Reid Bill Dead

According to a very reliable source Andrew Feldman who wouldn’t say so if it weren’t true the Reid bill is officially dead.

http://espn.go.com/sports/fantasy/blog/_/name/poker/id/5924206/no-legalization-online-poker-2010

I’ve been sweating this bill pretty hard hour by hour day to day and when it first came out I was supporting it even though it would have sucked for 15 months I believed the pros outweighed the cons. However, the bill kept on getting revised and made worse and worse for the players and by the time the 3rd version surfaced which would have allowed intrastate gambling I became opposed. It’s all for nought really I guess as it’s dead now and my opinions don’t really matter anyways as I have no say or vote in the matter. I will say a couple things for everyone who was opposed to it from the beginning.

If you are pro legalization and regulation and believe this is a good thing (most people say they are but don’t really understand what it entails) you must be willing to accept a few hurdles in the future.

There will be a black out period. Yes 15 months is extreme, but the Barney Frank bill before this had a black out period, the Reid bill had one, and any future bill is going to have one. Accept this and try to get it as short as possible obviously, but if you are pro regulation you can not be opposed to any black out period. To say you are, and to not support any bill that has one, is to say you are opposed to legalization and regulation of poker in the USA.

Some states are going to opt out. This is also just the way it is. The only way the federal government can shove legalized gambling down the throats of all 50 states is to amend the wire act of 1961 and that just ain’t gonna happen. A lot of people were opposed to this bill because states had the option of opting out and people freaked out when they realized their state might do so. In time perhaps all will opt in but initially it’s just not going to happen. I will say that 43 of the 48 continental states already have state lotteries and one of them that doesn’t is Nevada so I mean clearly the majority of the states are not opposed to accepting tax money for gambling. It just may take awhile to get everyone on board. The most important thing is to lay the foundation initially with a large # of states opting in, and then try to get the other ones to opt in later if we have to. To oppose any bill that allows states to opt out of legalization is to oppose the legalization and regulation of poker in the USA.

The status quo is just fine. We don’t need regulation. No it is not. The US department of justice is going after new payment processors daily. Funds are being seized. The sites are currently eating the losses but that will not last forever. There is very little competition in the current market. Winrates are declining and rake is increasing. This will only get worse as time goes on. The only thing that will change that is regulation. Regulation will bring:

1. Increased competition and likely rake reduction
2. Get rid of the cash out/deposit problem. Remember how nice neteller in 2005 was?
3. Increased security and a means for recourse. Would you like Russ Hamilton 2 to be thrown in jail? I certainly would. Would you like the ability to sue a poker site that steals your money and refuses to refund you? I certainly would. Would you like to be told when and how you are cheated? Have a 3rd party look over hand histories for you and make sure nothing fishy is going on instead of leaving it up the poker site’s discretion? Until regulation we get none of this.
4. Potentially a new poker boom.

Here’s to wishing us well in 2011.