Home / Poker News August 2011 / The Poker Grapevine – Hellmuth on Legal Online Poker
The Poker Grapevine – Hellmuth on Legal Online Poker
Posted by: Randy Williams - Wed, 2011-08-24 14:24
Phil Hellmuth is always looking to voice his opinion on matters, and though – according to many – most of the time he is full of hot air, when it comes to poker and online poker, one’s best off listening to what he has to say. According to Hellmuth, Washington DC’s initiative to make low stakes online poker legal shouldn’t be brushed aside. While pros will definitely not be interested to play for nickels and dimes, given the general hunger of the public to play
online poker legally, many more players may show up at the online tables than one would expect. Still, the fact that the District of Columbia only has around 600k inhabitants may yet prevent online poker operators from achieving critical player liquidity.
While he doesn’t believe that these low-stakes games will attract professional players either, Lottery director Buddy Roogow is counting on the masses of recreational players that would indeed find the low stakes platform appealing.
Another objection that Hellmuth raised regarding the DC poker model is that the government will find it much more difficult and lengthy to begin generating funds off the low stakes platform. A liberalization of the poker market would allow Uncle Sam to tax poker and to start collecting revenues straight way. The DC model would require major investments, which would take a good few years to recoup.
In other news: the California online poker initiative that we so enthusiastically filled you in on a couple of weeks ago may have already run ashore: according to State Senate President Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg, giant hurdles remain in the path of legalization even as the legislative year comes to an end on September 9. Steinberg singled out tribal opposition to the bill, as well as sovereign immunity, game types and eligibility.
According to the Senator, a better proposal than the current initiative may be in the works, and it may be ready for a Governmental Organization Committee hearing as early as January 2012.
