My 2 Cents

Oh hi, anybody still reading this? Good. So since my last post nothing too exciting has happened in my poker world, and I'm on a bit of a downswing in my last two sessions since then. No biggy. What is a big deal is the shockwave that was sent through the online poker world this past Friday, quickly becoming known as "Black Friday". I'm going to cut to the chase with what will probably be the only "serious" post of my life, so here is my rant.

On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department shut down the three biggest poker sites to players in the U.S. and filed a 52 page indictment against their founders. These sites being PokerStars (where I play), Full Tilt Poker, and UltimateBet. In 2006, U.S. congress passed a law that prevented financial institutions from processing financial transactions related to online poker sites. This made it difficult for U.S. players to deposit and withdraw money from their favorite poker sites. The U.S. being the only country I'm aware of that has ever passed such a law. However, big hitters such as PokerStars and FullTilt were able to cater to their American players from overseas. PokerStars being based in the Isle of Man, and Full Tilt being regulated in the U.K's Channel Islands. They built a U.S. market which included millions of customers, and see billions in wagers per year from U.S. players alone. Apparently, Friday's indictment alleged these companies used fraudulent methods to get around U.S. gambling laws, and has since seized their operations and accounts in the U.S.  

When I caught wind of this news on Saturday morning, I felt pity for every American tax payer. What a waste of time, energy, money, and resources. With all that is going on in the U.S., and all over the world today you have the American government wasting millions upon millions of dollars and resources cracking down on a game, a hobby, a passion, and for some a profession, shared by millions of people. A billion dollar industry spawned and they didn't have a piece of it...hmmmmm...weird that they are getting their noses in this. Government regulated state lotteries however, which take zero skill and only the abililty to show up at a gas station and foolishly throw your money into something where your odds of winning are approximately the same as the person who didn't even buy a ticket, are perfectly OK.

Professional poker players are tax payers, just like you and I with typical day jobs. Many of them are educated as engineers, lawyers, rocket scientists, accountants or stock brokers, but they found a better way. Many rely solely on online poker. Overnight, thousands of jobs were taken away in the U.S. And why? Thousands of people who turned their passion for poker into a profession are left helpless and unable to access their hard earned money. Should they all apply for unemployment now, U.S government? Welfare? Is that a better idea? Some of them turned to poker in desperation, in a country where the cost of education is the highest in the world (not to mention statistically one of the least effective).

A country that instills fear in its own citizens to justify war and the mass murder of innocent people. Online poker though? That is where people really get hurt. Consenting adults playing a game they enjoy and putting their own money at risk. I can see the issues here. Last time I checked PokerStars hasn't bombed any countries, or sent their employees into the line of fire. In fact, as a consumer I hold PokerStars in highest regard as a service provider. Their software is the most reliable and sophisticated in the business. Their support team is second to none. Emails are answered in less time than it takes to listen to all the automated options when you call Telus or Shaw. They always make sure your concerns or questions are addressed thoroughly. They keep immaculate records of your playing history, financial transactions, tournament history, etc and provide it to you at request. They take all concerns of collusion, offensive language, etc serious and let you know when the issue has been addressed. They even refunded me hundreds of dollars I had lost when I experienced internet issues despite it being explicity stated in their policy that it's one of the risks they are not responsible for. They raise and donate money to charities, or countries such as Japan in need of help. The tally of donations from PokerStars players right now is over 200K, which they are matching. That means at least 400K is going to the Red Cross in Japan. Much of that generated by the U.S. poker population...if those accounts haven't been frozen, that is. I'm sure the people of Japan are in no hurry to recieve the money, so take your time U.S. government, you're cracking down on a serious player here. Forget about putting extra money and resources to crack down on the terrorists, drug dealers, rapists, and online predators...let's punish the people who play poker. When was the last time you heard about a big crackdown on child pornography sites? Or news of the FBI locking down such online domains as they did with PokerStars and others on Friday?   Obviously they've been pretty tied up cracking down on poker sites, or having tea parties with the Saudis, so I understand. Yeah, online poker is the real problem with America today, so this seems like a brilliant idea.

I'm not saying PokerStars and the other big hitters didn't break any laws. For now they are innocent until proven guilty, of course. I don't know or understand all the facts and I'll never claim to. This is just my "2 cents". Maybe they crossed the line to provide an extremely high demand service to their U.S. customers, but it's a line that shouldn't have been there in the first place. In the meantime, Canada and every other country in the world is continuing to enjoy the service provided by PokerStars and others.  The United States of the America is clearly the land of the free.

Proud to not be an American.
Josh