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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Jan. 20, 2007

I Need Answers

The important thing is not to stop questioning. -- Albert Einstein

Hey, if I can't transfer money from my bank account to a middleman for the purpose of gambling, how come I can go into any casino and get a cash advance on my credit card for just that purpose. Isn't that the same as using the phone lines to transfer money so I can gamble?

Who do you trust -- the guy you elect to look after your welfare and the welfare of the rest of our free nation individuals (who then sneaks an unpopular bill on the end of another shoo-in bill just so he can ensure his political future) or the guy who transfers your money from your wallet to your preferred gambling establishment (who has failed you only after the first guy pushed his muscle around)?

Where's the cancel button? Neteller, as most of us know, has fallen under the spell of fear and decided not to fund gambling accounts for U.S. citizens. The company's phone lines at this time are almost unreachable; the live chat line seems to have disappeared as has the cancel button. The latter doesn't make sense, does it? If you decided to transfer funds from your checking account to your Neteller account then changed your mind, you used to be able to cancel. Not anymore. This is from personal experience. My thought was to add money to an account and then give the Neteller debit card to my sister as a birthday present so she could use it at her discretion. I thought it would be a hoot. Turns out our money is now in limbo and attempts to get out of the heat don't exist.

Honestly, I'd still like to send my card to my sister but with the money floating around in cyberspace with no docking information, I guess it's just not going to happen.

Oh, yes, and while we're at it, we'd like to know just how the Financial Services Authority (FSA) works. That's the outfit that authorizes and regulates Neteller. But go to their page and see what they have to say about any questions (or complaints) you might have about an outfit they regulate.

I want to know why anyone would consider poker a sport. Other than those Sumo wrestlers and two-ton weight lifters, what other athletic competition requires no other physical conditioning but the ability to flick chips and cards and lift a bottle of water? I respect a number of brilliant people who happen to be poker players but I cannot envision them as athletes. They are competitors, the same as Scrabble or Monopoly players. Sure, poker requires skill (See my next question) but so do blackjack and pinochle and gin but we don't think of them as Olympic sports.

Can anyone figure out what's up with the Brits who decided poker was a game of chance? The gaming law across the pond from here states that individuals and businesses need a license to offer games of chance (blackjack and roulette, for example) but not games of skill, (chess and others, I suppose). One Derek Kelly was on trial for operating a poker club. While the jury decided poker was a game of chance, the real telling point of the verdict came from Justice Simon Wilkinson who declared flatly that a guilty verdict " ... could have caused enormous problems for the gaming industry because then you have the green light in some people's eyes for unregulated poker."

It all sounds more like a decision to protect the status quo rather than protect British citizens from a streak of bad luck.

If we're opposed to the Illegal Internet Gambling Prohibition Act (or whatever they call it), what can we do about it? Check out http://www.gamblingrightsamerica.org/index.html and decide if the information there is helpful. If you want to sign a cyber petition, go to http://www.petitiononline.com/LOGNOW/petition.html where you also can see who else has contributed a signature. Jim Perkins, the originator of the petition, has 12851 signatures as of January 19. I'm not sure how valid the petition is except as a means to express your opinion because some of the signers are not U.S. citizens, and it also appears that the comment section is open to question. Several signers, for example, have used html code to try to sell services.

Yikes! One question answered, sort of. I received an email just before submitting this article. All's well with my money and my debit card but the staff is under a lot of stress because of irate customers who want their money immediately and don't want to wait while the clerks process the thousands of requests. Just like poker players, I guess - they just can't wait to get to the next hand. (I forgot to ask about the cancel button.)

Finally, what can you do to further your own desire to continue playing online? First, bookmark and read all the newsgroups, the independents and the ones related to or hosted by the poker sites. Next, bookmark and frequently check all the gambling blogs you can find. Third, don't panic. If you're currently having trouble communicating with your funding institution because of recent events, be patient. Fourth, remember, the internet gambling bill does not target you. It targets financial institutions so unless you are a high-profile player who wants to chance walking back and forth in front of a bulls eye, your government isn't going to bother you or try to make an example of you. The subject of using you computer to place wagers is still a gray area in legal definition. Fifth, vote for those who do not oppose online gambling and vote against those who want to take it control of your recreational money. Sixth, if someone argues that the reason for the law is to protect you, tell them you'd rather be protected from gun-toting gangs and drug pushing kids, and drunk drivers and other nefarious characters who can truly harm you.

And seventh, until someone slaps a piece of duct tape across your mouth and ties your fingers together with fishing line, don't stop asking questions or writing comments. Until further notice, this is still the land of the free.