60 Minutes at the WSOP
Thanks to the great reporting at Wicked Chops Poker, they found that 60 Minutes was snooping around at the WSOP yesterday trying to gather information for their segment on the Absolute Poker Scandal.
This will obviously be a bad thing for online poker, as you can almost guarantee that 60 minutes will cover the entire industry with such a negative light.
In the picture on the left (thanks to Wicked Chops) you can see Michael Josem (owner of AbsolutePokerCheats.com) talking to 60 minutes anchor Steve Croft.
Apparently there were also other interviews with poker pros Mark Seif (Absolute Poker Pro), Greg Raymer (Pokerstars Pro), Mike Sexton, and Linda Johnson (aka The First Lady of Poker).
For more pictures check out Wicked Chops Poker.
Michael Josem said
am June 19 2008 @ 9:14 pm
I think that your claim that this will “obviously be bad for online poker” is wrong.
It offers an opportunity to highlight the importance of fair regulation to protect players in this industry - regulation that already applies to many sites such as PokerStars, PartyPoker, Svenska Spel and others.
graham said
am June 21 2008 @ 3:32 pm
Michael, Do you honestly believe that 60 minutes is going to put a positive spin on the story, or will it just be a smear campaign?
I agree that tougher regulation is needed, but do you really think it will come about because of a story on 60 mintues?
Michael Josem said
am June 24 2008 @ 10:15 pm
I think that 60 Minutes will neither put a positive spin, nor a negative spin. I have faith that they’ll be fair.
Apart from anything else, what’s the alternative for people who enjoy and support online poker? Be silent in our advocacy?
graham said
am June 27 2008 @ 2:13 pm
I wish I could agree with you, but I wouldn’t put it past a big network to put a negative spin on something to boost ratings. Frankly, I think a lot of those networks are corrupt and don’t really report the full truth a lot of the time (often making the gov’t look way better than it actually is). I guess only time will tell now…
No, I don’t think being silent is the right answer, but there are other channels such as organizations like the PPA. Write your congressman/governor.. whatever it takes. Hoping media (that relies on ratings) will be fair and produce an unbiased story is not the best way to support it, IMO. Obviously we have different opinions on this one though.