It is a frusterating issue 2b sure, and I do think we've lost the battle becuase Bush's spokeman has already indicated he'll sign it and I think he either doesn't care about it one way or the other but wants to appeal to his base or he is a supporter, but in the end it doesn't matter becuase the reality is it will become law. At this point, 50,000 emails, while a noble effort, won't amount to much. An effort three month ago (big money, big expensive media push, not emails) could have prevented this, but we've lost this round and it is a costly one. That's why I'm so pissed at the big time casino operators. They seem understand nothing about the US politics. They need to make the US public understand that their civil rights are being violated here, that this is an affront to free trade, and try to tie it to other issues of net freedom. (I notice the larger internet community isn't really rallying behind gamblers either, I guess they're sick of the casino spam... but that's a topic for another thread).
What needs to be done now is to get organized and stop the Goodlatte bill which is still out there. Don't repeat the mistake by continued passivity. Legislation can be blocked far easier than it can be passed.
Next the hard part... there are now only two ways I see this going away as some point in the next decade...
1) A poker (or casino) exec gets arrested and the court rules the law was not intended to apply to poker (or casinos).
2) The foreign online gambling entities will have to partner with US brink and mortar outfits to push for legalization and regulation. Vegas has signaled it wants to go online.
This battle has been lost, but the war could be won, but I have a feeling that the current online operators won't now want to do this because they fear the competiton from the US outfits. They are billionaries precicley becuase online gambling is/was perceived as illegal in the US... so no competiton from, say, stronger players like say Trump. That's the irony, I'm not convinved they (the 888s of the world) really want it to be 100% legal in the US.
I'm scared to think about all the crazy shit the states will think up now that the issue is on their minds. It's not unimaginable that even advertisers could get hauled into an Alabama court and get sentenced there and the moment you get out of jail there's a Lousiana sheriff wating for you at the gate to stand trial for aiding and abetting for gambling by computer for some low level sting in Baton Rouge. Crazy.
Anyway, instead of sending emails to Bush, send emails to the say 10 biggest players in the online world demanding that they get together and make some effort to support all those US players who helped make them what they are.
I'd say Bush is a lost cause, let's petition Party Poker, 888, Bodog, Sportingbet and the rest. Why not start a petition right here on Casinomeister? My site is a peice of crap in progess or I'd volunteer.
