U.S. Plans to Ignore WTO Trade Verdict -- Attempts by the United States to fortify a protectionist agenda were confirmed with the U.S. Trade Secretary’s announcement that it considered the World Trade Organization’s ruling against it (in an online-gambling dispute filed by Antigua) to be invalid.  The reasoning?  The U.S. never really intended for online gambling to be included in the WTO’s "GATS" [General Agreement on Tariffs and Services], and believes it’s entitled to a mulligan on 13 years of history and tens of billions of dollars in international trade.  The U.S. plans to rewrite its own GATS schedule and deny the claims of all other interested parties, which could include any WTO member nations currently offering any form of online gambling.  The U.S. move, if not a bluff of sorts, opens the door for multibillion-dollar damage claims and threatens both the ongoing validity of the WTO and the freedom of the internet itself.

U.S. Congressman Berkley Proposes Online Gambling Study -- The UIGEA continues to be assailed from within the United States as well.  Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley introduced a bill to study the viability of online gambling, a measure which quickly drew the support of 60 co-sponsors who were hoodwinked by the undemocratic antics of arch-conservative Bill Frist regarding the initial passage of the UIGEA itself.  Berkley’s bill is supported by the lobbying interests of land-based casinos, but remains a longshot to become law while the Bush administration remains in power.

Unlucky Us: Lucky You Panned by Critics -- The next Rounders it ain’t.  Lucky You opened to disappointing box-office numbers despite a healthy last-minute marketing push, admittedly up against Spider-Man 3, likely to be the movie beast of the summer.  But competition aside, Lucky You didn’t wow the reviewers, who found it to be either a mediocre romance with gratuitous poker scenes or a mediocre poker movie with a nonsensical love interest.  In either direction, the movie was declared too long for its plot.  Check for it on DVD soon.

North Carolina Appellate Court Rules Poker a Game of Chance --  More idiocy from the U.S. legal front.  While there was little doubt that a three-personal appellate court would rule against a private businessman’s three-year fight to open a private poker club, the appellate court chose to rule against the proposed Joker Club on the grounds that poker is a game of luck, not skill.  Naturally, the only people making that argument are the people who don’t play and don’t understand poker.**

Texas Poker Bill Moves Out of Committee --  Finally, some commonsense legislation where poker is concerned.  HB 3186, the Texas state measure designed to legalize the game in the state that gave poker’s most popular variant its name, (Texas Holdem Poker, in case you're asleep) passed out of committee and is due for its initial vote on the floor of the Texas House this week.  Bill sponsor Jose Menendez believes the benefits of the bill are far-reaching.  According to Menendez, "Right now, in any size city at almost any time, anyone can find an illegal poker game to play in.  Texas ought to benefit from the game rather than push these millions of dollars into the hands of criminals."

WSOP Recasts Gaming Life Expo as "Men’s Lifestyle Show" --  No online poker sites with U.S. ties would have meant a mostly empty convention room for the Lifestyle Show at this summer’s World Series of Poker (WSOP), in the wake of the UIGEA.  Harrah’s officials, however, are recasting the four-day event as a "men’s lifestyle" extravaganza, an expedient reworking of history if there ever was one.  According to David Koloski, a Rio marketing director, "To be frank, it was a transition we were planning."  Yup.~~