Reaction to the online gaming legislation passed in a late night pre-recess session in Congress has been one of outrage as poker lobbying organizationsand support groups prepare for the future.
Late Friday evening, Congress
was
able to link a bill regarding online gaming to the latest bill regarding
American port security. This bill, which was enacted to prevent another
situation such as the Dubai scenario earlier this year (which would have
awarded
security rights for several coastal cities to a Muslim country), was
virtually
guaranteed to pass through the Senate. It was with this bill that Senator
Bill
Frist, Senator Jon Kyl and others were able to stake their online gaming
bandwagon on.
The bill was steamrolled
through the House by a vote of 409-2 and passed through the
Senate on a simple voice vote, meaning there is no record of how the
Senators
chose to view the matter. What is also interesting is that, in adding the
legislation regarding online gaming, both houses of Congress chose to strip
critical elements out of the port security bill. The Republicans squashed a
move
to require every cargo container to be inspected as well as removed funding
for
rail and transit security for American citizens.
The online gaming
legislation added to the port security bill is very difficult to enforce.
While
it doesnt outright state that online gaming is illegal, it does outlaw the
payment of gaming implements through banks and credit card companies in the
United States. It does not address, however, the multitude of online payment
systems (such as NeTeller) that exist or what can occur through them.
Naturally, this has outraged many in the poker world. Michael
Bolcerek,
the president of the Poker Players Alliance and a longtime voice of reason
in
the online gaming discussion, said, "This last minute deal reeks of
political
gamesmanship. The American people should be outraged that Congress has
hijacked
a vital security bill with a poker prohibition that nearly three fourths of
the
country opposes. Allowing this bill to become law would run contrary to
public
opinion and would damage an already fractured relationship between
government
and the electorate. The millions of Americans who enjoy playing this great
game
will have the last voice in this debate come Election Day."
What
further
irritates Bolcerek and the PPA is that there has been no debate on the
online
gaming issue and no look at regulation and taxation. "Congress has an
opportunity to regulate and tax online poker leading to potentially billions
of
dollars in annual revenue for the federal government and the states," said
Bolcerek. "If the goal of Congress is to protect people from the possible
dangers of gambling, a prohibition is the worst way of achieving it. All it
will
do is push poker underground, essentially creating online speakeasies, which
will provide no protection for youths, no services for the problem gambler
and
leave only the most unscrupulous operators in the game."
Another
poker
players rights organization, KeepTheFreedom.org, was equally appalled at
the
passage of the legislation. A spokesman for the organization said to this
writer
in an e-mail, "It was a sad night last night for all poker players. We feel
the
best course of action is to now concentrate on including a carve-out for
skill
based games or poker as a whole from the current legislation."
"We
will
be adapting our website appropriately to help aid in this process, making it
clean and clear cut, so that poker players internationally can unite and
contribute to the effort to fight for our poker freedom. Further studies in
the
United States would be extremely helpful in proving that regulation versus
prohibition is the route America should take. Uniting under one voice is
essential, expressing our voting power, and moving towards regulation should
be
on the minds of all U.S. poker participants."
With the legislation
passed, it is now clear what the American poker player has to do and that is
exercise the power of the vote to clear the Congress of those who voted for
the
online gaming legislation. In this writers opinion, Congress have clearly
ignored the voice of the American people regarding this subject and even
have
rejected the logical step of studying the issue in depth and having open
discussion on the subject. Now poker players must exorcise these
representatives
for their disregard for their constituents. Then perhaps we can overturn
this
attack on the freedom of adults to decide what and where they want their
money
to go and have an open dialogue on the subject.
