Let’s Get Online Poker Regulated!

The Poker Players Alliance recently staged a Washington, DC, fly-in for 24 state directors and some invited guests. The mission of the participants was to attend meetings with members of Congress and the Senate to discuss the need for licensing and regulating online poker.

The rally and press conference, held on the lawn in front of the Capitol building, was emceed by Alphonse D’Amato, chairman of the PPA. D’Amato said, “Congress should not be prohibiting people from playing poker in their own homes. By making it a crime for financial institutions to carry out the transactions, they have essentially said, ‘We’re coming into your home because we’ve determined that you should not be playing poker on the Internet.”

Next up was U.S. Rep. John Campbell from California, who co-sponsored a House bill to regulate and tax online poker. Campbell said, “I don’t even play poker, but to me, it’s about freedom.”

U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) was introduced next, and he got a huge round of applause when he announced that he is planning to introduce legislation to legalize and regulate online poker. Barton plans to move the bill through the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Greg Raymer, 2004 World Series of Poker main-event champion, told the crowd, “More than 10 million Americans are known to have online poker accounts. There’s estimated to be 50 million people in this country who play poker at least a little bit. We have to be active and make sure that the message gets to our representatives in the U.S. Congress and in the state legislatures.”

I was honored to be one of the speakers at the rally/press conference. Here are portions of my speech:

There are many aspects about the crackdown on online poker that I don’t understand. First of all, why isn’t our government choosing to regulate online poker in order to protect its citizens? Despite the crackdown, many Americans still are playing online poker. We all know that prohibition doesn’t work; it just drives the activity underground. Since April 15, Americans who want to play poker have been forced to play on sites that have no accountability in the United States. Without licensing procedures, how do we know if the games are safe? How do we know if the site operators are trustworthy? Regulation and licensing would help provide the proper safeguards for American players.

Our government that was built to champion personal liberties has taken away my right to play online poker in the privacy of my home. I’m a responsible, tax-paying adult; shouldn’t I have the same freedom to play online poker that citizens of most other countries have?

I challenge our lawmakers to put themselves in our places; how would they like it if they woke up one day and were told that they could no longer enjoy their favorite hobby? Or, that their ability to make money no longer existed? Well, that’s what has happened to American poker players. Can you imagine the outrage if they closed all of the golf courses or bowling alleys? If the government can take away our right to play online poker, what’s to stop it from banning golf, tennis, dancing, or bowling?
The enjoyment of life for me and for millions of my fellow Americans has been negatively affected by the attempt to shut down online poker. My sister is handicapped and is in a wheelchair. There are millions of people like her who can’t physically leave their homes and go to public cardrooms to play poker. What about all of the paralyzed veterans who have difficulty leaving their homes? Or senior citizens? Or people who can’t tolerate smoke? It seems like discrimination to me. Is it really fair to make poker an activity that can be played only by healthy people who can go to a casino?

Not everyone lives near a cardroom. My brother lives in the state of Utah. He has to drive hours to get to a licensed cardroom. I guess it could be worse — he could live in Hawaii. I have a friend in Florida who has spent the past year undergoing chemotherapy. She was too sick to leave her house, and her sole source of enjoyment was playing online poker. I hate to think of how depressed she would have been without online poker to take her mind off her pain.

I travel about 200 days a year. I enjoyed playing online poker in my hotel room at night. I also enjoyed the ability to log on and play for a short time at home in between other activities. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy playing poker in public cardrooms, but I can’t always commit to playing a long session to make it worth the time, money, and gas to drive to a cardroom.

Another thing that I enjoyed about online poker was the selection of games and limits that aren’t always available in brick-and-mortar cardrooms. For example, razz is one of my favorite games; I won my World Series of Poker bracelet in razz. There are no razz games in brick-and-mortar casinos, but there were razz games online.
Why does the government spend so much time and money trying to shut down online poker? Wouldn’t they be better off trying to crack down on the truly destructive crises in our nation, like terrorism, drug dealing, and crime? It seems very hypocritical that it’s legal to wager online on lotteries, horse racing, and fantasy football, but not on a game of skill like poker.

It doesn’t make economic sense for the U.S. not to tax and regulate online poker. It’s estimated that $3 billion-$4 billion a year in state and federal revenue would be generated through the taxation and regulation of online poker without raising taxes. With the economic crisis that the United States is facing, can we really afford to dismiss that kind of revenue?

What about all of the jobs generated by online poker? I personally know hundreds of people who made a living playing online poker. Many are now considering moving out of the United States so that they can continue their trade. It’s not just the players who have lost their income source; what about the poker media, customer-service agents, event planners, and developers in the online business? What will the staffs of the poker magazines, television-production shows, ad agencies, and poker-sponsorship companies now do for work?

Banning online poker really hurts people on fixed incomes. Online, they could make $5 last all night. They could play $1 tournaments or 2¢-4¢ poker. In brick-and-mortar cardrooms, they need to risk a lot more money. The least expensive tournament offered in public cardrooms usually has a $55 buy-in, and the smallest cash games are $1-$2 no-limit hold’em.

I already miss playing online poker. The illogical destruction of the poker community makes no sense to me. ♠

Linda is available to host poker tournaments, seminars, and charity events. You can contact her through her website at www.cardplayercruises.com or follow her on Twitter at FirstLadyPoker.