I was playing devil’s advocate the other day and I was wondering what if we were close to getting legalized and regulated online gaming in the US. If I was anti-gaming and realized that I can’t fight the trend anymore, how might I throw in a curveball to muck things up?
Then it occurred to me that one of the most damaging things someone could do is slip in a stipulation that any company that wants to do business in the US has to release all financial transactional data concerning US citizens. It would be a perfectly reasonable request on a number of grounds ranging from tax evasion to money laundering.
I know the vast majority of poker players are net losers but there’s that 7% – 10% who take more out of the system than they put in and Uncle Sam would now know exactly how much those people have won.
I think most of the net winners are pretty honest about what they make but I’m also pretty confident that a lot of people aren’t reporting everything. It’s just way too tempting. I know a lot of all-cash business owners and the number of people who report what they actually make can be counted on one hand.
How would that be to get leagalized poker but as a result get hit with an audit and have to pay penalties? 🙂