It is still early
days but so far the fallout for
the Online Poker world has been
significant. A number of the large
card rooms have announced that they
are no longer accepting bets from
US based players.
This has had a disastrous effect
on the share price of these companies
with Party Gaming, 888.com and Sporting
Bet's share prices falling dramatically
after these announcements due to
the fact that it is estimated that
the US market represents about 50%
of the $12 billion a year Online
poker market.
Although some operators have announced
they will no longer be accepting
US players other's, such as
Full
Tilt Poker and PokerStars have
announced that it is business as
usual and are under the belief that
this new Act doesn't apply to the
Gambling Operators but instead just
to the Financial Institutions processing
the payments.
What are
the reasons for this bill?
The official reasoning for this
bill is that it is an act to prevent
gambling addictions and this is
the view being presented by its
sponsors in the senate.
Away from politics and outside the
US the view is a lot different and
it is strongly felt that these measures
have been taken for more sinister
reasons, and these are a result
that a large portion of the $12
billion a year Online Poker industry
comes from the US and that this
revenue is going to non-US companies
such as those listed on the London
Stock Exchange.
The consequences of this act will
not only be felt in the US by upset
online poker players but perhaps
the largest effect of these actions
are already being felt outside the
US with large Non-US companies such
as Party Gaming, Sporting Bet and
888.com already losing three quarters
of their share price. The long term
effect on these companies will surely
be that thousands of jobs at these
companies are at risk
I'm not
in the US - so it doesn't affect
me right?
Wrong - although it doesn't directly
affect your ability to play online
poker or to gamble on the internet
it has had a massive effect on the
world on Online Poker and Gambling.
This Act is bad for Online Poker
as a whole and will affect all online
poker players in the long term.
The Poker Boom that you have been
a part of recently will take a massive
hit which will affect promotions
that we have all grown accustomed
to. Party Poker has already cancelled
their "Monster" tournament
promotion.
