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Will poker be back in the USA, US loses WTO appeal & that Mark Seif statement

November 5, 2007

Will online poker be back and legal in the US ?

Poker pro Barry Greenstein clearly thinks so and predicts it will happen in the next 6 months. In his recent audio post on his thebearblog at PokerRoad.com he outlines why -

more … Barry Greenstein on legalising online poker in US

Whilst I might not agree with Barry’s timeline of six months it is starting to look like the powers that be are beginning to see the folly of trying to ban and obstruct online poker players in the US.

For the vast majority of players it’s an enjoyable hobby - not some kind of dangerous evil addiction, threatening to corrupt anyone moments after sitting down at a virtual poker table. The massive potential revenues from regulating and fully legalising online poker in the USA was IMHO always going to win out eventually but its very encouraging that players and lobby groups are starting to talk more about when rather than if the situation will get sorted out for the better.

USA looses WTO appeal over online poker

The US has appealed … and lost its battle with the World Trade Organisation over discriminating against online gambling and poker. Basically the case was brought before the WTO by Antigua and Barbuda against the US and the UIGEA bill which they maintain is anti trade and against international trade laws - The US Governement appealed and lost.

more … PokerPages.com - USA loses WTO Appeal

This is something of a David and Goliath case but it’s great to see that the WTO haven’t just rolled over under pressure. Unfortunately due to the way these trade disagreements get sorted out it’s unlikely the online poker rooms coffers will just be filled with lost US revenue but at least the message is being made loud and clear to the US government.

That Mark Seif / Absolute Statement

The whole Absolute Poker super user account thing has been flogged to death on loads of forums. Despite this (or maybe because of this) there seems to be a whole lot of players who really havent got a handle of what actually has and hasn’t gone on.

Step in Mark Seif the Absolute Poker pro to muddy the waters more (whilst IMHO genuinely try to clear it up)

more … Mark Seif Absolute interview on RawVegas.com

It’s been widely picked up that Mark commented “this” could have happened anywhere, at Stars or Tilt, anywhere

Well yes it could have …

But what 99% of forum doomsday posters seem to have missed is what has actually happened

It was a sole employee with very high access abusing his position - to steal money from the system / business / players

Now this is hardly a unique situation - it happens all the time in corporate big business - not just online poker. What I think Seif was trying to say was where there is alot of money involved and opportunities to abuse positions of power someone less than honest could take advantage.

So maybe a more correct statement would have been …

“it could have happened anywhere, other online poker sites, big corporations anywhere there is big money and power”

The thing about things like this is once its happened somewhere in an industry everyone else goes through looking for holes in their own security and tightens things up.

The one thing the whole Absolute Poker Super User Account HAS NOT been about is rigged random number generators

I mentioned this before but from many of the posts in forums you would have through Mark Seif had said everyones security and RNG were somehow open to cheating - He didn’t

And they’re not

Think about it - this one security breach has been picked up by players who knew what they were talking about and yet you won’t find the same credible and intelligent players posting up mass problems with every poker sites RNG’s.

WHY ?

Because if you were to believe the millions of “xyz is rigged” posted about every site online in umpteen poker forums you’d have thought by now the same vigilant high stakes players would have spotted something wrong - Instead they keep playing and winning - Honestly.

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