Neteller, Frist, Poker and Internet Gambling Bill
Ok, so unless you've been living under a rock you already
know that Senator Bill Frist, from here on in known as slimy weasel,
was able to pass a Port Security Bill this weekend that also makes
it more difficult for banks to fund online accounts.
Before I mentioned it in my blog I wanted to make sure
that I educated myself a little bit more on the state of online poker
and what this bill means to all of us.
For the most part, I think they can take their bill
and shove it where the sun don't shine. An attempt several years ago
to discourage credit card companies from funding online gaming accounts
may have caused a slight panic, but in the end, companies like Neteller
and other third party operators made it easy for customers to fund
their online accounts.
What's still a really gray area is what exactly will
happen to a company like Neteller. Neteller isn't a U.S. bank so the
U.S. government should have no jurisdiction over Neteller accounts.
If that's true, then things will continue to be business as usual.
The way I understand it, you will still be able to fund
your Neteller account from your bank account. Neteller is NOT an online
gaming company. Your bank would have virtually no way of tracing what
you do with your funds after you send them to Neteller, which appears
to be totally legal as I understand it.
A couple of publicly owned companies have went on record
saying that once the bill is signed by president Bush, they will no
longer accept U.S. accounts until they have time to fully understand
their options.
As for the majority of privately owned sites, it will
be business as usual. Frankly, as moronic and intrusive as this bill
is, there is really no need to panic. The bill states that banks have
270 days to comply with the law. Most banks, especially smaller ones,
won't even have the resources to do that as I understand it.
In a time where Italy recently announced that they will
legalize online gambling and most European countries following suit,
it just boggles my mind that the U.S. government fails to realize
that A) they do not govern the world, B) they cannot put a stop to
online gaming, and C) they are costing the American people billions
and billions of dollars in tax dollars that they could use to spend
on education, welfare... or just building more "pretty"
bombs.
The weasel (remember, that's Bill Frist), claims that
online gambling is a way in which terrorists go about laundering money.
Come off it? How do you say that with a straight face? Weasel, do
you have any proof whatsoever that any terrorist group has used online
poker accounts to launder money? Any at all?
The weasel is a self-righteous douche bag who has decided
to push upon us his moral agenda by claiming that online poker is
"bad." Has he ever played poker? Probably not. Does he even
understand that it's different from slot machines? Probably not. Does
he even realize that many Americans put food on the table by playing
online poker? Probably not, and I doubt he cares. He thinks "gambling
is wrong" so we all have to have the same view of it as he does.