Poker Expansion Fallacies

As poker popularity spreads like wildfire throughout our country, the subject of legalizing public cardrooms arises repeatedly. Could a legal brick-and-mortar place to play our favorite game come to your state, maybe even your city? The main arguments made against such a desirable happening are used over and over again – and they are bogus arguments put forward by people who are ill-informed about gambling and poker. By taking a look at what is going on in Alaska right now, you can see what may be going on in your part of the country sometime in the future. This will enable you to combat the faulty reasoning put forward by opponents of legal poker rooms.



In March 2006, the House Task Force on Alaska Gaming Policy concluded its hearings on the subject of HB 272, a bill that would permit cardrooms allowing poker in certain places in the state. These meetings featured a teleconference at their conclusion on March 30, in which an audience could listen to the meeting. After discussion by the Task Force members, some of those people listening were permitted to give their testimony for or against the bill. I was one of those allowed to talk to the House Task Force. The state of Alaska is to be highly complimented for having hearings that can be heard by the people, and allowing citizens to give their input. After listening to the hearing, it became clear to me that there are a number of pervasive fallacies that affect discussions about legalizing cardrooms in Alaska. Here are some myths I heard:



Myth No. 1: Allowing public cardrooms and the creation of a gaming commission will undoubtedly open the door to expanded gaming in the state.
If someone proposes an extension of legalized gambling activity, you can be sure that the activity will not be fought solely on its own merits. The argument will be introduced that the good people of the state will be put on a path to the further widening of gambling, and this must be ferociously fought. We encounter this philosophy whenever the subject of moral behavior comes up. Don't take that first drink, as you might become an alcoholic. Holding hands is the first tragic step of a teenager on the path to kissing, petting, and intercourse. The fact is that every action deserves to be judged on its own merits, and not on where it could ultimately go if allowed to continue forever unchecked. Otherwise, you could not have a glass of wine with dinner, or go out on your first prom night.



A bill allowing cardrooms deserves to be considered on its own merits, not on the basis of the legislature and the people of the state looking out the window and allowing unrestrained gambling to enter. One can be assured that the state legislature will take great effort to maintain its authority over gaming policy in Alaska. And no expansion to casino games can take place without the voters of the state lending their approval. The same applies to your home turf.



The voters of Alaska voted on the introduction of casino gaming in 1990, and it was defeated by about a 2-to-1 margin. This bill does not try to reverse that judgment. It is about only the playing of card games and the establishment of cardrooms. The games authorized are games such as poker and pan, which are played between the players themselves, not against the house. The establishment acts only as the overseer of the game, indifferent to who wins and who loses, and is not allowed to host a casino game of player versus the house. The games being played are already widespread in Alaska (a state that allows social gambling), and are allowed if played in someone's home and no one other than the players receive a profit from them. The term "casino gambling" is a misnomer when applied to games like poker.



Permitting any kind of legal gambling, even an activity as relatively innocuous as poker, creates the necessity for oversight by the state through a special body to regulate and control that activity. Some of the needed oversight includes inspection, auditing, prevention of cheating, and ensuring that only authorized games are taking place. To recommend that a gaming commission not be formed is to destroy the chance of a cardroom bill passing. No one who proposes to allow cardrooms wants them to be shielded from oversight by a special branch of government that has expertise in that area. Only those who want the idea completely destroyed fight the formation of such a body.



Myth No. 2: The establishment of cardrooms will lead to Indian casinos.

Poker is one of a number of Class II gaming activities categorized by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) of 1988. If a state allows Class II gaming, an Indian tribe may do so, unless the activity is specifically prohibited by state law. Alaska already has legalized certain Class II gaming, such as pull tabs. Therefore, Indian tribes already have the door to cardrooms open, because poker and similar games are legal in Alaska (which allows social gambling). Hardcore casino gambling is a Class III gaming activity, and does not require permission to take place when a Class II activity is allowed. The bottom line is that the establishment of public cardrooms by HB 272 has no effect on what kind of legal gambling is granted to Indian tribes in Alaska.



Myth No. 3: Allowing poker will greatly increase the number of compulsive gamblers, and thus would come at a great social cost.
No one likes to see a life destroyed by the runaway gambling of a compulsive gambler. Such a person often manages to wreak havoc on his loved ones, as well as himself. As a person who served for two years on the Nevada Council on Compulsive Gambling, I am well aware of the destructive power gambling can have on the lives of certain people. However, even though any gambling activity can furnish a platform for compulsive gambling, certain types of gambling are much more prone to abuse than others. Slot machines and lotteries are the most common gambling activities for the compulsive gambler. I would argue that a big reason is that such gambling forms attract people who have the least experience with gambling. You do not need to know anything to pull a lever or buy a lottery ticket. Poker is one of the least likely games to produce and foster compulsive gambling. As a professional poker player for most of my life, I can honestly say that I have known only half a dozen poker players who could be truly classified as suffering from an addiction. Of course, I do not claim that people sometimes lose money at poker that they cannot afford to lose, but that does not mean they are compulsive gamblers.



You will be told that even though poker produces few compulsive gamblers, it is a step along the road to compulsive gambling. We already have visited that "first step along the road" argument, and you know my opinion of it. In fact, I would argue that some gambling experience gained through poker would be helpful to a fair number of people in avoiding that path. Many of the people getting snared by gambling these days are elderly people with zero gambling experience. Poker is a sword that cuts both ways regarding gambling addiction, and I think it can also be a shield.



As you can see, I believe the main arguments against legal cardrooms are not based on the merits of the idea itself. Instead, they are based on the direction that some people think it will head. I believe an idea deserves to stand or fall on its own merits. Please don't take away my pleasure, and the pleasure of other poker players, because you do not trust the legislators and the voters of Alaska to protect us against the excesses that can come only by a gross shirking of responsibility.

Bob Ciaffone has authored four poker books, Middle Limit Holdem Poker, Pot-limit and No-limit Poker Improve Your Poker (available at www.CardPlayer.com), and Omaha Holdem Poker. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons: e-mail [email protected]. His website is http://www.pokercoach.us/, where you can get his rulebook, Robert's Rules of Poker, for free. Bob also has a website, http://www.fairlawsonpoker.org/.