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Poker News Digest 5/9/2009 – 5/12/2009
By Dan
Published: Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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- Renowned actor Don Cheadle has signed with Full Tilt Poker as a “Friend” of the online poker room. Cheadle has been one of the most prominent non-poker celebrities in the industry over the last few years, co-founding Ante Up for Africa with “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up, Annie Duke. The non-profit organization raises money for charities that aid survivors of the Darfur, Sudan crisis. The highlight of this year’s fundraising will be a special $5,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament at the World Series of Poker. Cheadle originally made a name for himself in the poker world when he bested Phil Ivey in the first round of the 2007 National Heads-Up Poker Championship. He has been in a slew of critically acclaimed films, such as Crash, Hotel Rwanda, Traffic, Boogie Nights, and the Ocean’s Eleven movies. Cheadle was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005 for his performance in Hotel Rwanda.
- Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced H.R. 2268, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act, last week. The bill works in conjunction with Congressman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, H.R. 2267, which aims to legalize and regulate online gambling. Where Frank’s bill does not address taxes beyond the simple rule that online gambling companies must pay them, McDermott’s bill does. It states that the companies must pay a monthly tax of two percent on customer deposits made the previous month. This cost to the licensees may not be passed along to the customer, but of course this doesn’t mean that licensees couldn’t increase rake, decrease promotions, or do other things to make up for it. Customers are responsible to pay their own personal income taxes related to their gambling, and in an effort to keep people away from unlicensed sites, bets placed at such sites will be subject to a 50 percent tax.
- Poker players have been anticipating the potential legalizing of poker in the state of Texas for some time now. State Representative Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio) has seen his HB 222 successfully navigate the legislative process and on Friday, it was placed on the General State Calendar, which means it was to be discussed and voted on in the House. Poker players’ fortunes had been looking up, but the same day it was put on the calendar, Rep. Menendez relayed some bad news. He said that because Governor Rick Perry is opposed to any expansion of gambling in the state and is not expected to sign the bill into law even if it is approved by the legislature, he will not be pushing it forward. “For the third session in a row,” Menendez said, “I think poker’s dead.”
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