No monsters eh? Sport Select (now Pro-line) launched 26 years ago and Bowmans, Bodog and hundreds other sports wagering sites are still on-line.
Funny, when I was searching for the launch of pro-line I ran across this little tidbit......
When Sports Select was established back in 1984, a couple days after it launched, news columnist Charles Gordon shared his opinion in an article published in Ottawa Citizen Newspaper when he said, “this [Sports Select] is not gambling, it is another tax on the stupid”.
You don't have to be the best or the only game in town. There will always be stupid to tax.
You guys all see monsters under your bed too right?
Actually, this has already happened in Italy and France, exactly the way Milo described it.
In fact, a bill was introduced in the US just last week dealing with how to tax and licence online gaming. It also included a section stating that all operators that are currently working illegally in the US will be denied licences, though P* and FT may have legal loopholes to get around that.
Merge, Cake, Everleaf, and Bodog probably won't be so lucky.
Ever wonder why www.pokerstars.it or now www.pokerstars.fr exist? There's been a lot of press about this over the last year, all over the interwebz.
In Italy, Italian players can only play on sites with Italian licences, which cater only to Italian players and no one else. It just happened in France and the players are pissed because the rake went way, way up to cover taxes and licencing fees.
The same will happen in the US soon. Not a monster. It already exists.
See, I actually think the US might be looking at some sort of licensing agreement. In other words, either FTP or P*'s becomes the official licensed on-line gaming site for the US of A. For an appropriate annual fee (read %), of course. All others would be frozen out, until the agreement came up for renewal.
So much more profitable that way, too . . . $$$ for nothing, really, which is something any politician can understand.
If this happens, it's very likely it will be Party Poker. Not FTP or P* imo.
They've paid a big fine to the US, followed the rules, and waited patiently for regulation to happen.
EDIT: And they're just about to merge with Ongame.
I believe the chances that they are competitive with the products that the current major on-line sites offer will be slim and none. So no moderately savvy poker player is going to go near the site for anything other than shits and giggles (or to look to take advantage of the poker illiterate that will no doubt be there).
Look at it as a stupidity tax a la lotteries. If the government can collect more funds without sticking their hand in my pocket I'm all for it.
Obviously you are very naive as to what has been going on in the online poker world
Obviously you are very naive as to what has been going on in the online poker world
Agreed, this isn't going to just be an experiment, it will likely be some kind of regulation. If you play poker full time, you should start getting fitted for your OLG uniform.:D
Agreed, this isn't going to just be an experiment, it will likely be some kind of regulation. If you play poker full time, you should start getting fitted for your OLG uniform.
There's an article about this in the August issue of Poker Pro Canada. According to the article, Lotto Quebec plans to offer online poker later this year. Atlantic Lotto plans the same, or early 2011. Ontario is "working on it."
At the risk of getting shot... what's so bad about regulation? The safeguards should protect the players. Yes, our heavy regular often sucks... but heavy regulation is what saved our banks and our financial system while the US and Europe were sinking away...
(I should probably mention I'm a banker by profession) :P
There's an article about this in the August issue of Poker Pro Canada. According to the article, Lotto Quebec plans to offer online poker later this year. Atlantic Lotto plans the same, or early 2011. Ontario is "working on it."
At the risk of getting shot... what's so bad about regulation? The safeguards should protect the players. Yes, our heavy regular often sucks... but heavy regulation is what saved our banks and our financial system while the US and Europe were sinking away...
(I should probably mention I'm a banker by profession) :P
In and of itself, there's nothing wrong with regulation, but it's going to radically change the current poker world.
After all the online poker scandals (UB/Absolute, Pitbull, etc) regulation has been sought after by many organizations, including the PPA, in an effort to assure the games are fair and safe. The online poker world operates as close to the wild west as any business going today.
However, if all nations follow the French/Italian model, the following will occur:
- The market will be heavily segmented, as you'll only be able to play against players from you own country, making the player pool much smaller (unless regulated/licensed nations agree to pool their players)
- The rake will be increased to pay for licensing fees and taxes, as this will be paid by player, not the sites in the form of increased rake
- Professional players will have a much harding time making a living from poker, as it's much easier to beat a 5% max $3 rake in comparison to a 10% max $5-7 rake
- Perk programs like rakeback/rewards programs will be somewhat limited
Online poker will become a land of recreational players being taxed for their enjoyment, just like OLG establishments. Winrates of pro players will either go down (due to the increased rake and less perks like rakeback), go up (because more recreational players feel it's safe to play), or just stay the same. Time will tell.
Regulation and government licensed online poker is coming whether we like it or not. I'm just curious to see how it's dealt with in Canada.
The Boss Network aka GTECH has made a deal with the provincial devils (BC, Quebec & Atlantic Canada) that in return for getting the lucrative contract to develop the buggy gambling software (like BC's PlayNow.com), Boss will screw all its Canadian players by never allowing them to play on their network after September 24. It seems that even if you don't live in BC, AC or Quebec, Boss is forcing you to withdraw all your money, lying that online gaming products are suddenly prohibited in ALL Canadian provinces. :bs:
In the event that PokerStars, FTP or PartyGaming bids for the contract in Ontario, OLGC will probably force the winner to also screw its players from ever playing again on its network. I hope that PartyGaming doesn't win the contract, or I would rather live in Planet of the Apes than Ontario after 2012.
We regret to inform you that due to the new regulations of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Loto-Québec and the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, online gaming products in Canada are now prohibited. Unfortunately we are required to add Canada to our list of excluded countries. Players from Canada will no longer be permitted to play at PokerKings starting September 24th, 2010.
In case you have a positive balance in your account, kindly withdraw it as soon as possible.
The worse thing about this is that online poker rooms are starting to pull out of Canada. Some skins on The old Boss network (GTech) have already started pulling out, and its just a matter of time before the whole network goes.
The biggest drawback is that government monopolies are ALWAYS bad for consumers. ALWAYS. To compound that problem is the fact that government run monopolies, with few exceptions, are ALWAYS bad for the taxpayer, too.
GTECH is a huge gambling technology and services company, whose many subsidiaries include BOSS Media. Its customers include many of the provincial gamboooling corporations.
GTECH G2 partners set to exit Canadian gaming market
Thursday, 12 August 2010 09:20
With Canada’s state lottery operators moving into online gaming, clients of GTECH’s interactive gaming division G2 have been advised that they will no longer be allowed to accept Canadian players :arghh: unless they hold a licence to do so.
Premium subscribers continue here to the full article...
GTECH Secures Atlantic Lottery Corp. Contract
Does anybody happen to have a premium subscription to GamingIntelligence.com for the full articles above?
Comments
I don't know. Does a bedbug count as a monster?
Government will see revenue from on-line gaming as a net good.
The logical conclusion for government will be that a government monopoly in on-line gaming is better.
The fact that those two statements are absurd does not mean they will not happen.
Funny, when I was searching for the launch of pro-line I ran across this little tidbit......
When Sports Select was established back in 1984, a couple days after it launched, news columnist Charles Gordon shared his opinion in an article published in Ottawa Citizen Newspaper when he said, “this [Sports Select] is not gambling, it is another tax on the stupid”.
You don't have to be the best or the only game in town. There will always be stupid to tax.
I can see the headlines now:
"Dalton McGuinty appoints Russ Hamilton and friends to set up Ontario provincial online gambling site in exchange for diplomatic immunity"
>:D
I thought it was similar to something like Pokerstars.IT or .FR, where you could only play on the client that was country specific.
I can see this being a direction that we are headed, where Stars controls the games, and the Gov't simply regulates and collects some chop.
Actually, this has already happened in Italy and France, exactly the way Milo described it.
In fact, a bill was introduced in the US just last week dealing with how to tax and licence online gaming. It also included a section stating that all operators that are currently working illegally in the US will be denied licences, though P* and FT may have legal loopholes to get around that.
Merge, Cake, Everleaf, and Bodog probably won't be so lucky.
Ever wonder why www.pokerstars.it or now www.pokerstars.fr exist? There's been a lot of press about this over the last year, all over the interwebz.
In Italy, Italian players can only play on sites with Italian licences, which cater only to Italian players and no one else. It just happened in France and the players are pissed because the rake went way, way up to cover taxes and licencing fees.
The same will happen in the US soon. Not a monster. It already exists.
If this happens, it's very likely it will be Party Poker. Not FTP or P* imo.
They've paid a big fine to the US, followed the rules, and waited patiently for regulation to happen.
EDIT: And they're just about to merge with Ongame.
EDIT 2: Link I've been looking for: http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/hr-2267-passes-house-financial-services-committee-13760/
Obviously you are very naive as to what has been going on in the online poker world
Agreed, this isn't going to just be an experiment, it will likely be some kind of regulation. If you play poker full time, you should start getting fitted for your OLG uniform.:D
I can count on one hand the times I've played on-line since Golf season started.
And the number of nights sleep I'll lose over it will be far less.
At the risk of getting shot... what's so bad about regulation? The safeguards should protect the players. Yes, our heavy regular often sucks... but heavy regulation is what saved our banks and our financial system while the US and Europe were sinking away...
(I should probably mention I'm a banker by profession) :P
If so, investment tip buy Party gaming.
In and of itself, there's nothing wrong with regulation, but it's going to radically change the current poker world.
After all the online poker scandals (UB/Absolute, Pitbull, etc) regulation has been sought after by many organizations, including the PPA, in an effort to assure the games are fair and safe. The online poker world operates as close to the wild west as any business going today.
However, if all nations follow the French/Italian model, the following will occur:
- The market will be heavily segmented, as you'll only be able to play against players from you own country, making the player pool much smaller (unless regulated/licensed nations agree to pool their players)
- The rake will be increased to pay for licensing fees and taxes, as this will be paid by player, not the sites in the form of increased rake
- Professional players will have a much harding time making a living from poker, as it's much easier to beat a 5% max $3 rake in comparison to a 10% max $5-7 rake
- Perk programs like rakeback/rewards programs will be somewhat limited
Online poker will become a land of recreational players being taxed for their enjoyment, just like OLG establishments. Winrates of pro players will either go down (due to the increased rake and less perks like rakeback), go up (because more recreational players feel it's safe to play), or just stay the same. Time will tell.
Regulation and government licensed online poker is coming whether we like it or not. I'm just curious to see how it's dealt with in Canada.
In the event that PokerStars, FTP or PartyGaming bids for the contract in Ontario, OLGC will probably force the winner to also screw its players from ever playing again on its network. I hope that PartyGaming doesn't win the contract, or I would rather live in Planet of the Apes than Ontario after 2012.
YouTube - Planet Of The Apes - You Blew It Up!
"Oh my God.... You finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you. God damn you all to hell!"
Haven't received the e-mail yet, but I imagine it's coming.
Edit: Wait, Boss Media is aka International Poker Network. What is GTECH?
- BCLC, Loto-Quebec & ALC will offer poker on a common platform provided by GTECH
- Openbet, GTech Land Contracts to Provide Online Casinos, Poker
- French ISPs ordered to block unlicensed gaming sites. If this ever happens in Canada, I'm gonna claim refugee status in another country!