Industry News

Some Glimmers of Hope on the Online Poker Horizon

It’s been pretty doom and gloom for US poker players since last October when the UIGEA was passed, but the last few weeks have brought at least a few glimmers of hope.

• Alfonse D’Amato has stepped up to serve as chair of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). While the PPA hasn’t been able to effectively wield much political clout so far in its relatively brief history, it can’t hurt to have D’Amato on our side.
• The Department of Justice has requested and received yet another continuance in its trial against the co-founders of Neteller. While this isn’t good news to players with money still frozen in Neteller, one has to believe that either the DoJ’s case isn’t that strong to begin with or that a settlement deal is close to being finalized.
• Perhaps most hopefully, Congressman Barney Frank is reportedly working to appeal the ban of poker in the UIGEA. As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Frank definitely carries influence and isn’t afraid to take stands on all sorts of positions. Better yet, he’s not only called the ban “preposterous” but has also raised the possibility of taxing online poker instead, something both site operators and players have been begging for for years, as far as legislating and legitimizing online poker in the US.