mary
Dormant account
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2000
neenar neeenar neeenar I TOLD YOU SO!
OK, I got that out of the way.
Seriously, I have been very surprised by the responses of large, wealthy companies to this turn of events. It's not like it was a surprise, it's been a sword over the industry for years, yet it appears that there were no contingency plans formed and some of the responses are very curious in terms of legal plans or consistency.
*For one thing, California is a state with an explicit ban on internet gambling, yet it is not on many banned states lists.
*This is actually a very effective way for US authorities to block Internet gambling. They can't arrest the executives offshore, they can't shut down the servers, they can't stop the connectivity. They can screw up the movement of money--something they already want to do anyway--the Patriot Act and other banking acts have increased scrutiny of *all* banking transactions and offshore transfers in particular. This gives them a hook for shutting down the nascent money-transfer industry or increased supervision over it, which they wanted.
*Of course Louisiana is going to go after online gambling. Their land gambling infrastructure was wiped away by hurricanes, literally. Those casinos contribute a lot to depressed local economies; the more gamblers they can bring back to the land industry the better. The internet poker industry did a nice job of creating more American gamblers, now the land industry can harvest them.
*Of course the US law enforcement and government entities are going to go after internet gambling, especially after Party Gaming's "In Your Face IPO" and the aggressive ad campaigns all over the US. A porn queen and an Indian programmer are successfully sucking money out of the US and have no supporters in the US. They were making everybody look bad, and let me tell you, the US political establishment is already looking really, really bad. The internet industry handed them an opportunity to both look better and have more power over financial transaction monitoring.
*I received an email from a Microgaming casino telling me my account was closed. The heading was about a 20% offer. How sad is that?
*Of course this act applies only to "unlawful" gambling, that's to keep the door open for legalized horseracing between the states that have it.
*I was amazed that sportsbook operators were still setting foot on US soil after the first arrests. Being an executive of a company does not distance one from criminal activity--it increases the responsibility. Shareholders need to take notice of such arrogance and stupidity on the part of executives. Louisiana didn't have to actually bother with a trial or slapping anybody into jail; they accomplished their goal. Nor was what they did illegal or unethical, it's standard playing of the game, and everybody should have anticipated that.
*Players should take careful note of how all parties--money transfer agencies, casinos, and software providers--are handling things. This is a great opportunity for a last cash grab out of the departing American players: a ready-made excuse. Gee, we couldn't get all the transactions done within the timeline. Gee, we couldn't get the money into your American account. Non-American players should take note: if anybody does this now to the Yanks, they'll do the same to you.
I'm getting some incredible offers from the Oliver Curran casinos by they way. That's going to be some trouble building up right there.
*Investors should take note of how publically traded companies are handling this. Does the company look like it knows what it is doing? Does it look like it has competent legal advice? (hint: I think CRYP is handling things well. I'm biased.)
*Nobody is going to care about the loss of advertising revenue. Advertising revenue spent on an industry that sucks money out of the US is a net loss. US gamblers will still need their fix; the advertising revenue lost will be replaced by revenue from the land industry. The shady advertising tricks and annoying web clogging sites will get worse, unfortunately, from the new crop of really skanky software providers and advertisers, but at least they won't have as much money to spend as did Party Gaming and Golden Palace.
OK, I got that out of the way.
Seriously, I have been very surprised by the responses of large, wealthy companies to this turn of events. It's not like it was a surprise, it's been a sword over the industry for years, yet it appears that there were no contingency plans formed and some of the responses are very curious in terms of legal plans or consistency.
*For one thing, California is a state with an explicit ban on internet gambling, yet it is not on many banned states lists.
*This is actually a very effective way for US authorities to block Internet gambling. They can't arrest the executives offshore, they can't shut down the servers, they can't stop the connectivity. They can screw up the movement of money--something they already want to do anyway--the Patriot Act and other banking acts have increased scrutiny of *all* banking transactions and offshore transfers in particular. This gives them a hook for shutting down the nascent money-transfer industry or increased supervision over it, which they wanted.
*Of course Louisiana is going to go after online gambling. Their land gambling infrastructure was wiped away by hurricanes, literally. Those casinos contribute a lot to depressed local economies; the more gamblers they can bring back to the land industry the better. The internet poker industry did a nice job of creating more American gamblers, now the land industry can harvest them.
*Of course the US law enforcement and government entities are going to go after internet gambling, especially after Party Gaming's "In Your Face IPO" and the aggressive ad campaigns all over the US. A porn queen and an Indian programmer are successfully sucking money out of the US and have no supporters in the US. They were making everybody look bad, and let me tell you, the US political establishment is already looking really, really bad. The internet industry handed them an opportunity to both look better and have more power over financial transaction monitoring.
*I received an email from a Microgaming casino telling me my account was closed. The heading was about a 20% offer. How sad is that?
*Of course this act applies only to "unlawful" gambling, that's to keep the door open for legalized horseracing between the states that have it.
*I was amazed that sportsbook operators were still setting foot on US soil after the first arrests. Being an executive of a company does not distance one from criminal activity--it increases the responsibility. Shareholders need to take notice of such arrogance and stupidity on the part of executives. Louisiana didn't have to actually bother with a trial or slapping anybody into jail; they accomplished their goal. Nor was what they did illegal or unethical, it's standard playing of the game, and everybody should have anticipated that.
*Players should take careful note of how all parties--money transfer agencies, casinos, and software providers--are handling things. This is a great opportunity for a last cash grab out of the departing American players: a ready-made excuse. Gee, we couldn't get all the transactions done within the timeline. Gee, we couldn't get the money into your American account. Non-American players should take note: if anybody does this now to the Yanks, they'll do the same to you.
I'm getting some incredible offers from the Oliver Curran casinos by they way. That's going to be some trouble building up right there.
*Investors should take note of how publically traded companies are handling this. Does the company look like it knows what it is doing? Does it look like it has competent legal advice? (hint: I think CRYP is handling things well. I'm biased.)
*Nobody is going to care about the loss of advertising revenue. Advertising revenue spent on an industry that sucks money out of the US is a net loss. US gamblers will still need their fix; the advertising revenue lost will be replaced by revenue from the land industry. The shady advertising tricks and annoying web clogging sites will get worse, unfortunately, from the new crop of really skanky software providers and advertisers, but at least they won't have as much money to spend as did Party Gaming and Golden Palace.
hmmm
That one was worth laminating and framing... I guess he did'nt believe how much the taxpayers there were willing to spend the money to get him out of there !!!
