dutch boyd

[rchamberlin]

I wasn't even playing online poker yet when this all happened, but I still don't think I'd deposit money with a site he was affiliated with. Not necessarily because I think he's a crook and ran off with peoples money, but rather because it doesn't inspire much confidence in his business sense.

[badblood44]

I'd have to agree w/ rchamberlin. I've predicted that at some point in the future, the US gov't will make this online poker thing illegal. I'm constantly cashing out such that there's never too much money in any one poker site's account.

With respect to Pokerspot, I believe that much of the problem is with how Dutch handled the business once he could no longer receive the money due to him via the credit card transactions.

He attempted to continue the business' normal operation by funding it through players' deposited money. That was the big no-no as the money was never his to begin with. You can imagine how things snow-balled from there.

The above is my recollection of the RGP posts made on the subject.

[Baseballa19]

How can US laws make offshore gambling illegal? Are they going to shut down the cruise industry?

[badblood44]

I was speaking of online gambling/poker, not physical trips to places where gambling is legal. One may argue that they are virtually the same, but they are not necessarily so.

As for online poker, I think it already is illegal in many states, New York to name one.

Enforcing it is a different matter, however.

How can they? Perhaps they go to the major ISP's and track which users are using the network ports associated with online poker sites. They get your name and issue you a subpoena.

It is technically feasible, but right now there is no motivation to pursue a single offender. However, there was a point in 1999 where many thought there was no way the RIAA was going to be able to put a dent in .mp3 music sharing. Perhaps they haven't, but I do know that several people have been sued for sharing music files online.

[Talking Poker]

Who's to say that list of users aren't playing for "play money" - surely they can't outlaw that.

I'm not saying this will or won't be a problem in the next few years... only that it's not going to be as easy to enforce as one might think.

[badblood44]

I agree that it will be difficult to tell, but if they subpoena your PC (hypothetically) they'd be able to check your hand histories as well as perhaps obtain enough account information to prove you were playing for money.

[junYUN]

wow, that's pretty bad. i didn't really know much about dutch boyd (i was not an RGP member) but this sheds a little light on the situation. what are the "other" things chipfish talked about? some things he did before the pokerspot? after? or more facts about pokerspot?