The party of freedom and less government. Freedom for their corporate puppet masters and less governmental oversight to increase profits while laying waste to this great country.

(Democrats not much better, sadly)

Who gets elected for President I think has very little on Poker legislation we all will see in the future what will become will become.

+1. Much more important things for the county than poker legislation

Frankly, no one cares about poker or poker players. Republicans know it's more important to their voter base to lash out against gambling and other vices that conflict with traditional "family values", and Democrats know poker is not nearly important to get behind in any groundbreaking fashion. I think we'll see legislation in the next 4 years. I also think Obama will be elected. Perhaps there is something to it. More likely, this is a low-priority issue for a couple powerful players, the Indian tribes are dragging their feet as they are in the Stone Age in regards to IP, and the casino lobby isn't powerful enough to force anything.

All that this ban on poker does is to create a black market. You can't stop people from playing, but you can make it difficult for them.

I have a feeling that the Brick & Mortar industry is working on their own software now to catch up with EU and banana islands. Once they're comfortable, they'll pledge to their senators and legalize it.

The same goes for cannabis. The only reason it's off the market is because the tobacco and alcohol industry wants to keep it that way.

Well said Mentor. If correction WHEN this happens for US players to exchnge freely will be when A) They figure out how to put a small tax on it.
B) It rides across the line attached to another bill as a sub catagory
C) As soon as the bastards all pull their heads from the election gallows and jump back up on the soap boxs!

48 months from Nov. TOPS! I'll lay 1.5:1 over the wire on it! he he he

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Its the land of the fees and the home of the slaves.

The GOP platform aside, you are wrong to think that online poker is a partisan issue. What has happened to our beloved game to date has happened on the watch of the Democrats. It was AG Holder who shut down the sites and took the money. It was Dems in the State of WA that made the game a felony.

Also, it is a Republican in the House who is pushing for a bill. So give credit where it is due.

Here is the real truth . . . no matter who wins the presidential election in november, the only hope that online poker legislation has is in the lame duck session, where if passed it would go to Obama's desk. If they fail to get a bill out of congress this session, then it's dead for now, maybe forever.

And if you really care about the game, if you really want legislation, then you gotta get proactive, do your part, make yourself heard. Get on board with the daily action plan of the PPA, send the tweets and make the facebook posts . . . it may seem like very little but it is something, something we should all be doing

A very insightful post. I've seen opponents and proponents from both sides on this issue.

I think that people blame Republicans the most because UIGEA was created under a Republican president and written by Republican representation. In contrast, they stand for small government and peoples's freedom.

A legislation will likely be passed the same way UIGEA came to life: hidden deep inside a patriotic act.

I dont know if it matters who becomes president. I would say obama would help out with poker legislation but why has he done nothing for it in the past four years. I agree with a few people who already said it, poker is on the bottom and maybe should be, we have many more troubling issues than allowing US players to play poker online.

I think they should legalize both poker and weed in the U.S. under the proviso that you must do both at the same time. This will lead to hilariously profitable games for us foreign types as all the U.S. players suddenly adopt a hyper-passive play style.

Lmao Stabbo you mean there doing this now!

Thats the least of your worries if republicans get elected they will systematically wipe out the middle class (if there is still one) OH i forget middle class is 250K a year. SO since there is not a middle class. they wil be to sure to put the hammer down on the poor even harder and big business and big pharma will make even more money. And also tell woman what they can and cant do with their bodies (not sure about what woman fought for in the 70s that they want the republicans to take that away from them)

I wonder if they would try to shut down the casinos all across the US considering it seems like more than half of them are still owned by the mob I could never see that happening.

LOL now I have this stuck in me head ... but yes sir i concur... little by little our freedom is being taken away from us. Some right under our nose without even knowing until it has come to pass sadly

Yea I heard about this. I guess we have to wait to see who gets elected.

Its kinda messed up,this shit is not the end of the world,really they only want there share,as we all do,pretty simple....and when they get theres,then we can get ours,its all about the "Pecking Order"live it,love it,own it
its all short term,

Honestly on all things poker and more with the two that will win the presidency, i think we are screwed either way. If we could i would move out of country and go somewhere else. America is not the country is was founded to be, and hasn't been in a long time.

There is absolutely 0 case law to support the UIGEA claim that online poker is illegal. Black Friday was the culmination of a massive conspiracy to scare the publicly traded online poker sites into shutting out US players.

This is completely ignorant.

The UIGEA doesn't claim online poker is illegal. What it does is prevent transactions with illegal gambling sites.

The online poker sites are illegal, because they are not licensed by any State government. That alone makes those sites illegal gambling.

At the time the UIGEA was passed, only PartyPoker was a publicly traded company. The sites shut out on Black Friday were not.

Are you sure about this? I was under the impression that 888 was a publicly traded company as well when this happened.

888 is/was public as well, although I don't know that it was a very popular US site at the time of the UIGEA and it's departure from the US market. I myself had never heard of it at that time. So, perhaps there was more than the one public company, but to say the intent of the UIGEA was to push out specifically the public companies is erroneous. Pokerstars, FTP, these sites held a good share of the market and privately held. If the UIGEA's intent was to move those companies out of the market, it had nothing to do with whether they were public or private.