My friends and I have been looking for a venture and we came across these online gambling sites which offer liciences, and the software for poker, casino and sports betting. They handle all the payouts and it is hosted on their servers. My only job is marketing pretty much. The packages they offer range in price and amount of revenue you earn. My friends and I all love and paly poker quite frequently. I have been playing poker for about 3 years, online poker alittle more than a year and had a part time job as a blackjack dealer and inspector at a charity casino.

For those of you who may not be aware, there is currently a debate of whether Canada and the U.S should regulate the online gambling industry. The U.K recently regulated this industry and many server are located and licienced there (The company I'm interested in is located there). Other countries that licience online gambling are in the Carribean Islands and on Mohawk reserves in Canada. I went to go see a lawyer who specializes in this field (he is trying to influence regulation) and he said "in short, it is illegal, at least for now". I've read articles saying that online gambling is in a grey area because the current laws did not take account of the internet. The lawyer advised me that it is only seen as grey area because it is not enforced. He also told me that the Canadian federal government and the province of Quebec have not raided the server located on the Mohawk reserves, which may be a sign that they may regulate it tut not assume too much. There is also a loop hole I discussed with the lawyer that if I could promote myself as for fun (play money) and practice (Many sites actually do this, if you notice that none of the commercials you see on TV never actually say anything about gambling, e.g Party Poker's slogan "got no body to play with? come to Partypoker.net, which is their play money site, .com is their gambling site) but he said it is an obvious excuse although there would be many lawyers who would argue.

This is what I was going to do for my business plan by the way. After discussing it with the lawyer, I've been pondering on whether I should continue with the venture. If Canada bans it, I will probably have to shut down or move out of the country (only if I made millions =)). The investment is not too bad, and the potential is very attractive. Banning this industry will be very expensive and very difficult. And I think the growing popularity of poker will force the government to regulate it, to ban it would be like another prohibition. But this is all based on guesses.

I don't know if anyone on this forum finds poker and online gambling immoral, but if there are, I would still like to hear on opinions and feedback.

I actually play a little bit on Golden Casino every so often. I have fun and we usually go to Vegas once a year.

The US government probably is way too busy with everything else right now to take the online gambling thing to the Senate etc. I really don't see anything happening until the next administration. Even then, personally, I don't see it happening / passing because I think that is one step closer to "big brother" controlling too much

Agreed, Corey! Although with THIS particular administration, anything is possible. LOL

seto18 I, like you, am a big poker nut! But not for as long as you. Actually, I'm a hold 'em nut ... don't even know how to play 7 card stud or any others. I've been searching for a way to make money off of this passion for quite awhile now. Looks like you've found one, so I say go for it. I'll bet the worst case scenario for you is that you get shut down ... but you'll have made some coin before that ever happens, so go with it!

I've been thinking about setting up a completely illegal cardroom and making money off the rake LOL. If it weren't for the fact that I have kids, I actually would have LOL.

I've always wanted to have a bar, with a gambilng backroom.

I know a few people who run a poker club. I don't know if I can set up anything that could benefit the both of us (maybe I will get in trouble, I dunno).. I actually found a post on this forum where someone wanted to buy an existing business in the States that runs poker tournaments

To Comtrad, there are alot of pool halls that rent out rooms at 8$ an hour. When we have no where to play we go there and just rake the pots to pay off the room. They make quite a bit, Poker games easily go over 4-5 hours. I am supposing the 8$ fee is just to pay off their waiters, but they make a killing when we order drinks and stuff, just an idea for you.

Do they run a poker club in a town where gambling is illegal?