I understand your point - believe me, I do. But I think you are missing my points:
1. The people you are describing are cheating on their taxes already if they aren't reporting their poker income (and losses) properly.
2. Legalizing online gambling and the tax codes related to gambling are two very different things. Yes, they both have gambling in common, but that's it. Don't hate online gambling because it won't be as easy to cheat on your taxes any more. It is what it is. Hate the tax laws (which are horribly out of date - we all agree) and attack those separately. There is no chicken/egg relationship here. In fact, the tax laws ALREADY suck (for the very few of us who apparently don't cheat on our taxes and report all of our wins and losses), regardless of the legality of online gambling, so call you congressman and get him to introduce a bill to change those now.
They are two different things, and you are insisting on lumping them together. You're a math guys. Basically, this is what you are saying:
(Illegal online gambling + shitty tax laws) > (Legal online gambling + shitty tax laws)
SURELY you can see if the "shitty tax laws" are what you hate about the above equation, they cancel out on both sides and have nothing to do with the legality of online gambling:
(Illegal online gambling + shitty tax laws) > (Legal online gambling + shitty tax laws)
So that leaves us with you saying:
(Illegal online gambling) > (Legal online gambling)
And that's where we disagree. Me - I want it legalized. I'll worry about everyone else's taxes a couple of years (minimum) after online gambling is legalized.
The day that Party Poker has your SSN and is sending giant reports of all of your wins and losses to the IRS is far, far, far down the road. In fact, I would guess that day will never come. You will likely get 1099G'd for your either your total income over the year, or more likely, you'll get hit with individual 1099Gs for big tourney wins only - just like happens in B&M casinos now.
You talk about the UIGEA being a toothless tiger, despite the bite it's had on numerous poker sites, Neteller, etc, etc, etc. Meanwhile, you seem to be much more afraid of an invisible, sleeping tiger.
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