Lighten Up, People!

I've finally got thirty minutes, but I feel it's been so long since the 60 Minutes and the Washington Post stories on the AP / UB cheating scandals were released that nothing I can say is going to feel all that fresh. I'll give it a brief whirl anyway.

I don't understand what all the doomsaying from certain sides is about. The pieces were fair encapsulations of what went on although has been pointed out on numerous sites, Todd Witteles' closing comments on 60 Minutes were unfortunate. Now we have to see what, if anything, will happen as a result of the stories. I'm putting my money on "not much". There are always bigger legislative fish to fry than online gambling, but right now that's doubly or triply true. The economy is in shambles and will remain at the fore of all legislative efforts for at least a year. (Side bar: I become angrier and angrier every time I read a story which makes a bailout of the auto industry more likely.) Unless another crusader seeking points with a sliver of the electorate makes online gambling a pet issue, I suspect the murky legal status quo of online gambling, including online poker, will remain as is.

Some participants in this passion play can't find the real issue if it bit them in the ass. I refer to an excellent post by Short-Stacked Shamus regarding Mason Malmuth's recent appearance on the Two Plus Two pokercast as one example. But that's typical of the poker industry as a whole -- Chicken Little doesn't hold a candle to most of the major players.