Online Poker, A Matter Of Personal Freedom

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Congressman Wexler and his quest to legalise online poker

The online poker news and information portal Poker News this week carried an interesting interview with Florida Democrat and Congressman Robert Wexler, who is one of four US politicians who have introduced separate legislative proposals seeking to ameliorate the effects of the prohibitionary Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Wexler's Bill is entitled "The Skill Game Protection Act" and seeks and exception, or 'carve out' for online poker as a game of skill that US players should be permitted to enjoy over the Internet. Carve outs currently exist for online gambling sectors such as horse racing, fantasy sports and lotteries on the internet, and the Skill Game Protection Act seeks to add poker to that list.

Describing the UIGEA, Wexler said that when the Republicans controlled Congress last year a "very bad" piece of legislation was passed.

"In essence, it's the newest form of prohibition," he told Poker News. "The prohibition is consenting adults cannot play poker over the Internet. Ironically, the Congress, the last Congress, said you can gamble on horses over the Internet, you can play State lotteries over the Internet.

"I thought as really a matter of personal freedom more than anything else, Congress should not be telling consenting adults in America what games they can play on the Internet.

"I was motivated to file legislation once the Democrats got control of the Congress; I knew there would be a more amenable environment to do this type of thing.

"What I've learned is that poker is even more popular than I ever dreamed it was. Apparently, more Americans watch poker on television than watch college football or NBA basketball, which is extraordinary.

"It's the 21st century - there is no reason in the world why people can't play poker, play chess, play Mahjong, play bridge, any game of skill on the Internet as long as we have protections, which we do, to make sure teenagers, young people aren't on there gambling, and that we prevent money laundering from happening, and we have the technology to do that.

Asked why he had chosen a skill games rather than a pure poker approach in seeking a carve-out, Wexler explained that politics is the art of analysing what is achievable. "There are some people that have a moral or ethical issue with gambling of any sort," he said.  "I would suggest they were a bit hypocritical when they voted for this bill, because the [UIGEA] bill that is currently in effect, allows gambling on the Internet for lottery and for horses. However, I thought it would be most palatable if we said,'...games of skill such as poker are American institutions - poker is an American institution just like baseball.' When put in that context I thought it would be a more palatable political issue for many people.

"I ....think that the Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank, has a bill that would apply to credit card transactions of all type of wagering on the Internet [HR 2046]. I think that's a great bill too. I'm a sponsor of that bill. I think that should pass and that would be a very important legislation to pass.

The Congressman went on to outline other anti-prohibitionary proposals currently in Congress which he supported, describing Congressman Frank's HR2046 proposal to regulate and tax US Internet gambling, Congressman Jim McDermott's companion Bill that calls for the legalisation and taxation of online poker; and a Bill by Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, who is calling for a study into Internet poker for the purposes of taxing, regulating and providing protection for minors.

"I think all three actually work well together," Wexler said. "....we've raised the level of awareness as to how absurd the current law is and that we need to fix it. The fix I hope will be to ultimately permit adults, consenting adults, to play whatever games they wish, wherever they wish it, in a consenting fashion.

"Every American, whether they are Conservative Republican or Liberal Democrat, or anywhere in between should be asking themselves with all that is going wrong in the world, whether it's Iraq, whether it's Iran's nuclear quest, whether it's social security, not having enough money necessarily to make it through the next century, medicare short falls, education problems… Why would Congress invest itself so to create this extraordinary prohibition of preventing consenting adults from playing poker on the Internet when we know in past experience prohibition doesn't work?

"The net result unfortunately will be, people will be forced to play the Internet, playing poker on the Internet on offshore sites where they're not secure. They will be playing on Russian sites, or Caribbean sites. There will be no regulation by American governmental structures; there will be no revenue to American governmental structures. It's counterproductive and also in my mind it violates the very personal freedoms that we cherish as Americans.

Explaining the high profile Internet gambling has assumed on Washington's Capitol Hill, Wrexler said there were two reasons for this. The first was that poker is a national pastime in America. "Congress has stepped over the line, threatening that national pastime," he told Poker News.

The second thing, he said was the appearance of a new [Democratic] leadership in Congress. "Under the old leadership, under the Republican leadership, this would have never been reconsidered. But under the Democratic leadership, under the leadership of Barney Frank - Chairman of the Financial Services Committee - there is an opportunity for Democrats to make a change and for Democrats, like me and Shelley Berkley, to have a bigger impact on the process."