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Online poker is the focus of Tribeca Tables Software Network. Whether you're an online poker player, an online poker room owner, an online poker software developer, or just someone intrigued by the new found fame of this classic game, Tribeca has something for you.
Internet Opportunity
In case you haven't been paying attention, the familiar card game known as poker has become a very hot ticket - as a hip social pastime, a big draw media event, and a 24/7 online poker experience. The growth of online poker, and poker in general as a recreational gaming activity, has been dramatic of late.Poker is unique in that it has deep roots in the rich culture of both the American west and the Mississippi riverboats and river towns of the delta. Poker is perceived to be an American game, whose mythology is anunmistakable part of US history. So it really is no surprise that the game that cowboys and riverboat gamblers played is finally being rediscovered by the modern world. Pay attention and you'll start to notice the ever present reminders of the currentpopularity of poker culture and lifestyle: poker clubs, The World Series Of Poker as a televised event, magazine and newspaper articles on poker, and the growth in both numbers and quality, of online poker rooms. Some of the best of these online poker rooms are powered by software from Tribeca Tables Poker Network.
As reported in December 2003, online poker revenues of $34 million per month and growing suggest a healthy industry growing at 27% per month. This strength is confirmed when in March 2005, 100,000 players are playing online poker at peak times across the various online poker rooms. And this growth is projected to continue, as online poker gains more and more acceptance, not only as a socially acceptable activity, but also a legitimate game of skill.
Recognition of a different kind embraced online poker in June 2005, when PartyGaming, owner of the largest online poker room PartyPoker.com, went public, reaching a market value in excess of $10 billion dollars within a week of its IPO. Online poker has attained corporate legitimacy.
The online poker explosion is fueled by not only the interest in the game, but also by the ability of the internet to deliver secure gaming activity via pcs. Poker has been rediscovered by the mass market, and the effects are being felt across the online poker industry, the mass media, and the gaming sensibility of society. The effect is so big, that surveys can actually demonstrate the negative effect of regularly scheduled poker games on prime time television audiences, not to mention the audience drain caused by online poker playing.
The booming online poker phenomenon is a result of many confluent cultural phenomena, ranging from technological advances, to media success in promoting poker as compelling television programming, to laws governing gaming and the internet.
The Law And Online Poker
The legality of online poker is an area that contains some uncertainties, especially if you're based in the United States. While online poker is legal in the United Kingdom and several nations in and around the Caribbean Sea, the issue of online poker is not fully resolved in the US. Threatening moves by the justice department against gaming interests, including those with online poker interests, have had an impact on this fledgling industry. Fear of asset seizures, arrests of corporate officers, and fines, have kept the large US based companies out of the online poker arena. This power vacuum continues to create an opportunity for offshore businesses to operate online poker businesses without direct competition from the established firms, all of whom have major assets in the US. US law has created both a risk, and an opportunity for the online poker industry.
The federal government is not the only legal obstacle for the online poker enterprise. Individual states have prohibitive laws specific to online gambling of any kind, and that, of course includes online poker. Owning an online poker operation without proper licensing can be illegal, even if no states currently grant such online poker licenses. Each state may have its own risk for online poker entrepreneurs.
From the perspective of world law, the nation of Antigua and Barbuda, which licenses internet gaming entities, filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization against the US government's actions impeding online gaming, including online poker. Although a favorable ruling was later partially reversed, the issue revealed that the US may be violating global trade rules regarding laws regulating horce race betting. The ruling panel found that certain online gambling restrictions imposed under US federal laws were inconsistent with the trade organization's GATS services agreement. In short, the world and the US are not at one with this issue, and online poker entrepreneurs need to pay attention to the law and the changing landscape it creates.
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