Statistics on gambling and addiction show that up to 10% of all people playing casino games are gambling addicts. But unfortunately only few of them understand the danger. And most of them have no idea their passion for gambling has become a hidden illness.

Online Gambling Addiction

The victims of an online gambling addiction will not take a taxi or go to rehabilitation. On the other hand, the wife shouldn’t worry if her husband comes home on foot the next day. In the other aspects, the online gambling addiction is the same. People can hold on for a week, a month, or even longer but then all the same, will wish to get into this ideal world. He will do this especially quickly, if someone reminds him about his existence every 100 steps.

Poker Gambling Addiction

Poker can give you similar feelings as that of being on drugs or pills. Do you think about Texas Holdem’ 365 times a day? Do you have it on your cell phone? 10 different ways on your laptop? You might be addicted to poker.

So what are the real symptoms of poker gambling addiction? There are people who play high stakes games for many hours every day but still remain relatively calm and cant be called compulsive gamblers. Even if one loses big sums of money at a casino once in a while he is not necessary a gambling addict.

You become addicted the day you stop drawing the line between your gambling money and money for living. Look at the characteristics of most poker players and you can similarly compare them to cocaine addicts. Their appearance tends to be underweight, jittery, incapability of thinking of other things besides their poker gambling addiction, twitches, and many other side effects.

If you or someone you know is suffering from gambling addiction, search this directory of drug rehab addiction treatment and gambling addiction treatment centers by state. If you feel that your passion for poker has become dangerous, immediately refer to the specialists from gambling addiction treatment organization.

The woman who came to play poker games to a local casino in Colorado appeared to win $42 million when playing a poker machine has been told the jackpot announcement was simply a malfunction and instead of receiving a prize, Mrs. Chavez was reimbursed the $25 and given a room for the night and a free breakfast.

Louise Chavez was using the poker machine to play poker games at a casino in Colorado when she appeared to hit the jackpot. But when an attendant at the casino approached her he said the machine malfunctioned and she hadn’t won anything.

“Lights were flashing, it sounded like a fire truck, the screen said ’see attendant,” she said. Instead of receiving a prize, Mrs Chavez was reimbursed the $25 and given a room for the night and a free breakfast. But Mrs Chavez is not backing down, saying she deserves whatever money the poker machine said she won.

“I played poker games, I put my money into the machine, whether it’s 42 million, 42 thousand or 4 thousand, I should get what the machine said.”  The poker machine has been left in the hands of the state Division of Gaming.

Is Online Poker Illegal?

In 2006 Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act a law which seeks to keep you from playing poker over the Internet. This misguided law can be curtailed, and the PPA is working right now with Congress to establish new laws that clarify the legal status of poker and establish licensed and regulated Internet poker in the U.S.

The PPA has gradually turned towards the movement to legalize and regulate online poker at the state level. In Florida, calls for legalized intrastate online poker have been building, leading PPA Executive Director John Pappas to testify in front of the Florida Senate Regulated Industries Committee in February.

Is Online Poker Legal in Florida?

Florida is contemplating a single-source provider of online poker, i.e. one poker website. PPA is concerned that the lack of competition and consumer choice could also negatively impact the player experience. Players will be bored with one site and they currently like the ability to play on multiple sites.

Is Online Poker Legal in Delaware?

In Delaware and Pennsylvania, legislation has been passed in 2010 introducing and expanding table games, including poker. The PPA welcomes this as a first step in advancing opportunities for poker players to play games of skill such as Texas Hold’em in a licensed and regulated atmosphere. Table games will likely debut in the middle of 2010 and the Sands Corporation has set a target rollout date of July 1st.

Is Online Poker Legal in Florida?

Is it legal to play online poker games in Florida? In our previous posts we talked about Florida and few others states taking steps to legalize online poker games. Last Friday representative Joseph Abruzzo filed the Internet Poker Consumer Protection and Revenue Generation Act of 2010.

The legislation outlines detailed and fully regulated of online gambling in Florida. Florida would be the first state to use rules from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 to help regulate Internet gambling, if approved by lawmakers.

Abruzzo’s legislation takes advantage of the UIGEA clause that allows for state to lawfully regulate intrastate Internet gambling, such as poker and online poker games.

The Bill would allow for Internet hub operators to run the online poker sites where users can play online poker games. They will have to comply with the guidelines and gain license.

Online Poker Laws in Florida

First, the operator would have to have a business license in Florida. Second, they would have to be licensed in one or more US states. Next, the operator must be licensed to offer online poker games in a country outside of the US.

If those stipulations are met, an application fee of $500,000 would be paid to the Pari-Mutuel Wagering Trust Fund of the Department of Business and Professional Regulations. If approved, the licensee would then have to pay a $1,000 annual license fee.

Once the online poker site is set up, it would have to follow strict guide line and regulations regarding minimum age, safeguards against money laundering as well as safe software.

One of the main benefits of this legislation is that it should fully protect the consumers against fraud. Gambling addiction is one of the top problems for lawmakers looking to expand, and Abruzzo has covered that in his Bill.

The Internet site will have to set limits on how many deposits and how much a player can deposit each day, a limit on how much a player can lose in a set amount of time and time limit on how long a poker player can play online poker games in one session will be required as well.

The percent of taxes on the winnings is always another issue that lawmakers grapple with when creating gambling laws. In the Internet Poker Consumer Protection and Revenue Generation Act of 2010, Abruzzo has laid out a plan for twenty percent of the winnings each month to paid in taxes.

Whether or not the legislation filed Friday passes or not will depend on lawmakers’ ability to see the future potential and reconcile their differences on the Internet gambling issue.

Many of the players taking a big risk by giving their credit card information to the offshore operators. The idea is for players to go to one of the state’s 17 casinos and deposit money – cash only – into an account. The casino would then give the player an online account and password through which secure, live gaming against other Iowans would take place.

We see movement in this direction from different states like California, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey that trying to clarify and organize online gambling laws. Quirk said Iowa could become a model for those states considering such online gaming, and software companies could end up basing themselves in the state as a result. Such result will open an opportunity for our residents to safely play Poker Real Money from the comfort of their home.

The bill as it stands also contains several items that Quirk said are non-controversial and are estimated to generate $5 million to $10 million for the state. Those items include allowing casinos to take a portion of wagering from telecast horse and dog races, to allow casinos to avoid county referendums and language from a sports betting bill that has already cleared the Senate.

Also in the bill is a section allowing casinos to buy for $500 an off-floor gaming license to hold poker tournaments in adjacent ballrooms or convention areas. An amendment could allow casinos to place some electronic games around the outside of those tournaments, Quirk said.

Quirk said he hopes to have the bill ironed out by the end of next week and ready for a vote the following week. He gave the bill a 70 to 80 percent chance of passing, while a separate bill that would let casinos pay the state to stop holding greyhound races is not nearly as likely to receive approval.

Online Best Bets staff is looking forward to cover this issue for you. We will constantly update development of steps to legalize Online Poker Games in Iowa, Florida, California and New Jersey. Come back later or sign up for our RSS feed to stay updated.

Online poker legal status is a major concern for online poker operators and players in the USA. The answer to online poker legality issue is not a clear cut ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

The UIGEA bill of 2006 basically prohibits the transfer of funds from a financial institution to an Internet gambling site. As the bill passes fully into law this June, the Justice Department’s (DOJ) fight against all online poker sites, which they deem illegal, will receive a further boost as they attempt to dry up the money supply to these poker operations.

Today online poker legality is the subject of many debates. Online poker has grown into a hugely popular and lucrative national pastime in the last decade and more and more people play online poker games.

Last year the global online poker market grew by 24% to $4.8 billion. Now the bet is on whether or not Justice is gearing up to go directly after firms like DoylesRoom and the two biggest online poker sites still taking U.S. play: PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

Together they account for maybe 70% of the $1.4 billion in revenue the U.S. industry brought in last year. Revenues here are known as the rake – the slice of the betting amount that online firms get for hosting games. Players who play online poker games also pay flat fees to enter tournaments. So the question on many people’s lips who play online poker games is: “Is online poker legal?“

Is Online Poker Legal?

PokerStars, situated on the Isle of Man, claims it has legal opinions from five U.S. law firms saying it is not violating any online poker laws. The company has an estimated $1.4 billion of annual global revenue and some $500 million in profit. People close to the company say a primary owner of PokerStars, Isai Scheinberg, like many online gaming entrepreneurs, never enters the U.S., apparently spending much of his time in Canada.

Full Tilt, which generates some $100 million in profits on $500 million in annual revenue, did not respond to requests for comment on online poker legality. It has deep roots in the U.S. and close connections to famous American poker players who can be found in Las Vegas regularly. Chief among them are Howard Lederer, known by his fans as the Professor, and Christopher Ferguson, a poker champion who likes to wear black cowboy hats and is nicknamed Jesus.

Poker lobbyists are ramping up an aggressive push backed by millions of dollars to legalize online poker in the United States this year, hoping to overcome passionate objections from social conservatives, sports leagues and other longtime opponents.

Those in favor of online poker legality are hoping with Congress in the hands of Democrats, who have historically been less opposed to gambling than Republicans, along with the growing popularity of recreational poker, that will work to their advantage to make online poker legal.

Is online poker legal? This question is raised by many Americans who play online poker games. 2.5 million Americans play and bet $30 billion annually. Online poker has become a global pastime, generating $4.8 billion in revenues for gaming firms last year. But despite its popularity online poker in the U.S. has been bedeviled by questions of its legality.

Many U.S. players who go online to play online poker games type this question in Google, “Is Online Poker Legal?” According to the U.S. Justice Department, playing online poker real money violates U.S. law. A 2006 law, set to go into full effect in June, expanded the Justice Department’s authority to shut down online gambling operations by going after the companies that process their financial transactions. While many companies have pulled out of the U.S., a few online poker sites, like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, have become rich by calling the government’s bluff and taking U.S. poker play.

Online Poker Legality

Online poker legality is a major concern for players who play online poker games. Online poker sites operate in the law’s shadows. The Bush Administration’s Justice Department took the position that facilitating for-money online poker violates U.S. law, making no distinction between sports betting – clearly illegal – and poker playing. These days the Justice Department still insists that “all forms of Internet gambling, including sports wagering, casino games and card games, are illegal.”

Online Poker Laws

The case law on online poker is mixed and online poker laws are rather unclear. The Wire Act was enacted in 1961 to suppress interstate gambling and bookmaking. It clearly makes online sports betting illegal. But for online poker the Wire Act’s wording is less clear.

One of the other online pokers laws the feds have used, the Illegal Gambling Business Act, requires a violation of an underlying state law – and many state laws say gambling is only illegal if the outcome rests largely on chance, as opposed to skill. Poker is, to some degree, a game of skill. “In poker the skill elements of the betting and folding usually determine the winner,” Lederer argued in an article published online.

In the end what the government usually cares about most is whether gambling is providing a mechanism for other criminal activity, like money laundering, underage gambling or cheating. If it isn’t, maybe there are bigger things for the police to worry about, other from online poker legality. For his part Doyle Brunson insists: “The poker industry as a whole is ready to have a fight.”

Source: Forbes

Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski, a 23 year-old professional poker player from Wesley Chapel, Florida, won the  7th event of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) and earned $131,000.

Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski is one of the game’s top rebuy poker players at the moment who plays poker real money and defeated Pennsylvania native JMaster130 heads-up. JMaster130 collected an $85k consolation prize, adding to his lineup of scores that includes multiple final tables in $109 and $55 Cubed tournaments across the world’s largest online poker sites.

Chris’ results speak for themselves; hundreds of thousands of dollars in career earnings. Chris Dombrowski is well respected and admired by his peers and fans, and has been playing online poker real money seriously for over 4 years.

Here are the final table results from FTOPS XV Event #7:

1st: Chris “cdbr3799” Dombrowski ($131,649.73)
2nd: Jesse “JMaster130” Cohen ($85,206.00)
3rd: GreenGuard13 ($63,259.00)
4th: Diegohada ($47,767.00)
5th: Volody512345 ($33,566.00)
6th: Jabronee ($21,947.00)
7th: Andrew “bankrollme87” Touchette ($14,846.50)
8th: mordovortishe ($10,328.00)
9th: bdubs3737 ($7,746.00)

2010 Pokerstars SCOOP will be running from May 3-16, and will not conflict with either the EPT San Remo or EPT Monte Carlo events. There might be $40 million in guaranteed prize money this year.

Last year Pokerstars SCOOP schedule featured 22 events with many choices of online poker games, each with three different buy-in levels, over a two-week period. A variety of games were offered – including hold’em, razz, Omaha, H.O.R.S.E., and eight-game mix. The final schedule for the 2010 series is being finalized and should be released soon.

The Pokerstars  SCOOP was originally planned to cater exclusively to players who might not quite be able to afford WCOOP buy-ins, but the finished product in 2009 had something for everyone – with a tournament as affordable as $5.50 (a rebuy tourney that attracted 27,134 players and paid $41,562.77 to first place) and a tournament as expensive as $25,500 (heads-up event that attracted 32 players and paid $310,000 to first place).

Pokerstars Real Money

Do you play poker? Play at Pokerstars real money! No site has bigger tournaments – both in terms of field size and overall prize money – as PokerStars has. The latest weekly statistics show that Pokerstars still dominates the sector with a daily average of 32,000 cash games players, pursued at some distance by its old rival Full Tilt Poker with comparative player numbers of 16,000 players.

Online Poker Games to Be Legalized by California

Love to play online poker games sitting at home? Here’s some good news. Budget issues push California lawmakers to legalize online poker games for their residents and fill up state’s budget holes with tax revenue.

This meeting was more informational than anything else. A lot of people had their chance to present their point of view on the Online Poker Games regulations.

“California could capture tax revenues of $650 million over the next five years if the state were to legalize playing online poker games”, said Warwick Bartlett, the founder and chief executive officer of Global Betting and Gaming Consultants. “Our experience in regulated markets shows that legalization and control is a more effective government policy than prohibition because technology will always be ahead of law, which historically reacts to changing circumstances which legislators cannot predict,” Bartlett said. Ordinary people like to play online poker games for real money and it is better to regulate rather than criminalize what is a mainstream leisure activity.

The Tax revenue remains as a key point of this discussion. US players create the biggest market in the world for Online Gaming Operator but these days entire tax money goes offshore.

Bartlett warned that the tax rate would be a key issue. If the tax is too high, gamblers will be driven to current Internet gambling sites operated outside the United States, where low tax rates enable operators to offer rebates and incentives.

“However, customers will pay a premium to play poker real money legally, so pitching the rate at the correct level is the key,” Bartlett said.