Poker Blog & Poker Forum

Apparently being a Mayor in the South doesn’t pay too well, at least not in Leland, North Carolina. The former Mayor had a 10 year run there but this week things ran off track for Franky Thomas, who was beat in the 2005 municipal elections there. It seems that Franky had some contraband in his truck and when Sheriff’s Office enforcement agents decided to take a look at what was inside, they found two illegal video poker machines.

It seems that Thomas was intent on selling the machines for 10K each (note to self: if this gig ever stops paying, there’s an easier alternative to get rich). Unfortunately for him, thanks to the cooperation of a secret witness, he was busted. The machines have been confiscated as well as his tuck and 20K in cash from his residence.

Good thing he was busted this week though because North Carolina is set to make this type of offense a FELONY on December 1. Fortunately for Thomas he was charged only with a misdemeanor and had to post no bond to get of the pokey.

No court date has been set for the ex-Mayor.

US pulls a bitch move – tries to pass UIGEA in the dark of night

In a move similar to the Bill Frist last minute shenanigans when he was able to pass the original UIGEA bill by attaching to the Port Security Act, those rascals are at it again. According to an email that’s going to be sent to the PPA member base tomorrow, the Bush adminstration is trying to finalize the jacked up rules in the latest version of the UIGEA in a last ditch effort to screw all online poker players.

According to the email, this is what they’re trying to accomplish –

“Just one week after a historic election the Poker Players Alliance is pitted in a fight to keep anti-Internet poker regulations from being enacted and we NEED YOUR HELP!

The current Administration is hastily finalizing a number of “midnight rules” before they leave office and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is on the list. See the 11/06 story in Dow Jones. Just like UIGEA was snuck into legislation in the dark of night in 2006, our opponents are again trying an 11th hour sneak job. We need you to help us expose and stop this reckless rulemaking.

Please call the U.S. Federal Reserve and tell them not to approve the UIGEA regulations — Consumer Complaints, 888-851-1920 or Public Affairs, 202-452-2955.

Tell them:
•    The federal agencies responsible for our nation’s economy should not be focused on Internet poker regulations.
•    Finalization of the UIGEA rules will add additional burdens on our already crippled financial systems.
•    Internet poker is a game of skill and form of recreation for millions of Americans; it should be exempted from the UIGEA.
•    Please do not finalize the UIGEA regulations until their impact on our banking systems and average Americans has been fully studied.
Your call will make a huge difference and will add the public’s voice to these last minute policy decisions our government is poised to make. We can’t stand idly by while they make decisions that will impact our right to play America’s card game. PLEASE CALL TODAY!”

You can use this link to let these morons know that they have bigger fish to fry right now. With the banks in bad shape already, do they really need to get squeezed out of more credit card fees? http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/foia/ElectronicCommentForm.cfm?doc_id=R-1298&doc_ver=1&name=Prohibition%20on%20Funding%20of%20Unlawful%20Internet%20Gambling&date=20071001a

Poker is bad, especially if you’re playing on a poker machine in Allegheny County. According to the Allegheny County Police, they’ve seized 36 electronic poker machines from three businesses. The raid took place earlier this afternoon and police said they also seized several thousand dollars cash in the effort.

These electronic games allegedly allow players to actually play pokers using coins and a computer screens. That’s what the unsealed indictment against these business state anyways, we thought you could only play on the Internets…

As part of the investigation, they sent an undercover agent to play the games and see if he could get paid his winnings in cash. Apparently he was able to get payment so the gambling charges are now certain to stick in court. The operators of the businesses in question had no comment in the matter.

One challenge the courts may have however is that the original undercover office that conducted the investigation just announced that he’s going to now play online poker at Full Tilt full time now. According to the officer, “It’s more profitable than being a cop”.

Players head to Full Tilt in droves….

According to the news channel WECT 6 in New Hanover County, the Sheriff’s Office destroyed 20 video poker machines Tuesday morning. Taken from homes and businesses that were operating the machines illegally, the extreme measure was taken to ensure the public wouldn’t use the machines again.

Since being outlawed in North Carolina in 2007 there’s been multiple arrests and seizures of these machines from private homeowners and business owners alike. The rumors are swirling that these were actually the last 20 video poker machines left in North Carolina, so the Sheriffs Office has apparently done their job in ridding the state of these dreadful machines.

There’s also an Internet movement that’s trying to guide all 44 of the people that actually played on these machines to sign up at Full Tilt Poker so that they can play a game of REAL poker.

A ruling today by the judge in the domain seizure case against 141 gambling domains just made it easier for the state to actually take control over domains from operators such as Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars. The judge unilaterally shot down every argument presented in the case from attorneys representing the defendants. He also struck down the arguments from the PPA and iMEGA, along with several other special interest groups that opposed the measure.

It would appear that Kentucky is hell bent on returning to the days when the internets simply, didn’t exist. This is a ass-backwards move that should make anyone think twice about visiting the state, much less living there. Anyone with a computer anyway. What’s next? Abolish sites that display porn? What about information sites for girls seeking abortions? All of those things are considered “bad” by some people but not all. Sounds a lot like what North Korea and other communist states impose on Internet freedoms that are available to “most” people in “free” countries.

It’s disappointing to see this happening in the year 2008. That politicians feel that they should regulate morality and ensure that we can’t harm ourselves in the privacy of our homes. A final hearing is set to take place on November 17th. In the meantime, the sites all have 30 days to institute some sort of geo-targeted blocking so that Kentucky residents can’t access these sites.