LAS VEGAS — There is a call for MORE Federal Regulation over Gambling on the Internet. It’s been a year since “Black Friday” when the FBI shut down “Full Tilt Poker”, “PokerStars” and “Absolute Poker”.

Now I’m not saying that was a bad thing. Several execs and celebs were charged with serious felonies. So – Good!… Good Riddance… GoodBye Bad Guys. But, that left the US players with serious holes in their gambling time (and bankrolls).

What’s left for a Poker Player to do? We can still play online for play money (at PokerStars.net for example), or break the law.

That’s not a good choice for the serious players.

It’s the American Gaming Association that has jumped up to call for MORE regulation on this first anniversary… They’re asking Congress to “modernize and strengthen” the Wire Act of 1961 in order to eliminate illegal, offshore gambling sites that are still operating.  They’ve succeeded in getting the major sites “blacked out” to American players.

The Association wants tighter regulation so that “if” or “when” online gambling opens up to players in the US, they will “be able to gamble online securely in states that eventually choose to legalize the practice”.

What would you expect them to say? We don’t want US players to spend their money anywhere but in our casinos!… hmmmmmm.

Where are they? Las Vegas! Hmmmm something doesn’t smell right… Now, if I were in Las Vegas, AND a casino owner, and a member of the American Gaming Association… what would I do? What would you do?

Is this a case of the Fox guarding the HenHouse?

Who stands to lose if Online Gambling opens up? Big Money says it won’t. I mean BIG money. Those “Haves” pour Millions into their efforts… what can the player do?

Hang on, fasten your seat belt, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

I am so pissed! I just read a Christian article on the evils of gambling. Whether or not you choose to believe that Gambling is evil is up to you… but you can’t be swayed by the foolish arguments in the article I just read. I’m not going to tell you where to find the article because I don’t want trouble, but mostly because I don’t want them to benefit from my large group of readers! I AM however, going to quote extensively from the rubbish that the writer (R. Mohler) professes (and probably fully believes).

First, he states that 1/3 of the nation’s money is spent on Gambling. If you read my posts, you know that he’s dead wrong! Truth is; 100% of all the World’s money is spent on gambling! Whether you put it under your mattress (a real gamble) or put it into savings (a real gamble) or spend it (a real gamble) it’s spent on gambling. It’s a gamble when you buy a stock, bond or commodity (but he probably thinks THAT’S alright!) It’s a gamble when you buy insurance… you know what… it’s a gamble when you pick out one head of cauliflower over the others… or when you buy cauliflower at all. More than just spending your money  goes through the process of gambling… do you not think that picking your spouse was a gamble? Yes, Christians and non-Christians… EVERY single decision you make is a gamble.

He then goes on to enlighten us with this gem: “The basic impulse behind gambling is greed-a basic sin that is the father of many other evils.” Greed – isn’t that the reason we all go to work everyday????? Isn’t that the reason we “gamble” on those aforementioned, socially acceptable stocks????? If you hear someone say that money makes the world go ’round… you’re listening to a greedy person.

pass the plate again reverend….

Then he says; “The burning desire for earthly riches leads to frustration and spiritual death.” or to happiness, a full life, a realization of one’s dreams. Try THAT without “earthly riches”!

After taking us through many scriptures reinforcing his argument, he states a common mistake made by millions…

“The worldview of the gambler assumes a world of indeterminate and random chance, for which the chief virtue is luck.” As a real “bettor” knows, luck has very little to do with success or failure in gambling. Poker for instance, might make its appearance in the Olympics. IF it were a game of luck, there wouldn’t be thousands of books written on how to win at Poker, nor millions of websites extolling the systems and strategies that make one player a winner over another. More than one judge has ruled that it’s a game of skill!

This isn’t a coin toss Reverend… this is a Skill Game. Otherwise, you wouldn’t see the same faces on the final tables of tournaments. You wouldn’t know the “Odds” of one hand as opposed to another… and so forth.

It’s not the roll of the dice that makes a winner or loser – it’s how the players bet their money. A Seven is a big loser… or a big winner…depending on how you bet… no luck there! Does a successful card player know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em… yep… he’s not considering luck at all!

Here’s a great piece of nonsense: “gambling is a direct attack on the work ethic presented in Scripture. One of the constant threads through the Old and New Testaments is the dignity of honorable work, and the proper reward for labor and industriousness” Are you kidding? Thousands of hours are spent learning this craft. Certainly more than one spends on his major in a college or university. S/he must spend an equal amount of time on “unproductive” (he’s going to use that word in a minute) electives. Now THAT’S a gamble!

You can’t win any money at the track without studying the horses, the trainers, the jockeys and a myriad of other variables. What’s so undignified about learning cards through courses at MIT or Harvard? He actually then went on call gamblers “lazy, slothful, unproductive and undeserving of financial rewards”.  Then he states “offering the hope of riches without labor)” Holy Crap! I must take a break ’cause I’m pissed off!!!!!!!

k – I’m back (but still pissed off)

Gee, thanks to gamblers, there are millions of jobs in the US. Thousands of hours are spent studying the various forms of casino gambling, testing and tweaking the procedures, and perfecting their craft. If he wants to pick on the lazy, he must look elsewhere (and Lord knows there are plenty of places to look).

“Gambling corrupts the culture, polluting everything it touches. Recent scandals in college basketball are proof positive that gambling is not a problem limited to casinos and horse tracks.” He’s right there isn’t he… scandal is in Congress, in the Senate, in the Banks, the Oil companies, car manufactures, wall street, and politicians running for President of the United States, and on and on and on…<p>

Hey Reverend… are you running a Bingo Game?

Fund Raisers? …gambling, gambling, gambling!

“The Church had better not bet on this problem just going away.” Bet? the Church can Bet?

There are other activities that he could better spend his time on: Drugs, Alcohol, Cigarettes, etc (but counting on a wide readership (which is what this greedy reverend wants)…that would be gambling.

Nice Click…Why? Simple. I’m about to roll up my sleeves and share with you a modern technique and the best strategy known today to Win Pokerstars and most online poker sites.

Hey, ever thought about making a serious income using online poker? Or maybe you would simply like to be able to win pokerstars or any other online poker site almost every time you play?

Why? Because I’m about to explain to you exactly how I win pokerstars and make an honest pay with online poker. I’m talking about YOU becoming a professional online poker player!

I’m about to reveal a lot of information that you might not know – so hold on to your seat! Everything I’m about to explain can literally make you thousands of dollars in online poker, and create complete freedom in your life!

Hands down – it really is that simple. In fact, anyone you know that is good enough at online poker to create a real income that replaces a career – definitely has some sort of system.

Most people have the same system for online play as they do for offline play. This is where they go wrong! Many lose thousands. You need to know that offline poker plays differently from online poker. If you have the wrong system – it can (and maybe already has) cost you a small fortune!

Many people throw good money after bad at the tables. Not to mention the 100,000+ new players that join online poker sites every month! This is where smart people come in and make a lot of money!

We all know there are $millions thrown around in online poker tables every day. What most people don’t know is – you can take some! You can even win 4 of every 5 times you play!

With the wrong system, it’s very difficult to win consistently. With no system, it’s almost impossible!

I mean sure… You’ll win sometimes, and probably even get a big win every now and then. But it’s very hard to win 80% of the time without a proven online poker system.

Poker players behave differently online. It’s exactly the same game, but people tend to play a different way to offline poker. This surprised me when I first started out – but it really is a new game with new odds.

But still, these facts alone certainly mean you need a new system. One designed purely for online play and not for real world play. To be honest, if you claimed to have a system that could do both, I would suggest you had a system that did neither. The two games (online vs. offline) are just played too differently.

Before I share with you exactly how it’s possible to play online poker to create an online income, let me share with you something incredible! The top two critical and actual reasons why most people fail to make money in the online poker space. The 100% real 2 reasons why so many poker players never win Pokerstars or any other…read more

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There is money to be made running poker tournaments if you run them right. We have refined the process, and laid it out for you from start to finish on what’s needed and how to host a tournament from start to finish. Either make your home games the envy of the neighborhood, or fine-tune a bar poker league and attract the players who enjoy a quality poker tournament.

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Yes, Begged!

The thieves in DC have pulled off a great con! All along, they (Republicans) want to tax the (disappearing) middle class to extinction. There is a very large number of us who have fallen to the depths of begging to be taxed… for the “privilege” of playing Poker online!

Forget about the fact the MILLIONS play online around the world without the albatross hanging around their necks. They don’t have our elected thieves! Forget about the fact that what we do with OUR time and OUR money should be OUR choices. Here! PLEASE Tax us! Please take a chunk of our money! The Gov’t hook is in our mouths… it’s set, and we’re being reeled in!

I don’t know about you, but I’m so tired of the same old song coming out of Washington… Do anything to defeat Obama! Do anything to divide the classes! Do anything to protect the wealthy! Do anything to oppress the poor!

I received an email this week from the “Poker Player’s Alliance” that participated in a conference hosted by the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) to discuss the outlook for licensed Internet poker with state lawmakers, lottery officials, and tribal leaders.

In the report, the PPA states:

“Unfortunately, it is abundantly clear that the states’ sole interest in perusing licensing is to raise revenue, and that should be a concern for players. Public policy centered on maximizing government revenues will never produce positive outcomes for consumers. While revenue is a natural byproduct of regulation, it should first be about protecting players and giving adults the freedom to engage in a game of skill over the Internet, rather than about maximizing the rake by limiting competition.”

We don’t have enough pockets for everyone!

The report goes on: the PPA is a strong supporter of Rep. Barton’s H.R. 2366, the Online Poker Act. H.R. 2366 puts consumers first, while giving states the option of participating in licensed Internet poker.

It is important that we continue making our voices heard in our state capitals. We need to continue paving the way so that each governor makes the right decision here. Let’s all tell our governors and state elected representatives that we want the right to play poker in our own homes on our own computers and that we want them to support federal legislation to enable this freedom.

To make this easy for you, they’ve created an editable letter to send to your state officials. You can get it here:

http://www.capwiz.com/pokerplayersalliance/issues/alert/?alertid=50908541&type=ML

Finally, if you want to get involved, or simply read what others are doing, you can subscribe to the PPA Newsletter here:

http://theppa.org/subscribe/

It seems to me that we’ve been handed the best tool available for getting Online Gambling legalized in the US.

Poker is a great pastime, and we’ve proven that by skirting the law, avoiding the funding restrictions, and ignoring the UIGEA.

… and what did we get? Screwed! Screwed out of our money by unscrupulous, greedy operators of such sites as: Full Tilt Poker, Ultimate Bet, and Absolute Poker. Doesn’t that alone SCREAM for US Regulation? It’s the US Department of Justice that brought those cheating executives down for the good of the whole World… and the good of Poker, Online Gambling, and players everywhere.

I have to say “I told you so”. I’m still against the UIGEA… more so than ever! Can anyone now say that US intervention is wrong? Can anyone now say to the US Gov’t – “Hands Off Internet Gambling”?

Here’s today’s news:
“Last week, the U.S. Justice Department in a civil suit accused several directors of the company behind the Full Tilt Poker website of defrauding thousands of online poker players out of more than $300 million that is still owed to them.

The Justice Department’s civil suit against Full Tilt alleges that in 2010, Full Tilt began having trouble accepting new bets from players, thanks to U.S. efforts to crack down on payment-processing services for online gambling. But the U.S. says that Full Tilt’s owners kept paying themselves millions of dollars anyway, fraudulently depleting the player funds on deposit with the company.”

Re-read that my friends “Full Tilt began having trouble accepting new bets from players, thanks to U.S. efforts to crack down on payment-processing services for online gambling”

“Thanks to U.S. efforts”… so what did the directors do? They went on paying themselves $Millions! Can you say “Madoff”? They all belong in the same prison!

This would not have happened if Bush hadn’t snuck the damn UIGEA into the Ports Protection bill late on a Friday night… (See the whole story elsewhere in this blog). No, instead, we’d have US regulations, US taxes, and US protection – not from ourselves (as the addiction chicken-littles profess) but from thieves operating under the guise of Officers of the Corporations.

So, again I ask you all to get behind the efforts to eliminate the UIGEA for the good of us all (yes – ALL … think what the tax revenues will do FOR us). Contact our hero, our front-man, our point… Rep. Barney Frank D-Mass, and let him know that he’s on the right course, and that you support his efforts to right this wrong!

DOJ says Full Tilt was a global Ponzi scheme
20 September 2011

By Dan Igo

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Tuesday that Full Tilt Poker operated as a “global Ponzi scheme” and that its primary owners, including poker professionals Howard Lederer and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, defrauded the site’s players out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The DOJ filed a motion to amend an earlier civil complaint against Full Tilt Poker to include “additional allegations, claims, and defendants concerning a fraudulent scheme by Full Tilt Poker and its Board of Directors concerning the misuse of players’ funds,” according to a memorandum sent out by Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney from the Southern District of New York.

“Full Tilt was not a legitimate poker company, but a global Ponzi scheme,” Bharara said in a statement. “Full Tilt insiders lined their own pockets with funds picked from the pockets of their most loyal customers while blithely lying to both players and the public alike about the safety and security of the money deposited.”

Lederer, Ferguson, former CEO Ray Bitar and Rafael “Rafe” Furst, all owners of Full Tilt Poker, are accused of distributing approximately $443 million to themselves and other owners of the company. The amended complaint alleges that Full Tilt mixed player funds with operating funds, despite public claims to the contrary by the site.

The DOJ said that by the end of March, Full Tilt Poker owed approximately $390 million to players worldwide, including $150 million to American players, but had less than $60 million in its bank accounts.

“Full Tilt Poker allowed players to gamble with — and lose to other players — this phantom money that Full Tilt Poker never actually collected or possessed,” the DOJ said in a memo.

Lederer, Ferguson and Furst were not included in the original April 15 indictment against the founders of Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker. Those three sites were accused of bank fraud, money laundering, illegal gambling offenses and violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. All three stopped taking American players shortly after the indictment.

Repaying players has been a totally different matter. PokerStars has paid more than $120 million to American players, and has had no significant delays in paying its international customer base. Full Tilt and Absolute Poker, meanwhile, still owe their players millions of dollars..

The amended complaint claims that Lederer personally received $42 million in company funds, while Ferguson was allocated over $85 million in distributions, but only received about $25 million of this sum.

An unnamed Full Tilt Poker pro received at least $40 million in distributions, while also receiving millions of dollars characterized as loans by Full Tilt. Over $4 million of these loans have not been repaid.

The amendment also states that up until April 2011, Full Tilt Poker continued making payments of up to $10 million per month to its owners, despite the company’s liquidity issues.

Full Tilt Poker’s website stated as of yesterday that players’ funds were “safe and secure.”

The DOJ is seeking $40 million from Bitar, $41.8 million from Lederer, $25 million from Ferguson and $11.7 million from Furst.

(Reprinted from Casino City Times)

I haven’t been able to log in to FTP today, and I heard that Alderney Gambling Control Commission has suspended Full Tilt Poker’s license.

What’s the meaning of that?

Is it Temporary? Forever?

This is all I could find so far: 
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/06/29/2983486/full-tilts-offshore-gambling-license.html

And this:

“Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has today issued Hearing Notices under Regulation 46 of its Regulations to Vantage Ltd, Oxalic Ltd, Filco Ltd and Orinic Ltd, collectively trading as FULL TILT POKER.

In addition, AGCC has issued Suspension Notices under Regulation 47 to the above named companies requiring them to suspend all operations with immediate effect.

The decision to suspend these licenses follows a special investigation prompted by the indictments unsealed by U.S. Attorney General’s Office in the Southern District of New York on April 15, 2011, during which grounds were found to indicate that these licensees and their business associates were operating contrary to Alderney legislation. The nature of the findings necessitated the taking of immediate action in the public interest.

The venue and date for the hearing will be announced in due course.

Issued by:

André Wilsenach (Executive Director)
Alderney Gambling Control Commission
Alderney,
Channel Islands

Date issued: 29th June 2011”

Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/06/breaking-news-full-tilt-poker-license-suspended-by-agcc-10629.htm

My Squidoo lenses were “locked” today. That means taken down, unpublished, hidden away, destroyed, obliterated, bombed, and killed. Know why? Because they were about the Horse races; Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and one about Las Vegas (and how to save money on your next visit).

Those lenses were labeled by the Squidoo Brainiacs as Gambling.

These were simple lenses of information – that’s all – information. But the Squidoo Fools called the lenses: “Gambling”

Gambling!

How often must I say this? How often must I cry in the dark? What does it take to get through to some people? What must my message be to convince the powers-at-be that:

EVERYTHING WE DO IS A GAMBLE. You’ve seen my writings in the past about Stocks, and Bonds, and Insurance, and what we buy at the Grocery store, and which Mate we choose…. on and on and on and on and on and…

Until ALL lenses are removed (show me one that isn’t about Gambling) then the removal of mine is highly, HIGHLY discriminatory!!!! Perhaps, even illegal.

I look forward to the day when this “Gambling phobia” is challenged in court and made illegal!!!!

I read last week that one elementary school has decided that their student can’t have Easter Eggs… they must only have: “Spring Spheres”. oh brother!

So, if that kind of nonsense gets it’s day in court, then mine must too!

I maintain that one can’t decide on any thing over any other thing without that act being a “gamble”.

What say you?…

Oh, and one more thing: Squidoo? Grow up!

Got 5 minutes? You can make a big difference in the online gambling status of the US… plus, you might win a great prize!

USGamingSurvey.com wants your opinion!

We USA players sit by and watch the rest of the World have all the fun… and the time to make a change has never been better! There’s a new bill; HR 1174 sponsored by Congressmen Barney Frank (D-MA) and John Campbell (R-CA) which is similar to Barney Frank’s bill HR 2267 that will repeal the stupid UIGEA that we laughingly observe today.

So, take advantage of this political climate and “get in and help out”!

Go to USGamingSurvey.com and lay your chips on the table!