Heblye
5
2011/11/10 07:38
#288438
Manne wrote:
The Great British Bake-Off is one of those reality programs that does exactly hat it says on the tin: it features amateur bakers going against one another for their share of baking glory. So, why are we bringing it up here? Turns out that the winner, Jo Wheatley has poker ties that aren't quite as sweet as she'd like. Her husband, Richard 'The Bear' Wheatley, was given a seven year sentence in April of 2010 after admitting conspiracy with others to conceal, convert and transfer proceeds of crime, allegedly in connection with money related to drug trafficking.
British poker players at the time were shocked as Wheatley was a regular on the tournament circuit in the UK and across Europe. His Hendon Mob database entry featured a $60,000 win in a UK championship hosted by an online poker site as well as a £26,250 win in the GUKPT Grand Final in 2008.
Mrs. Wheatley, was up front with show producers about her husband's current status, saying that she "didn't want to use it as some X Factor–style sob story," and that can only be a good thing.
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2011/11/10
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Now as one would expect there comes into the fray the internet service providers. The Internet Industry Association of Australia is cautioning against placing the responsibility of protecting problem gamblers on internet service providers, instead making the argument that problem gambling must be managed at the point of service access.
The IIA just introduced it review of the Interactive Gambling Act of 2001. The conclusion the group arrived at said the banning of online betting sites was too difficult to make effective. Their submission read, “The IIA believes that the point of consumption, that is, the end user's device, is the only effective and technically feasible way of controlling access to content on the Internet,”
Having the responsibility of controlling consumer content is also cost prohibitive the IIA contends. The amount of data and applications related to internet gambling is staggering and impossible for Internet Service Providers to police. The review submission continued, “as well as online platforms, which are used by content and service providers to distribute their content and/or services, including gambling content and/or services, should not have gatekeeper responsibilities placed upon them.”
Advocating a regulated licensing model with strict requirements on licensees, the IIA said these measures would help reduce harm and maintain community welfare. On that subject the submission also said, “Not only can problem gamblers access online gaming services provided by offshore providers, who operate under a variety of regulatory regimes, recreational gamblers also can resort to those offshore providers,” It continued, “In other words, Australian online gamblers who participate at offshore sites forego the protection of Australian law and harm reduction requirements when they use offshore gambling providers.” :thumbsup