The lobbying efforts to get Online poker legalized in the country are only getting stronger. Poker lobbyists are backed by the multi-million dollar offshore gambling companies which are based in Antigua, Malta and other foreign sanctuaries. The lobbying efforts have been successful to some extent with the Obama administration agreeing to delay the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) til June 2010. This has given some reprieve to online gaming operators who argue that if gaming is regularized in the united states it could generate billions of dollars of tax for the Administration. However not all are convinced. Opponents argue that online gambling would increase crime rate, threaten children and increase the overall percentage of Americans addicted to gambling. Some of the major opponents are National Football League, Focus on the family and Republican Senators like Jon Kyl from Arizona.
The primary support for legalizing online gambling are from Rep. Barney Frank (Mass. ) and other Democrats who are leaving no stone unturned to legalize online gambling in the united states. Till this time online gaming lobbyists have spent more than $4 million in lobbying efforts to convince lawmakers that prohibition of online gaming is not a great idea. Other supporters include former Republican senator Alfonse M. D’Amato (N. Y. ), chairman of the 꽁머니 즉지 Poker Players Alliance who is the Chairman of the Poker Players Alliance. The Poker Players Alliance has 1. 2 million members and funded by the Interactive Gaming Council, a Canada-based trade group for offshore gambling firms. John Papas, Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance feels that prohibition is not going to succeed in any of the objectives for which it is intended. Another strong supporter of online gambling is Richard A. Gephardt whose firm is lobbying for PokerStars, a large poker gambling firm based in the Isle of Man.
The opposition to online gaming is also very vociferous and strong. It includes the four major US sports leagues, religious groups and some casinos. Their argument states that online gambling and poker will take gambling right into the living rooms of Americans which is a dangerous proposition. It is fair as long as gambling is confined to ‘brick and mortar’ casinos or a lottery store. In US online gambling is illegal under a 1961 law which was focused on bookies using telephone lines for taking bets. The UIGEA is aimed to iron out any ambiguities that are present with Internet gambling. The new law will prevent banks from accepting credit card payments, checks or any other form of electronic payment related to online gambling. However, the hard lobbying by Poker Alliance and even the financial institutions has put it on hold til June ’10. Though the Obama administration is officially neutral on the issue, it needs to be seen which direction the boat sails after June.
Online gambling is huge. Statistics for the UK online gambling were released in February 2011, and they help paint a picture of just how popular online casinos are. More than 70% of the UK population (age 16 and over) participates in some form of gambling, seven percentage points higher than in 2007. Not all of this gambling is done at casinos online, but millions of Brits and people from all around the world do enjoy web casinos. Adults age 44 to 64 were most likely to gamble than other age groups. With the development of online gambling applications for smart handheld devices like iphones, these numbers are expected to grow at a rapid clip over the next few years.
If you are new to the world of wagering online, try to make smart choices, and you’ll make the most of your bankroll. Who knows? You might win some money too. One of the best “strategies” for gambling, whether online or offline is to stick with games where the house edge is the lowest. Blackjack is a favorite of players, and it also boasts one of the lowest house edges. Learning basic blackjack strategy from charts you can easily download online will develop your blackjack skills to maximize your chances of coming out ahead of the dealer. Craps is another low-edge game. In fact, Pass bets on a player’s first roll are some of the safest bets in the entire casino, with a house edge of just 1. 41%. Baccarat is not as well-known as other games, but it too has low house edges and is easier to learn than you might think.
Another good way to keep your money in your hands and not the casino’s is to avoid several “sucker bets” that you’ll find at web casinos and bricks and mortar casinos. One sucker bet to avoid is the “insurance bet” in blackjack. If the dealer shows an Ace, you may be offered “insurance, ” which is basically a bet that the dealer’s down-facing card is a 10. This scenario is very unlikely, and the house edge on insurance bets is 15%. Avoid these bets. Tie bets in baccarat (bets that the dealer and player end up with the same score) are also poor bets, with house edges of over 14%. Most other baccarat bets have far lower house edges.
Funding your online wagering is a matter of using a credit card or setting up a prepaid “e-wallet” to use on a site. Remember that using your credit card at an online casino is like getting a line of credit from the casino. You risk spending more if you sign up with a credit card. Signing up with a prepaid e-wallet is safer for those who worry that they could get carried away gambling, because once your e-wallet is empty, you can’t gamble again until you replenish it.
When choosing an internet casino, look for one with a generous sign-in bonus and make sure you read and understand the terms and conditions for cashing out your bonus. Some games (like roulette) are frequently not eligible for bonus play. Know your games, budget carefully, and avoid sucker bets, and you’ll have a much better time gambling online.
I don’t mean to be indigent about the matter, but who’s kidding who. We have gambling in virtually every state of the union. Whether it’s the horse race tracks that stretch across the U. S., or the slot machines and poker rooms inside those race tracks, or the casinos on “Riverboats” and Indian Reservations, or just the state sponsored gambling – the lotteries, scratchoffs and PowerBALL!! And, let’s don’t forget those destination Mecca’s of Las vegas and Atlantic City.
I can’t remember the last time I was anywhere in the united states where I could not drive to a major casino within 30 minutes. Yet, we keep living under the illusion that there is something unseemly if not downright immoral about gambling online. Well, it is happening, of course. Every day, all across the U. S., players are getting online and gambling. Whether it’s playing the NFL at their favorite online sports book, or finding a seat in their favorite online poker room, or playing a little blackjack, Americans are on the internet every day playing.
So what do we gain out of this charade that gambling shouldn’t be allowed online. One thing we guarantee is that any regulation of it is done somewhere else and, let’s face it, that usually means it’s not done at all. Now i’m not pointing any fingers, but in small island countries where online gambling has become a major part of their economy, don’t we really have the wolves guarding the henhouse.
Another thing we get is to let someone other than the united states benefit from all those tax dollars that the regulating country receives. At a time when we have staggering federal deficits, we certainly would want to bring in millions of dollars of tax revenue off of online gaming.
Does this remind anyone of anything? I don’t know if you’re watching the new HBO series “Boardwalk Empire. ” But, I swear 1920 Atlantic City is difficult to distinguish from 2010 Anywhere USA. No one wanted prohibition more than the bootleggers. The biggest opponents of legalized gambling in the U. S. are those who are doing it offshore and keeping the big Vegas boys out of the business. It’s the wild west out there right now, and it’s about time someone stood up, stopped all the nonsense, and began to tame it.
Just when it looked like we were headed in this direction, Congress up and passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which purposes to have banks and financial institutions stop the transfer of funds from your and my banking accounts to offshore casinos. Well, that was a huge setback. A bill has been introduced in Congress to reverse the effect of the UIGEA and allow for online poker rooms to operate in the united states, but this bill did not make it to house floor for a vote in 2009.