by CasinoBonusCenter | Aug 26, 2011 | Casino Articles
Online poker in the U.S. is basically off-limits since the “Black Friday” shutdown of April 15, 2011. Of course, as with most examples of prohibition, this really hasn’t hurt the popularity of online poker, it’s just blocked access to the game.
In the months since Black Friday, and especially in the past few weeks, some of America’s leading news sources have continued to come out in favor of regulating online poker — and fast. Here are the best examples of those editorials.
Chicago The U.S. anti-online gambling stance is “senseless,” says the Chicago Sun-Times, pointing out that “there’s no federal law on the books criminalizing poker, and there never has been a federal court ruling that online poker is illegal.
“So, frankly, if there were any justice within the Department of Justice, we’d all be sitting in front of our laptops drawing to an inside straight by the end of business today.”
Las Vegas
“Life changed drastically for professional online poker players in the wake of what many have come to call Black Friday,” writes the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“Yet this entire industry is being forced offshore. Why? To ‘protect’ American adults from the dangers of playing poker in the privacy of their own homes?
“Congress, having done all the harm it could arrange at present, is now on vacation. Once they return to Washington, Nevada’s delegation could find worse ways to spend their time than to push for legalized and sensibly regulated Internet poker.”
D.C. “Frankly, we’re tired of getting pushed around and treated like outcasts when we’re doing nothing wrong,” a Washington Post writer blogs. “Poker is as American as baseball and apple pie, and the game involves math, psychology, money management and a variety of other nuanced skills that make hitting a 90-mph fastball look simple.”
Baltimore
“Online poker is an unusual industry because it has actually asked the federal government to be taxed and regulated. It would be better for all concerned if that were the case,” according to the Baltimore Sun.
“If the government really wants to protect Americans from losing money on bad financial decisions, I have a long list of companies for them to go after. Dozens of companies wrecked the U.S. economy by pushing bad mortgages and bad mortgage-backed securities using questionable selling tactics that bordered on fraud and misrepresentation.”
Fox News
Even super-conservative Fox News, big supporters of guys like Bill Frist and George W. Bush — who are responsible for the UIGEA in the first place — weighed in with this profile of the effects of the loss of online gambling income in the U.S.
Originally posted on Aug 16, 2011 – By Nathan in Online Casino News
by CasinoBonusCenter | Aug 25, 2011 | Casino Articles
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by CasinoBonusCenter | Aug 24, 2011 | Casino Articles
London, 24 August 2011 – eCOGRA, the independent player protection and standards body servicing the international remote gambling industry, has achieved two milestones of its own, successfully qualifying as a testing agency with the Italian regulator AAMS, and having its systems approved by ISO – a Geneva-based international standards authority.
Working through the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, London-based eCOGRA was accredited by the International Organisation of Standards (ISO) after meeting its stringent systems-oriented requirements and standards.
On July 22, 2011 eCOGRA was awarded the ISO approval ISO/IEC 17025:2005 : General Requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. The accreditation is one of the quality assurance requirements for approval as a testing agency in various European remote gambling licensing jurisdictions.
eCOGRA has also confirmed its capability as a testing entity in the burgeoning Italian market by securing the approval of Italian regulator Amministrazione Autonoma Monopoli di Stato (Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies) or AAMS.
This accreditation empowers eCOGRA to act as a testing and monitoring agency for remote gambling platforms, random number generators and gaming operator applications for compliance with the technical standards issued by AAMS.
It opens eCOGRA’s considerable experience in the field to operators with plans to access the Italian market.
Andrew Beveridge, chief executive officer of eCOGRA, congratulated his IT and audit staff on the achievement of the new accreditations this week, saluting their professional commitment to the highest international standards.
“Promoting the values of commitment and self-regulation, and preparing remote gambling companies for the national regulatory systems now evolving, remains a critical part of our business, and eCOGRA will continue to pursue testing agency approval in other emerging jurisdictions to ensure that we can provide a full-service offering which meets all of our client’s regulatory compliance needs,” he said.
Beveridge added that eCOGRA expected to announce further jurisdictional approvals soon, and was open to approaches from both existing and new clients interested in the regulatory requirements of the emerging licensing jurisdictions, and how to meet these.
About eCOGRA
eCOGRA is staffed by highly professional auditors with Big 4 auditing firm experience, information system experts and responsible gambling specialists. The organisation is a leading supplier of compliance and advisory services in the areas of player protection, fair gaming and responsible operator behaviour to stakeholders in the remote gambling industry. In 2011 alone eCOGRA will perform almost 100 compliance reviews against eCOGRA’s eGAP Requirements, the European Gaming and Betting Association (‘EGBA’) Standards (incorporating the European CEN Workshop Agreement Measures) and various jurisdictional regulations.
About ISO
Founded in 1947, the ISO is an international standards-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organisations. The organisation promulgates worldwide proprietary industrial and commercial standards from its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
ISO is a voluntary organisation whose members are recognised standard authorities, representing a diverse range of countries and industries. The bulk of the work of ISO is done by the 2700 technical committees, subcommittees and working groups, assessing and inspecting applicant companies dedicated to improving services and production.
About AAMS
The Italian online gambling market is regulated by the Amministrazione Autonoma Monopoli di Stato (Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies) or AAMS, which sets dedicated Italian market standards and requirements for operators in the Italian market and grants and monitors licenses.
by CasinoBonusCenter | Aug 18, 2011 | Casino Articles
Donald Trump spoke out this week about the debate over the Barney Frank bill which would regulate online casinos, H.R. 2267. Trump, who once again has control over his three eponymous casinos in Atlantic City, said the bill is a good idea, helping to make Internet gaming benefit the public good.
Several land-based casino operators, led by Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts, are still adamantly opposed to allowing US residents to gamble online. Many have feared that Internet casinos will drain their already depleted customer base.
But Trump says that properly managed casinos have “nothing to fear” from online casinos. He said competition makes the industry stronger, and can’t be blocked anyway.
“Online gaming is going to happen, so we might as well have it work to the public’s advantage,” said Trump to the New York Post. “Why lose all those billions of revenue?”
While gaming foes accuse supporters of being funded by overseas gambling companies, existing US gaming such as tribal casinos and land casinos have lobbied heavily for continued protectionism. The public face of the anti-gambling movement is a moral one, but the underlying reality is that those already making fortunes at casino gambling are merely trying to preserve their near-monopolies.
Original Post: OnlineCasinoAdvisory.com
