Posted on 04/23/2011 4:28:07 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Last week, while many people reported their income to the Internal Revenue Service, others suddenly found their source of income shut off. On a day now known among online poker players as “Black Friday,” the Department of Justice did us Americans the favor of saving us from ourselves by shutting down the three most popular and trusted online poker platforms.
Not only did the department seize the three domain names, it also froze 77 accounts around the world and charged the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, among others. What’s there crime? While the charges very carefully center on bank fraud, the heart of the department’s clampdown on Internet gambling stems from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Passed during a midnight vote in 2006, the UIGEA doesn’t actually prohibit online gambling but rather bans credit-processing companies from processing payments from “unlawful” online gambling activities. However, the bill never clarifies what it means by “unlawful” activities.
After the law’s passage, several online poker companies continued to operate in the United States, and Justice has turned the prosecution of those entities into a very lucrative endeavor. United Kingdom-based SportingBet, an online betting platform, signed a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. government last year in return for a payment of $33 million, and in 2008, the co-founder of PartyGaming.com paid authorities $300 million in a settlement. In last week’s indictment, Justice announced that it was seeking a total of $3 billion from the poker companies. Compare this with the $105 million fine that Wachovia, which was found to be laundering billions of dollars in drug money, paid to the U.S. government, and one must wonder what kind of metric Justice uses when deciding which injustices to pursue.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Praise-Jesus-and-support-your-local-Harrah’s nanny state PING!
It’s now official. The United States Government is a continuing criminal enterprise.
I got to wonder where that blackmail money is going.
Funny, I don’t see nearly so much outrage when DOJ manipulates legal “Interpretation” to hose the U.S. Firearms industry.
Firearms are specifically protected under the second amendment, gambling away the kids college fund (or the rent) is not.
“What’s’ there crime”
Seriously?
The government is deeply involved in casino and other forms of gambling in many states, and gets huge amounts of revenue from the activity.
The DOJ is just protecting the government turf and its income stream.
Lots of legal action on all governmental levels to tackle untaxed gambling activities nowadays.
The crime is that they don’t get their cut.
Think Saprano’s or Chicago politics. Same thing.
Green fees.
I was amused by that too. Even at a relatively conservative newspaper, you don't have to be literate to be a journalist.
Who did he axe? What was their answer?
So true. Your post brought to mind a scene from “The Godfather.” It was in the beginning of the movie at the wedding when Michael says to Kay (I’m paraphrasing here) “My father is no different than any other powerful man such as a Governor or Senator.” Kay says “Oh Michael don’t be so naive.” Michael then says to Kay “who is being naive Kay.”
As I said I was paraphrasing but you get the point. I remember the scene because all those years ago I, like Kay, was soooo naive. It wasn’t long after that when my eyes were opened and I have ever since seen politicians for what they are. I’ll tell ya the current regime makes “the mob” look like choir boys.
This stench got doubled down. What the article neglected to mention was that the District of Columbia ‘local’ government entered the online poker business at almost the same time as the Department of Justice was removing their competition. No other local or state government in the US offer online poker.
The real crime is that these were shut down the same day DC legalized online gambling. Pure cronyism.
It is all about the cut brother. Now they have the balls to do it in public.
Seriously?
Aw, he probably meant "What's there -- crime?" ;-)
A billion dollars to get re-elected?
Oh, wait...you said blackMAIL...my bad...
I believe it says you cannot pay with a credit card. Like some states make it illegal to sell beer on credit.
land of the free and home of the black hand.
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