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How Much Will Online Gambling Ban Cost?

The World Trade Organization has ruled that the United States violated its International treaty which cost many companies billions of dollars, then to further the damage, they said they’d remove online gambling from its WTO treaty which angered many allies who have since filed claims to be compensated, against the United States.

The Caribbean Nation has the WTO in their favor, and they are presently seeking $3.4 billion in compensation. This will offset the effects made by the Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) from America. Other nations seeking compensation include India, Japan and the European Union.

“In a matter of months, you’re going to see billions of dollars in trade sanctions coming down against the United States,” said the former three-term Senator for New York. “Then, I believe we will start to have a profoundly new and different group lobbying, saying you’ve got to stop this prohibition on Internet gambling. We look like the ugly American.”

70 year old Alfonse D’Amato, Chairman of the Poker Players’ Alliance (PPA), stated in an interview with the New York Post newspaper that the international trade dispute with Antigua and Barbuda over online gambling could end up leaving America responsible for billions of dollars in trade sancions.

2008 World Series of Poker Changes Announced

With the 2008 World Series of Poker starting on May 30th, players welcomed the insight given from commissioner of the World Series of Poker, Jeffrey Pollack. At the first annual California Poker Players Conference, players also heard from other great minds in the game like - Mike Caro, Lou Krieger and many others.

Players thought the best news was the ‘Poker Tent’ would not be coming back. Pollack also stated that the final schedule would be announced in December or January and it would not be larger than the 55 events played in 2007.

Much to players dismay, the last few years schedules were totally focused on No-Limit Hold’em, failing to remember other games that players are proficient at.

55 events were played during the 2007 WSOP, making it much more demanding than should be on the professionals, to be able to play at top performance. 54 of those tournaments being played in the first 33 days. Some days having as many as five going on all in the same day.

You can see why it would benefit so many for the World Series of Poker to bring back the old ways, not only reducing the extensive schedule but it would also bring back much needed recognition of other games than just Texas Hold’em.

European Union Joins Fight For Online Gambling

The European Union has taken steps to join Antigua in the fight for gambling. Initially, Antigua, the Caribbean tourist Island, challenged the United States because of their initiation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in October of last year.Compensation is being sought after due to the losses in the United States market and it is being said that the U.S. violated a treaty that is held under international trade laws.

And now, the European Union has joined Antigua in their case and they too are now seeking compensation for losses in the U.S. market regarding online gambling.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act prevents financial companies from transferring funds back and forth from United States online players and the different gaming companies they play at. This basically means that the U.S. market is completely closed from foreign gaming operations.

The case has been extended until December by the World Trade Organization (WTO), who is the group who overseas, or monitors, international disputes in terms of trade. With so many gambling companies experiencing such large profit losses, many are waiting and watching for this case to come to a close to see exactly what will come of the U.S. ban.

Poker players and the Poker Players Alliance go to Washington.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was introduced and put into law in 2006. The new law effectively made it illegal for banks and credit card companies to process transactions involving online gambling including not just online casino play, but online poker as well, in fact there is no distinction between gambling on chance and gambling on skill included in the law.

Shortly before the bill passed, the Poker Players Alliance was created, a company ran out of Washington state with the purpose of protecting the rights of poker players on the internet.

Nearly 100 members of the Players Alliance, including professional poker player Annie Duke as well as Chris Moneymaker will lobby legislators Tuesday and Wednesday in effort to have that distinction added to the law, therefore restoring at least some rights to United States citizens.

WTO Gives U.S. More Time to Negotiate Over Online Gambling

The World Trade Organization and the members negotiating with the U.S. over online gambling gave an extension until December 14, 2007 for the U.S. to complete compensation settlement agreements with countries that have filed claims.

This summer, Antigua successfully challenged the U.S. online gambling regulations this pass summer. This forced the U.S. to withdraw online gambling from its world trade obligations and opened the door for other countries to file for damages. When there is a ratified trade agreement and a country rescinds that trade agreement, countries are allowed to file damages equal to their share of the lost market.

Those countries that filed, European Union, India, Antigua and Barbuda, Japan, Costa Rica, Macao, Canada and Australia are all looking to get some of the estimated $100 billion U.S. online gambling market.

As of the first deadline of October 22nd, the U.S. had failed to reach any agreement with any of the filing countries. The latest efforts with the European Union stalled out last month and Antigua seems to be opting for litigation for its $3.4 billion claim.

According to Gretchen Hamel, a spokesman for the US Trade Representative’s Office, “Each negotiation is proceeding at its own pace, and some are quite advanced. However, we have agreed to extend the negotiation period for all claimants.”

IRS Clears Up Poker Winning Reporting

The IRS has announced a new requirement that will go in effect May 4, 2008 that will make any casino and/or other sponsors of poker tournaments report players and their winnings to the government agency.

There has been confusion on the part of casinos as well as players as to whether the tournament sponsors are suppose to withhold tax and report the winners to the IRS or not. On Sept. 4^th a guidance was released by the Treasury Department and the IRS. A guidance is issued to clear up any confusion about a tax rule, like in this case, poker tournament winnings.

For any tournament completed in 2007 up to March 4, 2008, the casino or sponsor will not be required to report winnings or withhold any taxes but starting in March, the IRS will begin to require all poker tournament winnings to be reported if they are more than $5,000, most likely with an IRS W-2G form.

Federal income tax will not be required to be withheld if sponsors and/or casinos comply with the rule. If the tournament sponsor fails to report the winnings, the IRS will enforce the requirement as well as make the sponsor pay any tax that should have been withheld. This withholding would normally be 25% of the amount that should have been reported.

All winners must report their total winnings on their federal income tax returns, regardless of the amount and whether the winner receives a Form W-2G or not.

Doyle’s Room Now Accepting U.S. Players

Since October 13th, 2006 and the passing of the UIGEA, U.S. poker players have gotten used to the fact that online poker rooms would not accept them. A lot of popular poker sites left the U.S. market immediately including at the time, the biggest one of all, Party Poker.

Friday, Doyle’s Room became the first major online poker room to reverse the trend and announced it will re-enter the U.S. market and allow U.S. poker players to again play on the site.

Doyle’s Room was not one to expel U.S. players from the beginning. It tried to attract U.S. players looking for a place to play. The first blow came as online payment processors started leaving the U.S. markets, then Tribeca, the software provider for Doyle’s Room announced in early 2007 that they would no longer accept U.S. players and that was the final blow and in March, Doyle’s Room stopped excepting American poker players.

At the time all U.S. players from Doyle’s Room had the option to transfer their accounts to Full Tilt Poker. Those that took that option will now find their old accounts at Doyle’s Room will be active again. The only change you will see is that the site now has Microgaming as its software provider and the will serve all players from the U.S. except those living in South Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, Wisconsin, Washington State, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Illinois, New York and New Jersey.

Absolute Poker Considers Public Audit

A representative from Gaming Associates (gamingassociates.com), professional online gambling software auditors, confirmed today that the company may very soon be conducting a public audit of Absolute Poker, one of the few poker rooms still available to residents of the United States.

Absolute Poker has been accused of various forms of cheating US Poker players online, from ’super-user’ poker accounts, to faulty software with security leaks, and dirty CEO’s.

We asked Gaming Associates if all of these avenues of possible fraud would be investigated, and were assured by Alan Pedley if the audits are conducted, all of these avenues, and more would be investigated, independently, and without payment from Absolute Poker.

To learn more about Absolute Poker, visit their site here.

Antigua and Barbuda vs. U.S. Set for Arbitration

Antigua and Barbuda are seeking $3.4 billion in trade sanctions against the United States and will today in Geneva outline its case to World Trade Organization arbitrators in this ongoing online gambling dispute.

In early October, the Antigua government filed a motion with the WTO that outlined the reasoning behind why it thought that lifting copyright law with the U.S. was the only fair way to compensate for its loses over online gambling.

A three member panel will hear both sides’ arguments today and should have their final decision by the end of November.

According to Antigua’s lead attorney Mark Mendel, “So far, we have been the only ones willing to negotiate, and it takes two to get a deal done. That is what we have always wanted to happen. Hopefully, they will come around and see that it is the best and right thing to do.”

Finance and Economy Minister Dr Errol Cort is due in Washington for meetings involving the International Monetary Fund /World Bank and said he will be watching the Geneva talks intently. He wants to know what direction to proceed in when meeting with the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) Office.

Cort was quoted as saying, “So I am still hopeful that we will meet when I go to Washington but I am awaiting initially the first impressions from our representatives in Geneva at the end of the first day of the hearing on Thursday.”

The WTO ruled this summer that it was illegal to target offshore gambling when it passed the UIGEA last October and not apply the same rules to U.S. operators. As a result, not only has Antigua and Barbuda filed a claim but also Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Japan, Macau and the member states of the European Union have filed their own compensation claims.

To see which rooms allow US players, view our US Online Poker Rooms page.

Welcome to USAPokerLife.com

Hello everyone, here is the first post on USAPokerLife.com. We started this blog to provide US players with the latest news and information regarding playing online poker in the United States. Also, we’re planning on ranking the best US friendly online poker rooms, as well as discussing deposit methods as well as other topics related to playing online poker in the United States.

Keep checking back for the latest updates!

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