What is Digg?119 Comments
- upenox, on 10/12/2007, -13/+79This government can go ***** themselves.
- cmw72, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23Online gambling brought in about twelve billion dollars in 2005 with about 80% of that coming from the US alone.
Perhaps the online casinos need to take some lessons from the RIAA or the MPAA. I'm sure that kind of money could buy a few politicians. - alevel27mage, on 10/12/2007, -15/+34I rather like the law against smoking in public areas... Smoking can actually harm others, and as such trespasses on others' rights. Online Poker, however, is rediculous. Go Washington!
- Tyrel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Yeah, except all of the casinos in Washington state are owned by Native Americans... the state doesn't get a dime! Could be what they are doing here is protecting the apparent right of the native tribes to control major gambling in the state. Perhaps the tribes complained to the state about online gambling, and this is the result.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15The internet is beyond borders. None of what goes on online should be a crime unless it actually hurts someone. Poker hurts no one but the guy playing it (ok, and maybe his family, if he has one, and he doesn't know when to fold J5 off suit).
- loveandrockets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I'm a smoker and I'm totally conscious of not smoking around others. I go into an alley and look like a weirdo just standing there to avoid subjecting someone to my smoke. For all you people who want to ban cigarettes altogether I hope you know they're coming after twinkies, double-cheeseburgers and pork rinds next.
(BTW I love old videos of mission control where everybody is smoking around the banks of computers and monitors (I wonder how many had to be swapped out because of smoke and how long it took them to realize it.)) - Larsbot3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11As far as my reading, its been federally illegal since 1997.
The text of the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1997 states:
10/23/1997--Reported to Senate, amended. (There is 1 other summary)
Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit and set penalties for: (1) placing, receiving, or otherwise making a bet or wager via the Internet or any other interactive computer service in any State; and (2) engaging in the business of betting or wagering through the Internet or any such service.
(Sec. 4) Grants the U.S. district courts original and exclusive jurisdiction to prevent and restrain violations of this Act. Authorizes the Attorney General to institute proceedings under this section, and the district court (upon application of the Attorney General) to enter a restraining order or an injunction or take any other action necessary to prevent a violation if the court determines that there is a substantial probability that such violation has occurred or will occur.
Not enforced, but still on the books. - omenmedia, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13What about strip poker? ;)
- RyeBrye, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15and as of yesterday, you were foolish with your money.
- CoolWind, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Playing poker online is a felony? I could understand it being a misdemeanor, but this is totally insane.
Vote for the Pirate Party and stop criminalizing common behavior. - omenmedia, on 10/12/2007, -8/+16I agree, if I wanted to kill myself quicker by breathing in cancer sticks, I would do it... but I don't, so I don't want second hand smoke please. There's nothing more annoying than going to a cafe and wanting to sit outside in the supposedly fresh air only to have it ruined by a human smokestack sitting at the next table. Have your death sticks, smoke as many of the putrid things as you want, but give those a break who choose not to smoke.
And er, yes, drifted a bit there... playing online poker = felony is stupid. :) - CharlesDarwin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9"Do you play online poker? Do you live in WA? As of today, you're a felon."
All the Washingtonians I know that play online poker are felons anyway! - *narf*, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8its simply states wanting to control taxes.. if you play on a website in the Bahamas then the state gets no revenue.. looks like they are pissed and would rather you headed to a local casino where they can take their piece of the pie
- danielwsmithee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I dugg your comment just for "I'm getting my gun and whiskey and goin yuppie huntin." All of what you say is true.
- C00001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Rampart-- Just ask. You'd be surprised how fast the majority of smokers would be willing to oblige. Of course, the more politely you ask, the more likely this is to happen. Not everyone will be nice about it, I guess, but most will.
Just please, please, please don't do the polite-cough-that-grows-louder-until-they-figure-it-out thing. First of all, it will take most people a while to figure it out, even if they do. Then, if they do realize it's directed at them, they're much more likely to get pissed off than if you had just asked in the first place. - CryingWolf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Make no bones about it, it was indian gaming in WA that got this one through.
- Subcranium, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7So is Oregon. Wasn't there a proposal 20 years ago to erase that horizontal line between them and drawn a new vertical one?
Of course, Democrats wouldn't go for that--you'd get a red and a blue instead of two blues. - AndrewWiggin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5yea, online poker for fun is still legal (of course).. I also originally thought that it meant that any online poker was illegal in WA now.. that would be much bigger news though.
- solidcube, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Only if you play with people who are better than you. Otherwise, statistically, you're bound to make money over time. I know people who play online poker professionally. It's all they do, they do it like a normal job 8 hours a day. They make bank. And I know they make bank because I've seen the meticulous records they keep (which, of course, is the only way to know how well you're doing over time...)
Too boring for me. To me, poker makes watching paint dry look like excitement times 10. - solidcube, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Daniel, let me explain the way poker works before you call me an idiot.
It's a pyramid. Obviously the casinos take their cut. Money flows from everyone to the casinos, every game.
But over time, money also flows from the lesser players to the better players. If I'm sitting in low-ante games, I'm good enough so that over time I'll make money.
If you're good enough, and you can play over and over and over without going on tilt-- or if you can quit when you start tilting-- you will do better over time than most players who are typically mindless system players who allow emotion to dictate what they do.
I think online poker should be regulated by gaming commissions. There should definitely be a limit to the rake they can impose. There's also rampant cheating in the form of collusion as well as bots (which isn't really a cheat, they just typically sit in low-level games for eons playing crappy heuristic-based system play.)
But fish are going to find a way to lose money no matter how hard you try to protect them. To what extent are you going to legislate safety?
Want to stop rampant rigged gambling schemes where trillions change hands? Take a look at the stock market. - danielwsmithee, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Yeah that is why "Online gambling brought in about twelve billion dollars in 2005 with about 80% of that coming from the US alone." All that money has to come from somewhere you idiot. With gambling a few make money the majority loose money, and casino makes bank.
The lottery is a backwards tax. If they came out with a tax that taxed poor people disproportionately to rich people everyone would be up in arms. That is exactly what a state lottery is, look up the statistics. - ZamboniDriver, on 10/12/2007, -0/+51) Politicians can't let anything go without regulation.
2) Politicians just HAVE to tax the everlovin' ***** out of anything.
3) Most politicians couldn't find their butt with both hands. In other words, it's likely that this legislation is poorly written. Anyone with 1/2 a brain should be able to do an end-around and get by whatever limitations are imposed.
Online casinos could likely set up proxies offshore. They could then allow WA residents to telnet offshore, and THEN they could play poker to their eyes bleed. And there's probably very little that a local politician can do about it. How are they going to regulate offshore activities in which they know nothing about?
Which reminds me. Most politicians have no clue how to accomplish anything. They slap together some piece of drivel, call it a bill, and have a vote. If and when it passes a vote, they parade this drivel to the news media, and celebrate. Tax revenue to spend! Let's throw more money at worthless social programs like welfare, even though welfare has never gotten ANYONE out of the poor house in 40+ years. Yet the biggest problem with welfare is the need for MORE money. One nice thing, welfare has made thousands of bureaucrats in DC fat, dumb, and happy because they get to feel important, earn a good wage while managing these inept, inefficient social programs that do nothing but waste taxpayer money. - mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4i live in washington.. i actually thought it had been illegal for years now.. guess not.
- trunkster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Ha, now that's the last person I would blame for anything the local government has done in Washington State. Dark dark blue state.
- mattjvw, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Hey, I am as disgusted with Bush as... well, 70% of the country. But he has nothing to do at all with state politics in Washington.
- Rampart, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm a heavy asthmatic. When people smoke near me, I can go into an attack. I was on steroid inhalers for awhile, and that generally helped suppress attacks, but it wasn't a great solution. I work with many smokers, and talking to them on breaks is fine, I just stand upwind of them. But if I am say, in a line, or for some reason forced to be stationary, and I am in the path of a smoke trail, it really sucks. A lot of the smoking laws we have here in California make me really happy.
I am not one to jump on smoking as a horrible thing, even though in some cases it feels like an assault on my respiratory system. I even recognize that it is cathartic to many people, and that there are few icebreakers at all like sharing a cigarette with someone. But sometimes, it just hurts. I guess all this rambling is meant to come around to the question, if I have to be somewhere, and someone is smoking, is there a good way to ask them to either not smoke, or avoid sending it in my direction politely, without seeming like a jerk? - TrainwreckX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It probably has to do with our new Governor. Chris Gregoire is a ***** bitch.
- nox327, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I don't think people should worry about this, I mean how will they enforce this. Don't they know that the Internet is a lawless anarchy
- orlandogeek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I couldnt get to the article (I'm at work), but iirc, this only makes playing poker online for money illegal, yes? One should still be able to legally play if one is not betting on the games, correct?
- Swivelhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well, except paying a tax is involuntary. Playing the lottery is a type of luxury (just like any other type of legalized gambling) and is not mandatory.
I don't think that playing online poker should not be looked at any differently than investing in foriegn business. The Fed will let you blow your money on penny-stocks until you're in the poor house (and buying lottery tickets to make it rich.) - Radiohead84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I use to think that but after playing for so long its really hard to even think it. Sure some of the randomizers might seem a little weird but lets think about this logically.
1. Why would they risk it? They are making so much money as it is, if they rigged it and got caught they would lose ALL of their business...
2. If you think its rigged then you are saying that every person that is a winning poker player online is in with the owners. I have atleast 3 friends that win on a constant basis and know personally that they do not cheat. Poker is a game of skill and statisitics...if you can read players and play the stats right...your going to win in the long run
Simply put..it seems like its rigged because you play a HUGE amount of ahands in a short peroid of time. Instead of having someone deal and waiting for the next hand..its shuffled instantly and BAM your in another hand. You play so many more hands then your nomrallly would that you see more of the crazy stuff that would usually take a lot longer to see. Yes I have seen a Royal Flush beat a straight flush..IT HAPPENS.
On the note about the law. Its crazy to me how the government can legally pick and choose what forms of gambling is ok. yes betting on horses and the lottery are ok, but PLEASE dont play a game that is atleast a little bit skillful. I honestly dont see how a lot of laws in the US are passed when they are so judgemental. - tgone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4you're right, Washington is split between east and west. It's almost like two states.
- Subcranium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Washington will ask Google and China to help them find out who is playing poker.
- knightblade2oo4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Here's proof: I live in Washington. I don't play poker. I'm not a felon.
- omenmedia, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5@loveandrockets, sir, I commend you... if only more smokers followed your example and thought of others.
- RadiantBeing, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8"This government can go ***** themselves."
Hey, you guys put them in power... sort of. Well, actually it's pretty depressing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_gubernatorial_election%2C_2004 - elvis314, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I love it! So no online gambling...well when you go to an Indian casino, you are technically gambling online. You play a slot machine that is hooked up to their network, you put a card in that accesses your account which deletes money (and once in a while adds money). If they say that it isn't the "Internet", can you gamble on the IPv6 backbone?
I would also want to know if seeding money for a professional player in Vegas would be illegal. If there was a mutual fund manager that just managed professional gamblers instead of mutual funds, that would sure hit the borders of this law (and any other federal laws). The problem with laws is the exceptions (Nevada, tribal gaming, etc...) which mean that you can indirectly profit from it without breaking the laws. Sort of like money laundering:)
Now why isn't playing the stock market considered gambling? I mean investing in a company that doesn't make any money (they are actually losing money - vonage, amazon.com, etc...) your are betting with the odds against you and you have no control over what is dealt to you (you cannot tell the company to do something). Last I heard, statistically you will lose as gambling. Putting your money in a company that has a proven track record to waste money seems even dumber than gambling, but it is legal. - Burmask, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2one word - proxy
- Ogopogo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2.. going after the online gambling sites? That's even more retarded. Aren't they ALL based offshore (as in Washington state has no jurisdiction over Caribbean-registered websites)?
- Subcranium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why don't the tribes have a poker site then?
- Jonslilbro, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Yea, supernova17, Bill Gates is a big poker guy. If you saw the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, you''d see how much he likes to play. He get's very serious and hates losing.
Jons - dupswapdrop, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3online poker = bad you may lose money
stock market = good you will lose money to a corporation
politicians = crooks who are paid by corporations - Namco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2In these times of Terrorist fearmongering (perpetrated by the gov no less), why the hell are they trying to ban online poker?
- Narpas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Dark dark blue state" that put a Democrat in power as governor with a margin under 200. :-)
They's blue, but they's not that blue. - knightblade2oo4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I live in the direct center. lol
We are a ***** up morph of east and west which means there's a ***** of rich people and white trash dirty kids.
and the only concerts here are metal (which is good). Good old Wenatchee... Liberal as ***** and 30% mexican. - Swivelhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Dang that's scary!
- rr525356, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I find this funny with all of the tribal casinos all around here...
- tgone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I applaud all of those who support taking away freedom from the people. You have done an excellent job. Prepare for the feminist police state where men have less rights, immigrants have more rights than citizens, and you can't have any fun because it may hurt someone else. Mommy will hold your hand everywhere you go. Congratulations yuppy do gooders, - you've saved the world!
Instead of teaching our children how to be good people in the first place, we will continue to raise them in dysfunctional households, pump them full of pills, and pass laws to prevent them from doing things that could bring harm to them.
Sounds like a great solution to me.
And no, I'm not a republican, I hate Bush and I love to recycle. So find another way to categorize me. - TrainwreckX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@RadiantBeing
"Hey, you guys put them in power... sort of. Well, actually it's pretty depressing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_gubernatorial_election%2C_2004"
Trust me, I'm still pissed. I'm not a R or D, but I am far from a Gregoire fan. I mean Dino Rossi actually won... TWICE. Then once we did a third recount, that's the magic number? Or is it just cause she won and that this a blue state? Annoying.
@reiggin
"So, do you mean by "this government" the US or Washington State? I hope you mean WA state since that's the legislation in question. Also, noteworthy that WA state is a BLUE state."
I love people who are ignorant to goverment, like the guy you quoted. "I hate Bush cause everyone else does and I don't know anything about what he has or has not done. Also, all government sucks, even the politicians that hate Bush?" Wait wtf? - rishid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://www.duggmirror.com
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