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A 51-page document filed by the government in response to the pre-trial motions of an indicted banker and payment processor claim poker is “not a game of skill” as industry proponents suggest, and insisted that La Cosa Nostra had infiltrated the online poker business. The complaint also cites Willie Nelson as having recorded the classic Country song “The Gambler”. Oy vey!
John Campos, a former vice-chairman of a Utah bank, and Chad Elie, who ran a payment processing business, were indicted on April 15, charged with money laundering and bank fraud. They are accused of misrepresenting banking transactions for what had been three of the largest online poker rooms: PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and UB.com. The later two rooms have since either shut down or – in the case of UB.com – are on the verge of doing so. Part of the US Government’s complaint contends that “customers were able to reverse e-check transactions long after they occurred and robbed banks of their right to make a decision over whether such business was worth accepting”.
Both men are challenging the US Government and, as such, the government is being forced to litigate its case against online poker for the first time, Forbes.com noted.
Among the US Government’s many claims: “the conduct alleged in the Indictment – a scheme through which the charged defendants abused the U.S. financial system in order to fund their illegal operations – amounts to clear violations of the statutes charged.”
US prosecutors may be a little red-faced after referencing the classic Kenny Rogers song, “The Gambler” and its lyrics “knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.” Problem is, Government lawyers mistakenly credit the song to Willie Nelson.
Nathan Vardi of Forbes.com:
The government lawyers will have to hope that their understanding of the law is better than their knowledge of country music. In arguing that society treats poker unfailingly as gambling, even years ago when poker players in saloons were called gamblers, federal prosecutors in legal papers refer to “Willie Nelson’s classic poker song, about knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.” It will be up to a federal judge to decide whether poker is a form of gambling, but The Gambler is a single of country singer Kenny Rogers, not Willie Nelson.
The Feds claim that online poker was not specifically exempt from a 2006 law, the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA), however, challenging this position might be an uphill battle. Several forms of gambling were indeed exempt from that law including horse racing and state lotteries, neither of which can be misconstrued as “games of skill”.
The US Government also asserts that “defendants do not point to a single case that supports their contention that ‘conducting’ business in a particular state requires more than allowing players in the state to place bets on a gambling website hosted elsewhere.”
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
