”
“The question we face isn’t ‘Will there be online poker?’” he began. “Millions of Americans have already answered that question through their regular play, and the latest indictments won’t change that. In fact, less than 24 hours after the three poker sites were closed, other foreign operators began filling the void.”
“Instead, the question is this, Should we seize the moment to legalize online poker, permit a safe and legitimate industry in the U.S., and bring those jobs and revenues home?’
“Unequivocally, the answer is yes.”
“The goals of legislation are simple: let Americans play online poker in the privacy of their homes and create jobs and revenues here in America.”
“Only Federal legislation can accomplish that, by creating a well-regulated system of online poker. And only Federal legislation can clear up the current ambiguities in U.S. law and crack down on other online gambling like sports betting and casino games.”
“This bill should recognize the reality of the world we live in, protect the interests of law-abiding citizens who want to play a little poker from the privacy of their homes, create thousands of new jobs, and produce millions of dollars in new economic activity. And it should acknowledge that as a game of skill, poker deserves to be treated differently than other forms of gambling.”
“To prevent criminal activity, sensible legislation should provide strict regulatory oversight and mandate the use of state-of-the-art technology to protect players from cheating, fraud and identity theft.”
“It should also ensure the integrity of financial transactions by requiring operators to work with law enforcement to establish controls that prevent money laundering and fraud while protecting the privacy of players.”
“To protect consumers, the legislation should combat underage poker play by requiring the use of technologies currently deployed in other age-sensitive industries.”
“It should mandate that operators offer state-of-the-art problem gambling controls, including limits on wagers, deposits, losses, and playing time. And it should also provide unprecedented federal funding for comprehensive problem gambling services.”
Its an interesting take from the CEO of one of the largest gambling companies in the world and you can check out the full article here
Hi,
It is most likely coming, almost every city, state and for sure our “fed” government is broke.
Funny thing is,
A few days before all these online poker sites were seized… Washington ‘DC’ legalized ‘online poker’, for just Washington ‘DC’.
http://www.tightpoker.com/news/washington-dc-legalizes-online-poker-2338/
Best,
Dan
Same goes for the legalization of marijuana.
in Italy the online poker has been legalized without any bad consequences
The US loves to throw away money and in less than 15 years we went from surplus to huge debt.
How many billions are spent on chasing marijuana criminals… instead you could spend $0 and actually generate revenue by taxing legal sales.
Take all that money you saved by not paying to chase marijuana and use that money to either pay down the debt, hire more cops and decrease violent crimes, repair roads/bridges, etc…
TLD
Agreed
When the old politicians are dead, taken over by the new generation, they will be legalize.
It is just a matter of time!!!
Even guns that kill more people is legalized.
Love this BS country everyday….
have you evaluated the increase of costs for health care due to the increase of drugs use?
Your assuming that legalizing marijuana is going to lead to much more use, not sure that’s true.
Then your assuming that increased use of marijuana is going to lead to increased health cost, not sure that’s accurate either
What does the US spend a year in prosecuting and jailing people for marijuana use?
Can’t wait for poker to be legalized as it will shoot the value of our over 300 casino/poker domain thru the roof 🙂
But given that republicans control the house, I don’t have high hopes of it getting legalized.
Dems have lost a huge opportunity imo
What a bunch of Whining Hypocrites! They were against legalizing online poker and fought it tooth and nail, until they’re revenues started tanking. They lost $200 mill last quarter and I believe they were denied entry into the lucrative Macau Market which now dominates and dwarfs Las Vegas as the epicenter of the gaming universe. Now that they’re back is against the wall they want to act like they were championing for regulation all along. What a Joke!
“How many billions are spent on chasing marijuana criminals… instead you could spend $0 and actually generate revenue by taxing legal sales”
That is just the tip of the iceberg, if the government was smart they would legalize it and then set up hot dog stands, nachos and cheese and other munchies stands and profits would soar through the roof!
“assuming that legalizing marijuana is going to lead to much more use, not sure that’s true”
not sure but very probable
after the legalization, the figures of its use may become similar to those of cigarettes and alchool
I am a domainer and, prior to April 15th, a professional online poker player. What you all see in this article has been apparent to the poker community for a long time. These B&M casinos pushed hard to take down online poker to get more traffic to their casinos. Once they realized the growth of online poker cannot be stopped they lobbied hard to have the sites shut down so they can set up domestic operations to fill the void without competition. Its not coincidence this article came after the market cleared. It was the plan all along.
@Mb
increased smoking will lead to increased health costs
You call that an assumption? Get real. Ya think smoking is good for ya? Has no ill health effects? Pot has 5x more tar than cigarettes
Ya think tar ia good for you
Your comment is akin to me saying that you are making an assumption when u claim that a new rapid suspension system would lead to more domain losses. There is more evidence of the resultant effects of smoking pot than there is of the proposed wipo change
Look not saying pot is evil but to suggest it has no lasting respiratory effects is just irresponsible
Hi,
Was this thread about the ‘gambling’ article or “pot”?
I am easily confused 🙂
___
Everyone have a great weekend!
Peace ~ Sex ~ Rock ‘n’ Roll ~ Oh yea and some ‘Nice Bud’ 🙂
Dan
BTW: Just having a little fun… no need to start shooting ‘arrows’ at me. 🙂
Only smart ass people like Assro (aggr*) can shoot arrows with all kind of misinformation 🙂
Assro knows who he is. This is just a hint before I embarrass him if he doesn’t stop his misinformation campaign about others.
“pot has 5x more tar than cigarettes”
and makes people demented
My
Not to debate this further but people do not smoke two and three packs of cigs every day, also cigs as we know contain other chemicals some of which make people develop a physical dependency smoke to smoke more cigs.
first of all, I do not smoke nor use drugs
about “physical dependency”
this is true, but all drugs also devastate the mind
but all drugs also devastate the mind
—
Not true.
Yes, you’ve certainly been told that your entire life, but it isn’t true.
Cholesterol-Lowering Statin drugs are a far bigger risk to the population than smoking marijuana ever was or ever will be, the only difference being that some big American Drug manufacturer makes tens of billions of dollars doping up as much as the worlds population as it can selling the shit.
But that’s ok because its legal.
Online Gambling WILL become legal but not because its good for you but because it will make money for them…simples, its just a matter of when 😉
Big brother is watching! What right does the Government have to tell a senior citizen what games she can play or what she can do with her money, in the privacy of her home? I’ve enjoyed my entertaining, inexpensive poker tounaments; plus they are mentally stimulating in a healthy, safe way. We know why the legal powers that be are minding our business, just let Ceasar have his ‘tax’ money gains, then no problem, ha!
I agree, poker players are going to find ways to play poker no matter what. So why not legalize it and regulate the online poker and make sure safe and scam free environment for the players.
Just my opinion: It’s all about selfish greed. The ceasears CEO couldn’t compete, so he got his criminal bully buddies in the DOJ to shut down to competition, NOW he wants legal online poker. Online poker was completely legal, the UIGEA is illegal according to the WTO. But the USA federal government was envious of all that money so they criminalized non-criminals and created victimless crimes, commited extortion and coercion, just so they can steal the idea, and skim some money off for themselves. The criminals need that money because we all know we CAN’T tax the rich, because the world would end! And we all need to keep working towards corporate tyranny!
Online poker will be run by the big boys, and only the big boys – just like every other ultra-profitable industry…it was inevitable.
“So why not legalize it and regulate the online poker and make sure safe and scam free environment for the players.”
Like the big banks & Wallstreet….cough 😉
I agree fully with this article. In addition the US could benefit greatly from the tax income generated from online poker. It’s a no-brainer really. People want to play, and uncle sam needs the tax rev.
since the comments drifted off topic, to drugs, allow me to draw your attention to this-
doj just made google cough up 500mln for running ex-us/ca pharmacy ads for a limited period of time.
surprised mhb is not posting an entry about it.
that’s a lot of cash just for some ads.
Why is there a call for regulation, its already self regulated by players, anyone who wins big pays there tax rape fee under current u.s. tax laws as if were a job and is a job the only thing needed is to remove the UIGEA so people can get back to work and have a better goal of a true american so called freedom & also free the owners of poker sites from all wrong doing. regulation is just the ability for government to spy on players not knowing the ups and downs in poker everyone who voted yes to make it to make it a crim has never played a game in there pittyfull life
Yep… I was in Caesars Casino-Hotel in Vegas last week when Gary Loveman antied up for legalized online poker…if Wynn and MGM Resorts chief Jim Murren soon chime in a big way soon that would be great… but keep in mind, Harrah’s has a bigger “play” in Poker overall since they own the World Series of Poker tour.
http://www.thedomains.com/2011/04/16/why-is-anyone-surprised-over-yesterdays-gambling-domain-seizures-why-no-publicly-traded-company-got-charged/
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