The ongoing debate over legalizing online gaming made a pit stop on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno Tuesday night when Barney Frank was a guest on the show and the topic was discussed. Congressman Barney Frank has been pushing congress to accept his online gaming bill HR 2267 to make online gaming legal in the US. Frank and millions of gamblers believe the government has no place ordering what people can and cannot do in their own homes or lives, and this bill would allow gamblers the choice of gaming at land-based casinos or at online gaming sites.

Jay Leno & Barney Frank quickly turned their visit into a debate when Frank started pointing out that the government was wasting a huge opportunity to help ease the economic hardship our country is going through by regulating and taxing online gambling. Frank went on to say “We now make it illegal for adults to gamble via the internet”, “If you have someone who wants to play online poker on the internet, the government says its illegal. Why we think it’s the governments business is beyond me, we could make billions a year by legalizing online gambling and taxing it”.

It was very apparent that the audience was behind Mr. Frank and should show their support but Mr. Leno was quick to disagree by saying that live gambling is acceptable because it’s not readily available. Leno went on to say, “Vegas works because you have to travel across a desert to get there, you lose your money and then go home. You can’t go to the casino again until you have more money. If you are sitting at home and your up late at night and have your little credit card with you, next thing you know… it’s like having a mini bar”.

Barney Frank shot Leno’s argument down quickly by stating that there are casinos all over the country, not just out across the desert. He explained that HR 2267 excludes the use of credit cards to gamble with and only allows deposits through debit cards and prepaid cards, which will make it impossible for gamblers to gamble with cash they don’t have.

The conversation then changed to education and legalization of marijuana but Mr. Frank ended his bit with a recap of his argument and a major point, “As a general rule, our government should not be trying to live the lives of its citizens.

Gambling groups are uncertain about the impact of the Gauteng Gambling Board’s move to effectively ban online platforms, but for now it looks like operators not registered in South Africa will be hardest hit.

This follows an announcement by the board last week that those involved in promoting, transacting or operating an online platform would feel the full weight of the law.

Regulators are apparently zeroing in on many operators based outside South Africa which are targeting local punters. These include casino and lottery operators in Swaziland and Europe, whose clients move money into offshore accounts without complying with foreign exchange regulations.

Brent Graham, who operates the Good For The Game online sports betting news portal, told Fin24 there had been a great deal of uncertainty in the market following the announcement last week. This included the sports betting industry.

“As I understand it, this won’t affect bookmakers with local licences taking online sports bets,” he said.

Graham pointed out that bookmakers offering online sports betting had to comply with strict regulations from their local gambling boards, including what software they use. This was conditional to licences being issued. Licences are still being granted.

The National Gambling Board stated: “South African gamblers shall be held liable for their gambling activities in cyberspace even if the web server is located offshore.

“Banking institutions’ credit and debit cards should not be used for the payment of any gambling transactions that are illegal, and the banks reserve the right to decline processing or paying any card transactions which are suspected to be illegal gambling transactions (to the exclusion of sports betting/online bookmaking).”

However, online casino Piggs Peak is not bowing to pressure. The company says that issue is being taken on appeal in the Pretoria High Court. When Fin24 approached a service consultant on the site to open an account, they indicated that they were still open for business and taking new accounts.

In a message to clients on Tuesday Lew Saul Koor, operations director at Piggs Peak, said: “On consultation with our senior legal council, they agree that we should appeal this finding which we believe is totally incorrect. Until the appeal has been heard and the outcome determined, our business will continue as usual as agreed with the gambling boards.”

Active policing, says the board

Fin24 approached a support consultant at African Palace casino – which is owned by First Grand Gaming and based in Curacao – to find out if it was still opening accounts. The consultant requested Fin24 to send an email to its support centre. The query remained unanswered.

It is not just the operators who could find themselves in hot water.

The National Gambling Board warned publishers who promote online gambling products that “much of the advertisements of internet gambling in South Africa are subject to prosecution, and the National Gambling Board will be prosecuting any advertising media and other transgressors who continue to act contrary to the laws of the Republic.

“All advertising media that continue to facilitate the offering of internet gambling activities in South Africa are deemed to be aiding and abetting unlawful, illegal gambling activities and shall be prosecuted and fined for up to R10m or 10 years’ imprisonment.”

Banks also appear not to be taking any chances on other forms of online gaming, including lottery tickets and sports betting. Fin24 users have reported that banks, including Standard and Investec, have warned them in correspondence not to use credit or debit cards to buy these tickets.

According to the Gauteng Gambling Board the industry is actively policed, with high levels of convictions of illegal operators.

In Gauteng there have been 462 convictions for illegal gambling activity since 2001, including 33 this year. There are 438 cases pending. There have also been 34 raids on illegal operations in South Africa in 2010.

Paddy Power Poker is another popular option on the iPoker network, which continues to grow at an exponential rate.

Games are still looser than standard, with lots of players joining the network from other types of games and betting. Paddy Power Poker leans heavily to the Irish and U.K. markets and offers numerous satellites to live events in those regions.

The Paddy Power Poker software offers great functionality, decent graphics and good security and stability. Games offered are Hold’em, Seven-Card Stud Hi, Omaha Hi and Hi-Lo, with both ring games and multi-table tournaments offered. Tables are also available in heads-up, full and shorthanded formats.

Paddy Power Poker offers plenty of multi-table tournaments, sit-and-gos and freerolls with great value. Overall, Paddy Power Poker offers juicy games and good software that plays well, even though the game pace is on the slow side. The software is updated frequently to ensure safety and stability, with little downtime as a result.

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Paddy Power Poker offers a fairly solid loyalty program with six tiers of VIP status – Private, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel and General. Each subsequent level allows the player to earn points faster, with the program levels based on how many points a player earns per month and a part of the points earned the previous month.

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Tournaments and Freerolls (7)

Paddy Power Poker hosts lots of great tournaments with buy-ins as small as $1 and ranging all the way to several hundred dollars. Paddy Power Poker is known for great qualifiers to big live events in Ireland and around the world, and also hosts tournaments with guaranteed prizes as large as $1 million.

For players who excel in sit-and-gos, the jackpot sit-and-go tournaments are a great option as you can win up to $50k and more for winning several in a row

Paddy Power Poker also run a decent amount of small to medium-size freerolls. The freerolls are in general in the $50 to $100 bracket and they are relatively packed with players. On the positive side, play is very loose and even with lots of players they’re a good way for low-limit players to build their bankroll.

On top of the “free for all” freerolls, there are a lot of points freerolls and restricted freerolls that usually offer a little bigger prize pools and a smaller numbers of players.

Software and Graphics (8)

Paddy Power Poker resides on the iPoker network, which means it gets access to the very solid Playtech-developed software. The functionality is very good and the graphics are aesthetically pleasing, if a bit dull.

Paddy Power Poker recently updated its software for multi-tablers, offering support for up to eight tables simultaneously. The site also has a particularly strong hand history function, which, unlike more complex ones, is a great starting point for beginners looking to review their play.

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Support (7)

Paddy Power Poker offers good support options, with both 24/7 telephone and e-mail support. The response time is fast and answers are of good quality.

Pacific Poker is part of the 888 Holdings group, the company behind the world’s largest online casino. As you can imagine, this means a lot of wild casino customers at the poker tables. Combined with lots of promotions, that also means a lot of Texas Hold’em players come to Pacific Poker for juicy high-action tables and good bonuses.

The No-Limit and Pot-Limit cash games are strongly recommended for players looking to make a profit. Viewed-flop percentages are often in the high 50s and 60s – sometimes even up in the 70s – which is pretty ludicrous. No-Limit games are easilyamong the juiciest and loosest online.

The upgraded Pacific Poker software offers players a lot: great graphics and functionality, improved search functions and layout, nice looking 3-D avatars, integrated casino and bingo play, an always-visible cashier and improved multi-tabling abilities – up to 16 tables can now be tiled or cascaded at one time (8 cash and 8 tourneys).

Other nice functions that stand out are the password-protected SNGs and the hand histories, which now support writing on your hard drive and importing to the major hand analysis software tools.

Pacific Poker has also introduced a no-download client for Mac and Linux users. The new software is very sleek and competent and offers most of the functionality of the download version, although some 3D functionality and a few cosmetic features have been left out to keep the client light and quick.

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