I do not know an awful lot about this subject; just that a bill may shortly be passed which means the US poker players would face an internet poker blackout for 15 months, followed by taxed and regulated games along the lines of pokerstars.FR. I'm English but I'm worried about online poker. I have read some unfortunate brags on the twoplustwo forum boards from English players along the lines of : "we're not affected, we don't care, hahahah". I do not share this view and am very concerned about the future of this game. The way I see it there are two roads that poker could go down:
1/ The bill is not passed and the US Feds continue to squeeze the life out of US online poker until there is no longer US involvement with the online game. As the country that gave the game to the world this would be a huge blow. And what if the Feds somehow targeted Full Tilt and PokerStars resources such that player's deposit money suddenly became insecure - these companies would not be bailed out by the government but they'd face similar panic to the banks (mass withdrawal) and probably go under. This is a huge threat to the online game's very existence.
2/ The bill goes through - this appears to be the slightly better choice if it secures the legality of the two biggest internet providers. However, the world loses the US players indefinitely. US players, good and bad make up a third of the online poker player pool apparently (source twoplustwo - accuracy unreliable lol). I don't believe it would be good for the game to lose their participation.
twoplustwo legislation threads
Two dark paths ahead for online poker IMO. I'll be watching developments closely.
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