Did you see the article printed recently in the NY Times about online gambling.

Very, very interesting.

The story is about Jesus Ferguson and Howard Lederer, founders of Full Tilt Poker…which until they were busted by the U.S. FBI, was the gambling palace of choice on the web for millions of players.

As the years went by, the story documents, Full Tilt became a powerhouse in the cultish world of Internet poker.

By 2010, Americans were gambling $16 billion a year through such sites, according to the site PokerScout.com.

Free gambling tips, strategies, and an ONLINE GAMBLING guide.

“We take this very seriously and have been investigating this matter since the initial allegation,” MLB said Wednesday in a statement. “As part of the investigation, the commissioner’s office will interview Mr. Rodríguez.”

So Alex like to gamble.

That was no secret.

Rodríguez also faced questions about his gambling habits in 2005, when a New York newspaper, The Daily News, reported that he went to games at an underground poker club in New York.

And A-Rod actually admitted it was true, and said (at the time), ”it wasn’t the right thing to do.”

Meanwhile, Star magazine (that paragon of journalism)  wrote  last month that several people saw A-Rod playing at one of the star-studded games that were hosted at Hollywood hotels and private residences.

Allegedly, A-Rod was seen at one time playing in a separate high-stakes game recently that had a $40,000 buy-in.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire reportedly participated in the games.

A spokesman for the Yankees declined comment when asked about Rodríguez on Wednesday. A message was left seeking comment from Richard Rubenstein, Rodríguez’s publicist.

The 36-year-old Rodríguez had right knee surgery on July 14 but is expected to resume baseball activities on Thursday at the Yankees’ facility in Florida. The three-time AL MVP is hitting .295 with 13 home runs and 52 RBIs this season.

Rodríguez ranks sixth on the career homer list with 626.

What do you do when your leading sponsors have been busted by the U.S. feds?

Obviously, the World Series of Poker officials have a problem.

The WSOP is on the search for new interested sponsors.

Current WSOP partners are longtime sponsor Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, and new sponsorships Dearfoam Slippers and GoDaddy.com.

The GoDaddy logo will appear on all televised WSOP tables this year.

GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons says their Internet loving fans are happy about the partnership, though there were some issues pertaining to specific Gaming Control Board rules and regulations.

No doubt, the usual host of big online poker site advertisements are not present this year.

Most of the focus now is on the action, though the issue of Internet poker advertising crossing over into the WSOP may come up again prior to the Main Event.

We hope the feds come to their senses and stop prosecuting online gambling sites.

This will be interesting. I mean, beyond South Carolina, I can’t see this decision having any relevance at all.

A South Carolina law dating back to the 1800′s states one cannot play a game of chance for money.

Mark Peper represented six of the more than 25 people arrested in a poker raid in Hanahan in 2008. Peper is watching the case closely and says its up now up to judicial discretion to decide whether poker is a game of skill or luck.

What do you think?

“If you and I were to open a deck of cards and play go fish but we decided to play a dollar a hand, technically its illegal because of the statute that was enacted in the 1800′s and further because there is no skill involved in me asking you for an ’8′ and you say ‘go fish’,” Peper said.

Peper represented Orlando Reyes in 2008.

His home was raided and he was convicted of unlawful gaming.

“Just playing cards, having a good time. That was about it. Next thing you know police officers in our house,” Reyes said about the night Charleston County deputies raided his Hanahan home in April 2008.

“We all went to jail that night and spent the night in jail,” Reyes said.

Reyes was fined $247 for the misdemeanor. So were many of the others arrested and convicted.

The state justices will now consider whether or not the law, which Circuit Judge Markley Dennis called broad and vague, is in fact, unconstitutional.

S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster says the statute outlaws using any house as a place of gaming and says the justices must decide whether or not the Mt. Pleasant home that was raided in 2006 was “a place of gaming.”

McMaster says, in his opinion, it was, because he says there were 18 people participating in the game he says was held regularly and advertised on the Internet.

McMaster says if the justices overturn Dennis’ decision, the Mt. Pleasant convictions would be reversed. The decision is expected in the next few months.

Thanks to ABC News in South Carolina for the bulk of this report.

So there is finally new president on his way into the White House. He is going to have a litany of problems to deal with and I’m sure one of the most trivial will be regulating gambling. But it is of some concern to us so lets take a look at what sorts of things one might expect from President Obama.

He has made comments during the primary race that suggest he is wary of measures that expand the legalization of gambling in America. He has concerns for “moral and social costs” associated with gambling and its effects on the lower income segment of society. I think one can safely assume that  these concerns are driven primarily by economic ramifications.  I believe that most economists consider casinos and gambling to be, in the long run, detrimental to an economy. They provide high up front revenue, but the negative aspects that tend to assert themselves (not the least of which being crime and a depreciation of surrounding property value) significantly outweigh those benefits. Now I am no economist and am not familiar enough to say definitively that that is a prevailing view; so take it with a grain of salt.

Now, the reason I say it is primarily on economic grounds that he objects is in contrast to moral objections. He probably doesn’t have strong ones. He is a poker player. A pretty good one from first hand accounts. He would regularly come out on top at weekly games among Illinois political figures. He apparently knows the odds well and, like most things, he always plays to win. He is up for a game of poker like anyone else. His problems with gambling are from a purely pragmatic, social effects standpoint.

That might explain why he was not as strong in his opposition of online poker. In fact he wants an independent study done on the subject in order to be better informed and make the best possible decision. Sounds a lot like the play to win, methodical poker strategy he’s credited with.

Probably can’t say for sure what his final decisions on these matters will be, but he seems to embody the decision making capacities of a calm, dispassionate poker player, so I’m not worried. Whichever way he goes with this decision, or any others really, its a good bet that he can be trusted to make an informed, careful decision. Something this country has been sorely lacking.

Here are a couple of articles that might prove informative on this topic.

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/18/nation/na-gambling18

http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/viewarticle.php?id=2920