Shortly after the start of last week’s charity celebrity poker event to aid the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Ben Affleck goes all-in with a flop of Ace-Nine-King and two diamonds. He squirms when two of his challengers call the bet. He yells “Re-buy”, but the turn is a seven of hearts. Affleck is disappointed when a jack of diamonds is dealt on the river. He took the hand seriously even though there was no real cash at stake. This is just the kind of thing that Affleck and several other poker enthusiasts are lobbying for.

Over $100,000 was raised for the paralyzed victims, but this was not the only purpose of the poker event held in Coors Field. Members of the Poker Players Alliance are working very hard to legalize online poker in the United States. As part of their agenda, they are pushing to repeal the 2006 legislation Congress passed which bans U.S. Banks and credit card companies from processing transactions related to internet gaming websites.

John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, is optimistic about the direction that the new congress will lead this decision. Pappas says that the alliance is pushing for a licensed industry, just for internet poker, and not for all online gaming. Pappas is interested in having a safe, regulated industry that all Americans can enjoy. The group is fighting for the rights of people and the privacy they deserve in their own home.

“There are misconceptions about poker and about online poker,” poker pro Andy Bloch said in between hands during the charity poker tournament. “Some people think that online gambling is gambling like a slot machine, and it’s not.”

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With all the emphasis that has been put on the online poker rooms and casinos by the United States government in an attempt to force them to shut down and completely stop doing business on the Internet, there is no end of difficulties experienced by the online poker rooms and casinos who have done their best to stay competitive and stay in business despite all the negative attention from the government. With so much effort being put into making it impossible for these types of businesses to continue to operate, it is hard to believe that the United States government is objective in its efforts to do away with gaming and gambling on the Internet. As more and more legislation and regulations are passed that make it extraordinarily difficult to compete on the Web, there is no end of focus on the different laws and interpreting them in order to back up the United States government’s position. In fact, the laws have become so Byzantine and confusing that they actually allow offshore industries to profit from United States poker players, but United States citizens cannot profit in the same way. With this incredible double standard that has been created, online poker players are victimized in ways that are hard to define. By eliminating the ability of the United States proprietors to profit from the existence of online poker rooms and casinos, the government has effectively cut off a tremendous level of revenue that could have been taken advantage of by United States residents.

As more and more nearsighted legislation and regulations hit the books and make it more and more difficult for online poker rooms and casinos to exist in general as well as generate profit, the United States government has made it clear that there is no end of lengths that it will go to shut down these types of gaming and gambling establishments on the web. With the emphasis on stopping the flood of online poker rooms and casinos, the United States government has set for itself a tremendous task and will very likely stop at nothing to see it completed. In the future, it is hard to predict what types of additional laws and legislation might be passed that make it impossible for these types of gaming and gambling establishments to generate revenue on the Internet and continue to increase the levels of income that are generated there. Without these types of online poker rooms and casinos, players will very likely have no choice at all and have to quit playing altogether. As long as the United States government continues to target the online poker rooms and casinos, they will continue to experience these types of difficulties in general.

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