Gambling Man

WHAT GUMMINT DOES          Gambling Man “ I'm not a gambler but I found this article by Damian Housman interesting. A few days ago I read an article (below) that said that Nevada has approved an online gaming license for 888, the online poker and gambling company, based in Gibraltar. I first learned of 888 while traveling in Greece nearly three years ago. Their billboards were absolutely everywhere, and all featured their spokes model, Julia. Now, it seems, I'll be able to actually play on their site. This will not impact anyone living outside Nevada who wants to sign up, but for those of us who do live there, this is a welcome event. It's just a matter of time, I guess. Until now, I've been playing on World Poker Tour (a not-for-money site), and very occasionally America's Cardroom (a money site). America's Cardroom incorporates a site I joined many years ago, Doyle's Room (which had been owned by poker star Doyle Brunson), but it has too few members playing at any one time to be certain of a game. I attempted to sign up, but was unable to. They still haven't updated their software to allow Americans, specifically Nevadans, to join. In fact, I sent 888 an e-mail asking about joining, when my attempt to failed, and they sent me the usual form response saying they don’t allow Americans to play. I sent a second e-mail, asking about the article, below. This is their response: “888 is very pleased to announce that the Nevada Gaming Commission has recently approved the licensing of 888 as an Interactive Gaming Service Provider, allowing 888 to work with licensed Nevada operators to offer legalized online Poker to players physically located in the US state of Nevada. This makes 888 one of the first online gaming companies to be licensed by any US jurisdiction. Skoonj, unfortunately we can’t give you final timelines yet, but we look forward to working with our Nevada partners and to the re-launching of 888's online poker offering in Nevada in the near future, so watch out for further news!” OK, so we have bad news (no poker yet) and good news (it is indeed coming), and between the lines news. Notice that the article, below, and the most recent e-mail response, mention “Nevada partners.” Indeed, the article states: “the license will allow 888 to power Caesars Interactive Entertainment's WSOP poker brand, and support slot machine manufacturer WMS Gaming in offering an online product to its customers.” OK, so what does that mean? It means that 888 will work with Caesars Interactive Entertainment (Caesars owns the World Series of Poker, and there is a WSOP interactive game), as well as slots manufacturer WMS Gaming. I think I once told you that Caesars is a big time supporter of Harry Reid, Barack Obama, and the Democrats generally. Considering where they have properties (Las Vegas, the Chicago suburbs, etc.), they virtually have to grease many Democrat palms. But this is hugely different. And, it puts in context the entire charade we went through of shutting down internet poker, then reconstituting it only when Caesars, Reid, Obama, and the Democrats can take a huge cut. This is how our politicians operate these days. They fleece us in every way imaginable. Skoonj (Damian Housman) ”