The balloon goes up

Bush Signs Ports Bill With Poker Provision
Port Security Bill Includes Unrelated Section Tightening Ban On Most Online Gambling

(a separate report has it that Party Poker was down for "scheduled maintenance'," with the implication that the "scheduled maintenance" is to make Party's real money games unavailable to US players, as they've already announced.

I just logged into UltimateBet, which has a link to the following press release...

UltimateBet believes players deserve the best gaming experience on the net! That’s why we continue to be available for play by all members of the online community worldwide, including US players.

The new US legislation, expected to be signed on Friday, October 13, does not prohibit the online community playing online poker. At UltimateBet, it’s business as usual. All players’ deposits are held safely in a segregated account at a Tier 1 legal institution.

Business as usual at PokerStars too. The next 270 days will be a lot like the Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times.")

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CBS/AP) President Bush signed into law a bill Friday to help prevent terrorists from sneaking a nuclear, chemical or germ weapon into the United States inside one of the 11 million shipping containers that enter the U.S. each year — many without inspection.

The bill also includes an unrelated provision that seeks to strengthen laws that forbid most online gambling.

Mr. Bush used the bill-signing ceremony to assert that Republicans are tough on terror, a key issue in congressional elections just less than four weeks away.

"We're going to protect our ports. We're going to defend this homeland, and we're going to win this war on terror," Mr. Bush said.

He did not mention the gambling provision. Instead, Mr. Bush focused on the multiple ways the legislation tightens security and closes a loophole in anti-terror defenses, especially at ports.