LITTLE HOPE FOR A U.S. POKER EXEMPTION

16 February 2007

AGA exec says "...they don't have a chance in hell"

The ambitions of American poker players to have their game of choice classified as a "game of skill" to circumvent the current US assault on Internet gambling received a sobering shock this week when a top American gambling administrator told a journalist working for the Las Vegas Sun "...they don't have a chance in hell."

Sun journalist Jeff Simpson wrote that recent claims by some online gambling websites and bodies like the Poker Players' Alliance that online poker could be exempted in the future from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act were raised in a conversation with American Gaming Association president Frank Fahrenkopf.

Apparently Fahrenkopf, referring to Alliance president, Michael Bolcerek's, statement that he had a meeting with officials in Key West, Florida resulting in the officials understanding the legitimacy of poker as a game of skill, told Simpson that "....they don't have a chance in hell," to get a poker exemption from the new UIGEA.

According to Fahrenkopf the American Gaming Association is pushing for a study to discover if the online gaming industry has the technology available to keep problem gambling at a minimum and to keep underage curiosity seekers out of the industry.

However, Fahrenkopf believes that even if the industry does have the technology the legalisation of online gambling is still not inevitable. He believes that the tax rates that individual states would put on Internet gambling sites would be too high to appeal to offshore operators.

In related news, PokerHelper.com reports that the new “face of online poker” is Al D'Amato, former New York Senator. The website says that D’Amato is to become chief lobbyist and spokesman for the online poker lobby working with the Poker Players Alliance.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

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