1. Gambling transactions are not coded. The rest of the world has no incentive to code EFTs, does not want to pay to code EFTs, and quite frankly is very upset with the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> government right now.
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
2. The government allotted $10million to write this law, figure out how to enforce it, train the banks, enforce it, file injunctions, etc. It would cost them more than $10 million to just teach Bank of America.
<o></o>
3. The law does not criminalize betting. Even Senator Frist and Congressman Goodlatte have said it does not update the wire act and does not criminilize the act of placing a bet. Wonderful Mr. Goodlatte plans to press for more legistlation next year (It is very important we vote the dems into the majority)
<o></o>
4. We have no idea what neteller will do. If neteller does fold, there will be countless new processors ready to take the profit just like Neteller jumped in when paypal folded and paypal jumped in when credit cards were blocked.
<o></o>
5. It takes almost no effort to change your neteller account to a Canadian account. I spoke to neteller about this a few months ago and was told I needed to send in all sorts of documentation about rent or ownership, banking, etc... Yesterday when I asked again (And I asked twice) I was told, I can simply open a new neteller account with a Canadian address and bank account and they will move my funds over. <o></o>
Both Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Canada</st1lace></st1:country-region> will open an account for US citizens (You have to go there to open it) <o></o>
Mailboxes Etc will provide "suites" in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Toronto</st1lace></st1:City> for about $150/year. <o></o>
Earthlink provided dial up to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region> and most phone companies have a $40-50/ long distance unlimited package/month to <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1lace>. This way you can use dialup when accessing neteller.
<o></o>
I do not think you need to take all these steps, but they are a back up if neteller does block <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> accounts and new companies do not take over.
<o></o>
6. So what can we expect: <o></o>
As expected most the publicly owns European companies like partypoker, 888, stan james, willhill, etc have decided to block US gamers. This makes sense. Most of these companies are run by people in suits - not bookies. These execs have many business interests and have reasons to need to be able to come to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region>. Companies like Ladbrokes, Stan James, etc make a lot of their money from shops in <st1lace w:st="on">Europe</st1lace> and bets placed at bars. They have a business without the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> business. <o></o>
Most the Caribbean books and a few from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">England</st1lace></st1:country-region> have no intentions of leaving. These books were opened by bookies 10 years ago with the intent of evading <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> law and offering wagers to US citizens. They do not have another business. <o></o>
Pinnacle has said nothing will change.
WSEX says it is business as usual.
Cris and Olympic have not felt compelled to say anything but I bet we can guess their stance.
Bodog has stated they will remain a leader in offering <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> citizens gaming.
Bowmans went so far as to say they have their own payment processor available if need be and since their booking is legal, the bill does not involve them as you can not fund illegal accounts.
A friend chatted with 5dimes and 5dimes said the bill is unenforceable, a joke, and gambling transactions are not coded. <o></o>
7. Europe has decided to no longer give the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> passenger lists for planes coming to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region>. When <st1lace w:st="on">Europe</st1lace> initially agreed, they were promised the lists would only be used to thwart terrorism and not to invade privacy and arrestt people on other issues. (Obviously the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> broke this) <o></o>
A court in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Belgium</st1:country-region> is in the process of stopping Swift from providing world wire transfer info (Sender, recipient, and amount) to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region>. <o></o>
If the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> plans to negotiate either of the above, telling other countries how to bank will not be a good bargaining chip. <o></o>
8. The WTO has already ruled against the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region>. The penalty phase is supposed to be announced in November. The WTO will not see this law kindly. Hopefully the WTO will give <st1lace w:st="on">Antigua</st1lace> the right to not recognize US trademarks and patents. <o></o>
Sportingbet announced on their website that they are reviewing the WTO ruling and it can be interpreted they may well try to get <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region></st1lace> involved in this issue. <o></o>
9. The original law had criminal penalties for bankers who failed to block transactions. <o></o>
Before the banking lobby (Who gives the Reps a lot of dough) would sign off on the bill, it was altered. <o></o>
There are now no criminal penalties. Instead the DOJ can file an injunction if they feel a transaction is a gamblin transaction. Just how many federal injunctions in federal court do you think the DOJ is going to file which then have to be heard by a judge over $1000 gambling transactions while remaining under the $10M budget? <o></o>
Further the final version of the bill says that if banks find this impossible, they can simply say they tried hard, but it is not possible. <o></o>
Frist and Goodlatte want everyone to believe this bill will be enforced, but when push comes to shove, money talks, and barring $100 billion to revamp the banking system, trains 1000s of people to monitor transactions, etc enforcement will never see the light of day. <o></o>
In 5 years, Congress will say - shit it was a 12B industry when we passed that law. Now its a 40B industry. Maybe we should tax and regulate it. <o></o>
10. After the election fall out when hoards of poker players vote the GOP out, they will then realize that this was a very badly calculated move. <o></o>
Although Senator Frist and Kyl and Congressmen Leach and Goodlatte may well be willing to block all international commerce in order to block gambling, the rest of the government is not willing to do this. Barring a complete block, it will never be possible to block gambling transactions as cash, gold, derivatives, checks, and EFTs are not coded. Only credit cards are coded and they are only coded because Visa,MC, Amex, and discover require you apply for a merchant account to accept them. When you apply they ask you about your business. I can accept an EFT from any one of you tonight without declaring to anyone what it is about. <o></o>
So in 6 months, maybe an occasional transaction will be blocked by the biggest few banks, but 90+% of gambling transactions will get through. Maybe the feds will try to get BOA to block suspicious transactions, but if you think that $10million is going to get them to Fred's credit union in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Nebraska</st1lace></st1:State>... <o></o>
Anyways, life will go on as usual. <o></o>
Tomorrow I plan to write every sportsbook and casino I know and ask them to ask their players to vote Democrat this November. I don't like the dems or reps, but if at least one chamber is run by the dems, no update to the wire act will get through. An update to the wire act making it criminal to place a bet would be a disaster. <o></o>
The next goal is to get college students who don't normally vote, but like poker to vote too. I plan to use facebook as best possible to do this. <o></o>
Carry on folks and good luck. <o></o>
-Sean <o></o>
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
2. The government allotted $10million to write this law, figure out how to enforce it, train the banks, enforce it, file injunctions, etc. It would cost them more than $10 million to just teach Bank of America.
<o></o>
3. The law does not criminalize betting. Even Senator Frist and Congressman Goodlatte have said it does not update the wire act and does not criminilize the act of placing a bet. Wonderful Mr. Goodlatte plans to press for more legistlation next year (It is very important we vote the dems into the majority)
<o></o>
4. We have no idea what neteller will do. If neteller does fold, there will be countless new processors ready to take the profit just like Neteller jumped in when paypal folded and paypal jumped in when credit cards were blocked.
<o></o>
5. It takes almost no effort to change your neteller account to a Canadian account. I spoke to neteller about this a few months ago and was told I needed to send in all sorts of documentation about rent or ownership, banking, etc... Yesterday when I asked again (And I asked twice) I was told, I can simply open a new neteller account with a Canadian address and bank account and they will move my funds over. <o></o>
Both Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Canada</st1lace></st1:country-region> will open an account for US citizens (You have to go there to open it) <o></o>
Mailboxes Etc will provide "suites" in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Toronto</st1lace></st1:City> for about $150/year. <o></o>
Earthlink provided dial up to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region> and most phone companies have a $40-50/ long distance unlimited package/month to <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1lace>. This way you can use dialup when accessing neteller.
<o></o>
I do not think you need to take all these steps, but they are a back up if neteller does block <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> accounts and new companies do not take over.
<o></o>
6. So what can we expect: <o></o>
As expected most the publicly owns European companies like partypoker, 888, stan james, willhill, etc have decided to block US gamers. This makes sense. Most of these companies are run by people in suits - not bookies. These execs have many business interests and have reasons to need to be able to come to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region>. Companies like Ladbrokes, Stan James, etc make a lot of their money from shops in <st1lace w:st="on">Europe</st1lace> and bets placed at bars. They have a business without the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> business. <o></o>
Most the Caribbean books and a few from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">England</st1lace></st1:country-region> have no intentions of leaving. These books were opened by bookies 10 years ago with the intent of evading <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> law and offering wagers to US citizens. They do not have another business. <o></o>
Pinnacle has said nothing will change.
WSEX says it is business as usual.
Cris and Olympic have not felt compelled to say anything but I bet we can guess their stance.
Bodog has stated they will remain a leader in offering <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> citizens gaming.
Bowmans went so far as to say they have their own payment processor available if need be and since their booking is legal, the bill does not involve them as you can not fund illegal accounts.
A friend chatted with 5dimes and 5dimes said the bill is unenforceable, a joke, and gambling transactions are not coded. <o></o>
7. Europe has decided to no longer give the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> passenger lists for planes coming to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region>. When <st1lace w:st="on">Europe</st1lace> initially agreed, they were promised the lists would only be used to thwart terrorism and not to invade privacy and arrestt people on other issues. (Obviously the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> broke this) <o></o>
A court in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Belgium</st1:country-region> is in the process of stopping Swift from providing world wire transfer info (Sender, recipient, and amount) to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region>. <o></o>
If the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region> plans to negotiate either of the above, telling other countries how to bank will not be a good bargaining chip. <o></o>
8. The WTO has already ruled against the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region>. The penalty phase is supposed to be announced in November. The WTO will not see this law kindly. Hopefully the WTO will give <st1lace w:st="on">Antigua</st1lace> the right to not recognize US trademarks and patents. <o></o>
Sportingbet announced on their website that they are reviewing the WTO ruling and it can be interpreted they may well try to get <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region></st1lace> involved in this issue. <o></o>
9. The original law had criminal penalties for bankers who failed to block transactions. <o></o>
Before the banking lobby (Who gives the Reps a lot of dough) would sign off on the bill, it was altered. <o></o>
There are now no criminal penalties. Instead the DOJ can file an injunction if they feel a transaction is a gamblin transaction. Just how many federal injunctions in federal court do you think the DOJ is going to file which then have to be heard by a judge over $1000 gambling transactions while remaining under the $10M budget? <o></o>
Further the final version of the bill says that if banks find this impossible, they can simply say they tried hard, but it is not possible. <o></o>
Frist and Goodlatte want everyone to believe this bill will be enforced, but when push comes to shove, money talks, and barring $100 billion to revamp the banking system, trains 1000s of people to monitor transactions, etc enforcement will never see the light of day. <o></o>
In 5 years, Congress will say - shit it was a 12B industry when we passed that law. Now its a 40B industry. Maybe we should tax and regulate it. <o></o>
10. After the election fall out when hoards of poker players vote the GOP out, they will then realize that this was a very badly calculated move. <o></o>
Although Senator Frist and Kyl and Congressmen Leach and Goodlatte may well be willing to block all international commerce in order to block gambling, the rest of the government is not willing to do this. Barring a complete block, it will never be possible to block gambling transactions as cash, gold, derivatives, checks, and EFTs are not coded. Only credit cards are coded and they are only coded because Visa,MC, Amex, and discover require you apply for a merchant account to accept them. When you apply they ask you about your business. I can accept an EFT from any one of you tonight without declaring to anyone what it is about. <o></o>
So in 6 months, maybe an occasional transaction will be blocked by the biggest few banks, but 90+% of gambling transactions will get through. Maybe the feds will try to get BOA to block suspicious transactions, but if you think that $10million is going to get them to Fred's credit union in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Nebraska</st1lace></st1:State>... <o></o>
Anyways, life will go on as usual. <o></o>
Tomorrow I plan to write every sportsbook and casino I know and ask them to ask their players to vote Democrat this November. I don't like the dems or reps, but if at least one chamber is run by the dems, no update to the wire act will get through. An update to the wire act making it criminal to place a bet would be a disaster. <o></o>
The next goal is to get college students who don't normally vote, but like poker to vote too. I plan to use facebook as best possible to do this. <o></o>
Carry on folks and good luck. <o></o>
-Sean <o></o>