Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
Note that Bovada doesn't allow residents of Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, or Delaware to play on there.
Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware are obvious -- because they have licensed, legalized state-level online poker sites.
Maryland are New York are because the two DOJ offices actively busting online gambling operate from those states, and they use the fact that residents from those states play on the sites as a simple justification to get arrest/search warrants. So they are making it tougher for those DOJ offices to establish a case against them.
So as much as Bovada has been giving the finger to the US government during their 15 years in operation, they are also careful.
I have plenty of issues with Bovada lately, and only play there because they're the least of all the online evils, and I trust them marginally enough not to steal my money. However, despite Bovada's problems, they are absolute geniuses when it comes to both payment processing and avoiding smackdowns from the US government. They've existed for 15 years as a poker room, casino, and sportsbook (the latter of which really pisses of US authorities) and have avoided any kind of bust. They still pay you quickly and reliably when you win. You have to admire them for that.
My point here is that Bovada, for all their ability to avoid the US government shutting them down, are scared to operate in the states with legalized online poker. They don't want to step on toes or motivate certain law enforcement agencies to go after them.
Seals was different. They had the free, open, no restrictions business model. You could play from anywhere, you could make as many accounts as you wanted, and you didn't have to give them your name or e-mail. On the surface, that seems cool, but it invited trouble. This allowed Nevada residents to play there instead of the existing legalized poker sites, and Micon lived right there in Vegas. The NGC doesn't take kindly to that, and it was easy for them to go after Micon, living right in the state. Had Seals refused to offer games to people in Nevada, this bust may not have happened -- or at least the NGC wouldn't have been nearly as interested.
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