How Safe Ports and Online Poker Are Related

1. How Safe Ports and Online Poker Are Related The online poker industry has seen a lot of change over the past year. After enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, (UIGEA), the United States Department of Justice indicted the top executives of the largest operators. The sites they run no longer allow USA players. What does this all mean? And where can we go from there? Before answering those questions, we want to briefly explain the UIGEA's full ramifications as well as the state facts. In September 2006, the UIGEA was approved and signed by President George W. Bush. It made it illegal for credit cards and banks to knowly animation-boss.com transactions for Internet gambling purposes. This law was part of the "Safe Ports Act", which was intended to protect US ports from foreign owners. The UIGEA was included to the bill as a last-minute amendment to a piece of legislation that was completely unrelated to it. The UIGEA was added to "Safe Ports Act" last minute. Parties didn't know what they were voting for. Although the Safe Ports Act passed easily, some ambitious representatives added UIGEA at the last minute. The UIGEA was authored by Reps. Leach & Goodlatte, and it was snuck in by Goodlatte. Although the law was effective January 19, 2009, compliance was not required until December 1. 2009. Barney Frank, the Chair of the House Committee on Financial Services, introduced two bills in May 2009. The first bill would have overturned the implementation of UIGEA. The second would have delayed implementation for one year. The second bill, however, was passed but did not extend the implementation beyond June 1, 2010. We saw many publicly traded poker, sportsbook and casino operators leaving the US market at this time. The largest and most well-regulated casinos and poker sites could not accept players from the USA. We are now at the point where we are today: FullTilt Poker (Poker Stars), Absolute Poker, Absolute Poker, and UB.com have stopped accepting new or existing USA players. Americans are no longer able to enjoy their time on the most respected online poker sites. This was America, I thought. Maybe it's the home of the tax-paying free. The United States government didn't receive any revenue from online gambling and poker sites. After a ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United States must now give Antigua trade concessions.

2. Gaming was/was a major employer for Antigua and a revenue generator. Antigua complained to the WTO that the US had not allowed Market Access to its residents in violation of the treaty obligations. The WTO accepted the complaint. Antigua filed a claim for 3.4 billion dollars against the US, but they have not been paid a penny. The US instead granted concessions to other sectors. Instead of allowing its citizens to access online gaming, the US is actually making a loss. The concessions were not made public for "National Security" reasons, even though Ron Paul and Barney Frank stated that the concessions could "cost the United States billions in compensation" and demanded that the agreements be made public. We are unaware of any public disclosures regarding these agreements. Now, the government has charged executives with money laundering and made accusations that online gambling funds terrorist activity around the world. Now I have a question: If a company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and their financial records public, how can they funnel money to terrorists? It's possible, but it wouldn't be easy. US residents are now required to play at poker and casinos that aren't publicly traded. Their financials don't need to be made public. US players cannot play at legal, well- respected sites. What do we learn and gain from the UIGEA, then? 1.It was approved at the last moment without any proper research from regulators. 2.Residents of the USA are no longer allowed to play on licensed or publicly traded gaming sites. 3.The United States has lost millions, if not billions of dollars in trade concessions to Antigua. 4.It encourages illegal enterprises without regulation. 5.It places US citizens at risk by preventing them from playing at the most prestigious poker and casino sites. What is the solution? It is simple: The United States should legalize and regulate online gambling. It would generate revenue in the form taxes, and it would be more secure for players. Although we believe this will occur, we doubt it. It will be a while before we see casinos and sites in the US.