The online poker community supported Barak Obama’s campaign wholeheartedly during the 2008 election cycle.  Poker-centric blogs sprung up to support the Obama campaign, and it was widely reported that poker pros Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu attended an Obama fundraiser in LA.  The affection was mutual. At the star-studded fundraiser, Obama approached Negreanu to talk poker, with Negreanu saying “I think President Obama bodes well for poker players.”

The pro-gambling president has yet to emerge, as last week the Obama Justice Department confiscated $34 million in winnings from payment processors serving as intermediaries between online gambling sites and winning players.

People forget that the first big foray against online gambling was launched by Bill Clinton’s Justice Department back in 1998, when the US, led by Janet Reno moved against a number of offshore gambling operations.  World Sports Exchange founder Jay Cohen was the only one of that group to stand and fight, and he ended up doing a prison sentence for his efforts.  

This shows, once again, that while Republicans show more enthusiasm for fighting online gambling, opposing the activity is a bipartisan effort.