There have been some interesting developments in the world of online poker over the past week with lobby groups in both the United States and Australia stating their plans to push for the legalization and regulation of online poker in their respective countries.
For those unaware of the current situations for each, let’s take a quick trip back in time. In 2006, the US Congress passed a bill known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) which essentially made it illegal for banks to process payments to or from online gambling sites. This was widely seen as a means of making online gaming illegal and a number of online poker sites immediately shut down their operations in the USA.
Some, though, found ways around it, which ultimately led to what is known as “Black Friday”. On 11 April 2011, the US Department of Justice shut down popular sites PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker with a number of those involved in running them indicted. Although PokerStars continued their operations outside the US, and Full Tilt (now owned by Pokerstars) have since relaunched (again outside the US), online poker hasn’t been played in America since, with a few recent exceptions we’ll get to soon.
In Australia, it has long been illegal to offer online gaming to Australians although a number of poker sites continue to do so in open defiance of the law. For Aussie poker players, this arrangement hasn’t been a huge problem because there have been few serious moves by the government to crack down.
But rumors such a crackdown is now looming have prompted significant movement. Late last week, The Poker Federation of Australia was officially formed – a collaboration of well-respected members of the local poker industry who, among other things, will certainly be in discussions with Australian government officials as they push for online poker to be legalized and regulated.
Likewise, various groups in the USA are hoping to achieve the same thing. Some progress has been made. Although still banned federally, the states of Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware recently passed their own legislation making it legal to provide online poker to players within state borders. And with the release of a new movie starring Ben Affleck named Runner, Runner, which tells the story of a player cheated out of his money by a dodgy online poker site, we hear the American Gaming Association is going to use this as its next pawn to convince the US Government of the dangers of refusing legal and regulated poker.
Our thoughts? We’re not holding our breath. Any positive progress in this area is going to be a long and arduous process. But as far as we’re concerned, legalizing and regulating online poker makes sense – governments can better monitor the operations of companies, have the opportunity to bring in much-needed tax dollars and can provide thousands of jobs. And of course, for poker players throughout Asia and the rest of the world who saw player pools dwindle after “Black Friday”, the more we can lure back online the better.
There is still a long way to go, but it’s good to see some out there fighting the good fight.
