... as we know it? PartyGaming has just announced that due to the internet gambling law that passed through in the US Senate, they are banning US players from real money play. Shares so far today have slid 62%, and I can totally see them dropping even more.

What does this mean for online poker? Well, a huge chunk of online poker players come from the states meaning that the amount of players to play during hours that I play will be dramatically cut. In order to get any sort of competition, I'd have to logon in the morning and play when players in europe are playing late at night there.

I really wonder where the industry goes from here. The US government is being incredibly stupid about the whole thing ... but be that as it may, there's not a lot that we in Canada can do about this. It just sucks to see the entire industry take such a beating because certain people in the US government think that they should "protect" people from the evils of gambling. To be honest, I don't know that much about why they are actually banning it in the first place but whatever the reason, I can't see it being a better argument than this superfluous one. I'm aware that there is political motivation behind this, but I honestly can't understand how one gains political prestige by bringing in ways to stifle people's freedoms (in supposedly a free country).

Anyways, we'll see where this goes I guess. I don't think there's much I can do about is so I'll just watch!

Heraldk