The FBI Seizes And Shuts Down Several Prominent Internet Poker Sites, Including Big-Time MMA Sponsors

The 2006 laws were politically expedient at the time AND it’s really all about the gov’t getting tax money out of the deal. Mark these words. Some punishment will be meted out. And the end result will be the gov’t cutting the pot. Is it any different than a brick and mortar casino?

I hope they remove every poker site on the internet it is sucking billions of dollars out of the U.S.A ‘s economy and I would like to see those cheating sites shut down especially pureplay that is some how operating with in the usa ????

You know gambling casino’s are so very profitable — why then doesn’t each state government run the casino’s in their states instead of letting company’s or such entities rake in all the profits. They could be controlled just like the state stores in Pennsylvania. It would certainly even the budget from the figures I’ve seen on the moneys being spent and lost at these casino’s.

Hi, Oliver.

I think there are two topics at stake here. One is gambling, and the other is internet (with the implication that it’s using credit cards).

First I’ll defend for you the anarchist side, but then I’m going to counter it with social protection (and not moral protection).

Pro-Gambling: The most likely reason politicians (bribed by lobbyists and getting kick backs) would have for making internet gambling illegal is that it is competition for pre-existing legal gambling establishments such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Lottery, etc. We know from books like “Atlas Shrugged” written in the 1950′s (and in theaters now) that government tends to make laws to protect their partners from fair competition.

Pro-Internet Gambling: Done right, supervised, making sure there’s no cheating by the establishment and making sure real funds are used and on escrow, internet gambling could be as safe and legal as other gambling sites and lotteries.

Now for what was probably going on with internet gambling in reality. They were probably allowing people to use credit cards to gamble. This has several dangers:
a) a stolen credit card can be used at no risk to the gambler but with exposure to credit card companies and hence anyone with a stake in the profitability of those credit companies (such as anyone with a credit card that doesn’t want high interest rates), and

b) it makes it too easy for people who don’t really have the money to gamble to lose more than they had and then claim bankruptcy and leave honest paying credit card holders with the bill via higher interest rates.

A blanket 2006 law making internet gambling illegal was probably motivated by greed and anti-competition.

But a proper law, which could still be made, would have allowed internet gambling if it prohibited credit and closely monitored cheating by the house. This could be accomplished by using actual wire transfers of money or even having ways to purchase chips using account transfers that verify the person is who they say they are.

Any gambling by people who can’t afford it or aren’t using their own money should be prevented for our sake as a society. But any gambling where idiots throw away their own money should be legal because it’s not our job to legislate anti-stupidity.

Fvck the Feds. Keep the Internet as it was when it first started you dirty useless cvnts.

Poker is not gambling.If poker is gambling then so is online stock trading or trading in general.Why do the same people keep ending up at final tables,time and time again?What are they the luckiest people in the world?NO!In the game of poker you measure the equity involved in any given situation based on all of the available information you have at your disposal and act accordingly.Just as investments in the stock market do not always yield the returns expected or not at all in many cases, poker to has this trait.Now, you may say, what about the people who do not know how to play and are blowing their money gambling.Well to you I say, ANYONE who invest in anything in life without calculating the risk to reward ratio properly and accounting for all the variables at their disposal is GAMBLING.In that sense poker is gambling and so is everything else you do.What about children who dream of becoming pro football players?Should we tell them that they are not aloud to gamble with their physical well being or for that matter what about the cost of playing football that is spent and more times then not wasted because of an injury down the line or lack of discipline and fading interest.Adults should be able to measure risk by themselves and they do not need the help of the government.Now if you are talking about slot machines then yes I agree get rid of them as they are BUILT to make the player lose or how about state lotteries?Poker is a game of 100% skill.If you invest in the correct situation you WILL make money playing against weaker opponents.This is no different than any other sport!I did not see any of you stepping in to save Buster Douglas from Mike Tyson when the odds were 50 to 1.NO!You didn’t because you believed it was the mans right to wager his body against the will of another man.I hope this has opened the eyes of some.Thank you for taking the time to read this, regardless of what your opinion is.Remember it is your duty to protect the freedoms of others as one day your number may be called and will I be there to stand for you if you will not for me?

Hi, Glen. I don’t have a problem with people playing poker, whether it’s considered gambling or not when played on the internet where you can’t see your opponent or when played in person against a person who avoids giving tells.

But would you concede that gamblers (or poker players) should never gamble with money they don’t have?

What you are saying I completely agree with.People should NEVER gamble something they cannot afford to lose or that rather is not worth the risk.Should an amateur athlete gamble his safety and finances on taking a shot at making the high school football team?How about the university team?How about a pro football team?Now that we have gone this far can we attach a dollar value to each risk and at each level of competition.Yes I am sure there are examples of those risk being taken all of the time.Some people do not know how to measure risk verses reward and if these people are involved in anything that is detrimental to their well being they should be protected from themselves but not at the expense of the freedom of others.

opportunity costs are a given in any aspect of life that is the given however having said that the poker sites are not on even playing grounds for everyone. there are programs and people who “team ” on there to beat all the normal odds. And as far as the same people always geting to the final table I think not. The big names in poker have a few bracelets but none of them have even a 100 th of fineishes as to the number of games they have entered. normal at home individuals have no idea the odds that the sites have stacked against them. Again I say outlaw these sites, it is only sucking us dollars out of our economy. If these people feel that great a need to gamble then let them gamble within their own state borders where at least some of it is given back.

Hi, Bill. Thank you for the information about people being able to team up to beat the odds in the internet poker. I did not know that. This said, I hope fighters.com will permit me to comment on another premise you mentioned which is: “[internet poker] is only sucking us dollars out of our economy. If these people feel that great a need to gamble then let them gamble within their own state borders where at least some of it is given back.”

I realize this is a sensitive topic for many people, and I apologize in advance if I say anything offensive. My goal is simply to discuss proportion and true cause of our economy failing.

1. Devaluation of Dollar
Which do you think devalues our dollar and hence your spending power more:
a) a fireman who spends $10,000 a year on goods from out of state/country and maybe plays a couple of grand of internet poker, or
b) a government system that prints money by the trillion out of thin air (to give it to the big corporations and financial institutions at the expense of you and smaller institutions).
c) a government system that “gives” dollars by the billion to other governments–your money they’re giving. Egypt, for instance, gets 1.3 billion a year from us, and that’s just one country. Your money. Now theirs.

2. Global Corporations
Recently I saw a Jaguar (British car) with a bumper sticker on it saying: “Lost your job yet? Keep buying foreign.” Clearly the driver didn’t realize Jaguar is a foreign company, but then most people don’t realize companies like Ford are as foreign as British Petroleum or Toyota.

Which is an example of buying U.S. goods:
a) A Ford car that has as much international stake as Toyota and that has parts made in Mexico,
b) A Toyota that has as much U.S. stake as Ford and has parts made and assembled in the U.S.

You don’t like car examples? How about, which is an example of a foreign product:
a) A Walther (German company) P99 ACP with German design built by Smith & Wesston in Springfield MA and distributed by agreement with Smith & Wesson, or
b) A S&W (U.S. company) S99 ACP with German design modified by S&W built by S&W in Springfield MA and distributed by agreement with Walther.

My point is that there’s no point worrying about whether a product is U.S. or foreign because it’s usually going to be both, and that’s okay. The real threat to your wealth is your own goverment, and I recommend doing what you can to sway your goverment’s behavior more than you worry about swaying the behavior of the fireman down the street.

Finally, I saw recently a fun to watch movie about what’s happening to your dollar. I knew about it before the cartoon, of course, but it’s still fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPWH5TlbloU

There is now -no separate entity- that can be blamed for our economy. The government and it’s runaway spending maybe, but corporate greed,entertainment and pro sports along with insurance companies all have a great and unyielding influence over the economy. They have gone unbridled for so many years it is blurry as to when or which one started it or is responsible the most. They were left unchecked for way too many years and it is next to impossible to bring all those areas back into a conscionable obligation to stop their greedy ways. Much like the Roman empire I believe the USA will fall in on it’s self before it can realize the remedy to the problem is with greedy corporations and greedy politicians. Yes I know pharmaceuticals and health care industry are also way up the scale for their part in this flagrant disregard for our countries well being. Good God can the middle American society hold on and save this nation? I hope so- I pray so. WAKE UP AMERICA -WAKE UP!!!!!!

Guillermo, not to start an argument , but your example of a lone fireman spending a couple of thousand at the tables would be great if it were only one fireman – but we both know it is tens upon tens of thousands of people equal to I believe your take on government culpability. Stop the sites now is my mantra and my mantra it will stay.

Hi, Bill. A million people spending 2000 each at internet poker still wouldn’t dent how much this government gives to foreign countries or how much it prints to give to their cronies.