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Regulation of online poker goes on in many places right now. Does regulation mean you can’t play against people from other jurisdictions?

If each jurisdiction ring-fences its local players and screens off the rest of the world, this would definitely mean the end to the international online poker community as we love it.

Local players only?

I haven’t seen this discussion, so maybe I’m getting it all backwards. But in my eyes, it seems likely that each individual jurisdiction will allow local residents only in the licensed online poker rooms.

This is certainly the case in the Swedish state owned poker room, Svenska Spel. There’s no way you could get into these games if you don’t have a Swedish social security number. (The industry calls it “segregated liquidity pools”.)

Online poker at loss

For me, online poker would loose a large part of its charm if I couldn’t sit down with people from all over the world, play a game of poker together and do some chatting.

This part of online poker is just so beautiful. It’s definitely part of its soul.

Regulators don’t care about soul

I feel confident that the people who drive the regulation efforts in various jurisdictions couldn’t care less about this aspect of our beloved game. For them it’s all about bringing the cash home to their failing budgets.

Can anyone confirm or disprove this disaster scenario? Is there any way around it?