[bigboydan]

you can watch the UIGEA hearings live online at 10 am Est. on 4/2/08 here. I'm kinda interested to here what type of ideas Frank and Wexler will purpose.

[SBR Lou]

10AM? Eh, still be asleep then.

Probably not gonna happen, but post a summary after it's done.

[Kellen]

Thanks BBD, I'll be watching.

[DukeJohn]

Bumping in case anyone is interested.

[DukeJohn]

That Mr. Bachus just really pisses me off!

[mathdotcom]

Duke,

But what a great response by the guy after Bachus. Bravo!

[turnip]

Anything interesting happen yet?

[mathdotcom]

They're mostly highlighting the fact that banks cannot and should not have to regulate transfers. Also that

- you can't define illegal gambling [the regulator sure hasn't]
- it is costly to burden banks w/ this responsibility, especially given the sub-prime crisis

Maybe there is some hope. The regulator is getting pounded hard.

[turnip]

They're mostly highlighting the fact that banks cannot and should not have to regulate transfers. Also that

- you can't define illegal gambling [the regulator sure hasn't]
- it is costly to burden banks w/ this responsibility, especially given the sub-prime crisis

Maybe there is some hope. The regulator is getting pounded hard.

Thanks for the update

[mathdotcom]

Now mostly talking about how enforcement is impossible/inconsistent.


Bridge tournaments, chess tournaments all take entry fees and then re-distribute them in prize funds. What if they did this via online CC payments? lol

[mathdotcom]

Ron Paul testifying now!

[mathdotcom]

the younger one i hope


verrry cute

[DukeJohn]

I am rather surprised at the ambiguity of the answers they are giving. Don't get me wrong, I am glad there is still so much confusion, but you would have thought by now there would be more concrete regulations...

This should hopefully give more time for Frank's bill to gain more momentum.

[mathdotcom]

Frank is great.

Definitely going very well. It seems others who weren't too interested before are chirping in more now that they realize what a joke the Act is.

[DukeJohn]

Back on again gents.

...and I'll go on record saying that no matter WHAT this woman sez I will not marry her!

[pico]

can we get a written transcript of this at some point?

[DukeJohn]

Is the Wells Fargo guy being attacked by a hybrid vampire bat/Monarch butterfly? WTF?????

Damn it! Now every time I see the guy I start laughing

[SBR Lou]

So didn't today seem like the best day we've ever had with Congress? Basically a bunch of people within the banking system saying "This shit makes us judge, jury & executioner, we don't want that responsibility and we don't have the technological means to do it even if we wanted to?"....and the Financial Services committee guys (God bless whoever put Ron Paul & Barney Frank on the same committee by the way) saying "Yeah, you're probably right, this isn't going to be effective."

Did anybody else get a take different than that?

Well yeah that was the tone, but I still got the feeling that this issue isn't going away, and that online gambling isn't going to actually be legalized/regulated any time soon. What's much more likely is they go back to the drawing board and revamp their regulations to make the banks job a tad easier.

[DukeJohn]

Well yeah that was the tone, but I still got the feeling that this issue isn't going away, and that online gambling isn't going to actually be legalized/regulated any time soon. What's much more likely is they go back to the drawing board and revamp their regulations to make the banks job a tad easier.

I agree and disagree. I also believe that they will spend a lot more time on this. However, let's look at the time that has passed. This bill was passed in 2006 and the Director, Division of Reserve Bank Operations and the Deputy Assistant Secretary still do not know what "gambling" is based on current legislation. That would mean either congress needs to define "gambling" in the UIGEA or pass legislation that defines it. So, IMHO, there is no way UIGEA will be enforceable because the main committee that oversees this is the Financial Services and that committee is headed by Democrat Barney Frank and also has Ron Paul a republican on it that see eye to eye on this issue. I would believe that new legislation will pass before the UIGEA ever gets really going.

[mathdotcom]

Conservative Canadians pity their counterparts in the U.S., who have to share a party w/ religious nutjobs. B. Frank is a democrat?? He sounded like a libertarian to me. I guess this is what happens when people feel more strongly about social issues (Democrats are more libertarian here) than they do about economic (Republicans more libertarian there).

Sigh

[turnip]

Yeah our party system is pretty lame that way. At least the dems here are more "libertarian" economically than most of the continental european "left"

[The HG]

That Mr. Bachus just really pisses me off!

This is a funny bit from an exchange the gentleman had in one hearing

Mr. Bachus: Are you familiar with Ross Boatman's biography on [Full Tilt Gambling's] website?
Mr. Balko: No, I'm not.
Mr. Bachus: Let me tell you about him. [Reading from bio.] Ross was 10 years old when he played poker for the first time. His brother Barney, who is a little older than Ross, was playing with some friends, and after much pleading, they let him sit in.
His gambling career really didn't get started until a couple of years later, though, when he was 12 years old. Ross was too young and didn't have the money to play with those guys—I guess they're talking about his 14-year-old brother—but they let him sit and watch, and he learned plenty.
[Bachus, now looking at Balko.] I guess the verification system didn't work.
Mr. Balko [flummoxed]: I believe that all took place well before the age of Internet gambling, Congressman.
Mr. Bachus: Okay. Was it? I wonder why it's still on the site today[4].


So depressing.

[mathdotcom]

Indeed,

Bachus is a total moron. So depressing to see.