18 May 2007
May 15 - I live in the USA and last night I used my MasterCard debit card to fund an online poker account. You could have knocked me over with a feather as well. Today I woke up to an automated phone message from my bank`s fraud department.
The bank wanted to verify that I had used my debit card, which is linked directly to my checking account, for a "direct marketing" purchase on the Internet the night before. We went through our little dance, and the transaction was confirmed.
Direct marketing used to be a euphemism for porn-so-sleazy-you-really-don`t-want-your-good-name-linked-to-it, but now I`m happy to report it is also synonymous with online poker.
I doff my cap (I`m not really wearing a cap but don`t feel bad about being duped, how were you supposed to know?) to the cunning folk that run Full Tilt Poker. They inhabit their own special bubble in this universe where they dwell unconcerned about the illegality of online gambling in America.
For Full Tilt continue to advertise in, accept deposits from, heck they even operate in the USA. Meanwhile other overseas-based (ie: enemy) company execs indirectly associated with online gambling have their planes diverted while flying over US airspace so that they can be arrested on trumped-up federal charges as though they were the newest additions to the Soprano family.
My guess is that whereas some online poker sites were remiss in not "contributing" sufficient funds to their favorite American politicians the lads who run Full Tilt are greasing the wheel plenty and providing recent female immigrants aged 18-34 for those special stress-release weekends away from the hurly burly on Capitol Hill.
It also helps that the United States government has made a commitment to destroy free trade when the trade does not involve American companies, so the fact that Full Tilt is the biggest US-owned online poker website in the world is useful shall we say.
I am not trying to sound churlish, although the gross hypocrisy and incompetent legislation certainly riles me. If the Americans want the entire online gambling pie for themselves then bloody well hurry up and conquer away. Why are my NETeller funds still buried in an Ice Age of red tape? If they don`t have a master plan, which has to be the betting favorite based on who we`re dealing with here, then repeal all this nonsense and let us get on with our lives!
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