PokerStars FullTilt and Internet Poker Update

Picture this… it’s April 15th, 2011 and after a long day at your mind numbing job all you want to do is sit down to a virtual battle of wits against your online pseudo friends in your favorite game of skill and challenge. As you log on to the familiar software you receive a message that an update is available, which you promptly click, impatient to get on with your planned relaxation of the evening. But wait, the software won’t load? What could be the issue? So you type in the URL to your site of choice to see if there are any outage messages. What is this? Have you mistyped?

And that is when you realized it… it’s happened. The tyrannical, totalitarian US government has not only impeded on the personal lives of others as well as yourself, but they have also unlawfully seized  the domain to a business outside of their jurisdiction. Is this democracy at work?

I am sad to report that a Manhattan court has unlawfully seized the domains of the poker sites Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker, Ultimate Bet Poker and PokerStars. And if this isn’t bad enough, they have indicted eleven executives of the named sites, and a number of their affiliates, charging them with bank fraud and money laundering. Two of the defendants were arrested this morning in Nevada and Utah, and federal agents are seeking others named in the indictment. The hope of these government sanctioned criminal raids is to jail poker executives and pilfer $3 billion dollars from the companies.

What authority do they claim to commit these heinous acts? One (lame) defense is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement act (UIGEA) passed by Congress in 2006. Let us first note that the UIGEA only passed because it was attached to a HOMELAND SECURITY BILL!!! So it did not pass on its own merit, it was snuck in underhandedly by its proponents as part of something whose aim was to protect national security. Yeah, THAT’S valid. Another important point to address is that 2 well respected polls were conducted in 2006, wherein the vast majority of Americans believed that the government should not prohibit Internet gambling. Zogby International Poll: 87% believe online gambling is a personal choice which should not be banned; Wall Street Journal Poll: 85% oppose government prohibition of online gambling. So democracy loses again as the will of the American people is once again trampled. And the best part? “…UIGEA does not impose any substantive prohibition on gambling activity that was not already present, under state or federal law, before the Bill’s passage.” (quoted from First Amendment website) At that’s all before you even consider whether poker qualifies as gambling.

So if we can’t use the UIGEA to justify the acts of today, maybe the Wire Act? The problem is, the Wire Act doesn’t address ONLINE gaming. And neither does anything else. So you are left with NOTHING that I know of to justify the incidents we are witnessing today.

The 11 defendants now variously face charges of “Conspiracy to Violate Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act,” “Violation of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act,” “Operation of Illegal Gambling Business,” “Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud,” and “Money Laundering Conspiracy.” If convicted, some defendants could face up to 30 years in prison, plus a fine of $1,000,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the operation. I am also hearing rumors that Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson may be targets in this online poker massacre. Since the government has barely a leg to stand on with charges of unlawful gaming, especially in countries where gambling is legal, the pursuit of money laundering charges is to be expected. “Subpoenas issued in the case allegedly claim that internet gambling is illegal in the United States” Please, please, please show me the law making internet gambling illegal, because not only do the players disagree, but lawyers, senators, judges, etc also think you are full of it, and have voiced such in the years following the UIGEA. In fact, in 2009 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the UIGEA did not make any online activity illegal.

The question on most poker player’s minds is this: will I ever see the money in my poker account again? That remains to be seen, but since the government is also going after banking institutions, and purportedly has frozen numerous bank holdings of the poker sites they are harassing, it is a shaky issue. So basically, this act of terrorism is going to take money right out of the US economy… isn’t that great at a time like this??

So here’s the deal, We the People need to say NO to this CRAP. If you are a poker lover, know a poker lover, or even just like FREEDOM, you are going to want to take a stand. Call and write your officials and let them know that you will not accept the government overstepping their bounds here or elsewhere, and that you expect them to uphold the rights of you and the rest of the people in their jurisdiction. Until WE the People approve a bill to the contrary, WE should be allowed to play our game of skill whenever and wherever we like! If you want to ban gambling (which poker isn’t)… take a look at your state sponsored LOTTERY.

Sincerely,

Poker Playing Americans

Writter by guest blogger Sandy Novotny

Send a letter to President Obama and Attorney General Holder

Send a Letter to your Members of Congress

Send a Letter to your State Lawmakers

Hint, reword the form letters if you can. We want them to see that this issue is worth our time and attention… and should be worth theirs too. Personally, I think non-US people should write too, show them the WORLD is on our side!!

Indictment and Civil Complaint

Tags: absolute poker, Chris Ferguson, FBI seizure, full tilt poker, Howard Lederer, online poker, pokerstars, UIGEA, ultimate bet poker