| 18 Dec | Online Poker Ban Part 2Posted by PokerBarney on 7:12PM, 18th Dec 2006Permalink |  Send to a friend |  RSS feed |
It seems it's catching.. apparently Germany is now considering implementing a US-style online poker ban, and several other European countries including Spain and Italy are thinking about implementing some regulations so that government can start raking the tables.
Many will probably argue that this is a good thing for the game and that as an industry, we need proper regulation. Correct me if I'm wrong though, but weren't we alright in the first place?
Online poker was booming along at a healthy pace and everyone was making tons of money. It now looks like the slow, out of touch politicians of the world want to get in on the action without learning the intricacies of a good post-oak bluff.
Anyway, whatever happens, I doubt it will have much effect. The internet is almost un-regulable (is that a word?), so players will find a way. Governments who are trying to sanitize the game and make it mainstream (read, get their share of the honey) may end up doing the opposite and pushing it underground.
In more positive news, "like7" outbluffed "qwert987" to take down the Full Tilt $500,000 Sunday Guaranteed, and the Poker Stars Sunday Million prize pool topped $1.3 MILLION. No wonder the fat cats want in.
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Tue 19th Dec 2006 16:35
Its all about the money. Once they figure out a way to regulate it there will be a second boom. I wonder if the people in Costa Rica still need to pay taxes? It is a small country and has so many poker sites they have to be raking in some cash. Something tells me that the sugar cane farmer has no idea.