D'Amato Criticizes Capitol Hill Article On Frank's Poker BillPPA Chairman Argues That Frank's Bill Has Bi-partisan Support |
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Poker Players Alliance Chairman Alfonse D’Amato, the former Republican Senator of New York, criticized an article in The Hill this week for what he said “wrongfully suggests that the issue of regulating Internet gaming is somehow partisan in nature.”
The article in question, “Frank’s Internet gambling bill faces tough course to passage,” was written by Kevin Bogardus for the April 2 edition of The Hill, a congressional newspaper that publishes daily when Congress is in session. D’Amato responded to the newspaper with a letter to the editor on April 14.
D’Amato argues that Rep. Barney Frank’s upcoming bill, which will likely be introduced within the next two weeks, has bi-partisan support, saying:
“Liberals and conservatives in and out of Congress are opposed to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act for a number of reasons: It does nothing to prevent children and problem gamblers from playing online; it overly burdens the banks, making them, not the federal government, policemen of the Internet; it costs the taxpayers billions in unearned revenue, not to mention the loss of capital and jobs when these companies are forced to move out of the U.S.; and it’s simply unenforceable.”
While the UIGEA was a product of a handful of Republican legislators, it is difficult to determine if members of Congress would have voted along party lines when it comes to Internet gaming. The UIGEA was attached to a must-pass piece of legislation in 2006, the SAFE Port Act, which encountered virtually no resistance. The conference report that contained the UIGEA was passed unanimously in the Senate and by a 409-2 vote in the House of Representatives.
Frank’s upcoming bill, which would explicitly legalize online gaming, will be a stand-alone piece of legislation. Both supporters and opponents of online gaming are eager to debate the issue.
D’Amato argued that the April 2 article in The Hill wrongly pitted the battle as one strictly based upon party lines.
Bogardus’ article did seemingly convey the issue as a political one, as he wrote, “Republicans fought hard to institute [the UIGEA] after heavy lobbying from conservative Christian groups when they controlled Capitol Hill” and “[Christian Coalition of America’s Jim Backlin] expressed confidence Frank’s bill will be defeated despite Democratic control of Congress.”
D’Amato pointed out in his letter that the PPA was a co-sponsor of the recent Conservative Political Action Conference, where WSOP champ Greg Raymer spoke on behalf of poker players. D'Amato also argued that the UIGEA ignored several principles that many people, and Republicans especially, hold dear, specifically “Internet freedom, personal responsibility, and limited government.”
Rep. Frank’s bill will be introduced in the coming weeks with the support of the PPA, a non-profit membership organization dedicated to establishing “favorable laws that provide poker players with a secure, safe, and regulated place to play.”
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