PokerPlasm has been given permission to republish an article concerning online gambling and what it means to the poker world. We are very grateful to be able to bring this article to you.
[The following article is from Jerry Jordan, Senior Staff Writer for The Examiner Newspaper.]
Bad Beat
Politicians working to flush online gaming
In Texas Hold ‘Em what congressional leaders did on Tuesday by voting to make online gambling illegal, amounts to the equivalent of going all-in with pocket rockets and waiting for the flop.
But how many times have even the best poker players lost with aces in their hands?
Led by U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, and U.S. Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4411, which bans electronic funds transfers and payments from banks and credit card companies to Internet gambling sites. In addition, the bill calls for U.S.-based Internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to any gambling site on the World Wide Web.
Known as the “Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006,” the bill, if made into law, would not only keep people from being able to fund their accounts to play Texas Hold ‘Em, bet on sports or wager at e-casinos online, they will no longer be able to find the sites - online poker and other gambling sites will be forced to go underground or shut down.
As news of the proposed ban began to spread across the Internet, poker players from across the country fired off thousands of e-mails and blog posts expressing their displeasure with political leaders, who stood before Congress and claimed to be promoting H.R. 4411 for “the good of the American family.”
On the Web site www.pocketfives.com, there were more than 200 individual posts by the day’s end, with many people still dazed about what the 317 to 93 vote actually means for the world of Internet gambling.
One upset Internet blogger simply wrote, “1,000 times I ask, WTF?”
Others were more verbose in their reactions to the news.
“Lets face it. The U.S. government wants to ban online gambling because other countries are making tons of money by being able to tax the middle man transferring money to gambling sites, and to the actual offshore gambling sites themselves,” said Pocket Fives member Jeremy Branham in an e-mail to The Examiner. “Has America ever thought about closing live casinos inside the country? Umm, no. Why? Because U.S. states make millions of dollars each day taxing these casinos.”
Branham said he had never though of government as being so greedy that it would shut down something that is enjoyed by so many Americans.
Locally, the bill’s passage has caught many people by surprise, including Brandon Shaw, the Q94.1 FM Morning Show host that boasts of his poker playing skills during his daily show.
“That is crazy,” Shaw said, when told of the ramifications of H.R. 4411. “I have about two or three different places where I have wagered real money on online poker. I play at Party Poker and Ultimate Bet, both. I have also gone and checked out other sites, just trying to see what I like. Some of the other sites have head-to-head action where you can just play one person or lower-limit tables.”
“I am no stranger to online poker. It is a good way to occupy my time. Even my wife loves it. As far as real games, I play them too. It’s great because I never have to worry about her asking me whether I am going to go out and play poker. In fact, she enjoys its more than me and it is something that we do together.”
Shaw said that he thinks that there are still a lot of people who play online poker at .net sites, where it is free. The .net sites are tutorial and allow players to enjoy online poker without putting up any money.
“I think there are a lot of people who play for fun with play money,” Shaw said. “And when they feel comfortable with their game, they might put in $20 and play at a nickel or a dime table.”
In a telephone interview, Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Player’s Alliance, told The Examiner that online poker players and Internet gamblers need to know that it still takes approval in the Senate and a signature by the president before Goodlatte, Leach and the 35 co-sponsors of the bill can drag the pot. He is urging every Internet gambler and online poker player to join the Poker Players’ Alliance in an effort to show support and unity, as well as a well-organized voting block that could oust current congressional leaders.
Bolcerek said congressional leaders, as well as the president, need to remember that there are more than 70 million poker players in the United States and more than 23 million of those play poker online. He said those who support the game are not drawing dead.
“We are fighting this legislation,” Bolcerek said. “We are going to fight it in the Senate and try to allow for poker players to enjoy their game and move forward.”
Bolcerek said that what the government would do under the new legislation is allow banks and other financial institutions to police monetary transactions and decide what is appropriate for people to spend their money on.
“The first thing they are going to deputize banks to block all financial instruments used in wagers and monitor people’s financial transactions to ensure that you are not wagering online - everything from a credit card, debit card, electronic funds transfers to physical checks (will be blocked),” Bolcerek said. “The second thing they are going to do is require ISPs to remove links and hyperlinks to yours and my favorite Web sites that offer online poker.”
The bottom line, Bolcerek said was that even though the government cannot wipe out child pornography online, when it comes to Internet gambling, “They are going to censor the Internet.”
Bolcerek said that he Poker Player’s Alliance has commissioned professional polls to gauge the public support of online gambling and found that 74 percent of Americans do not support a ban of Internet poker.
But H.R. 4411 is hypocritical, Bolcerek said, in that it does not eliminate all forms of online gambling. State run lotteries, as well as, the horse racing industry and fantasy sports leagues, will still be permitted if the bill becomes law, which Bolcerek said just shows that Goodlatte, Leach and the others are picking their own winners.
On Tuesday, during debate on the bill, Goodlatte told other House members that online gambling was the scourge of the Internet and that now is the chance for Congress to “purge the smear left on Congress” by lobbyists who represented online poker interests in previous sessions.
Goodlatte talked of a single college student that robbed a bank to get money to reportedly pay debts related to online gambling. He also said that another person lost so much money online that they committed suicide.
Bolcerek said that those examples are extreme and are not indicative to all Internet gamblers.
“There are specific incidents,” he said. “But there are specific incidents of people eating themselves to death, so they are blowing up specific single instances and making it into a cause. Problem gambling affects roughly 3 to 4 percent of Americans and prohibition does not help at all. The fact is that if you regulated and taxed the game and then took that money and applied it to treating problem gamblers and educating people about how to see symptoms where you might be a problem gambler - that is the best approach.”
Estimates of just how much money the online gambling industry takes in are not disputed by either the industry or the government. In 2004, the estimated take by online gambling sites was $10 billion. That estimate increased to $12 billion in 2005 as the online poker industry drove up the number of gamblers by 20 percent.
Many people say that what Congress is doing is nothing more than political posturing to allow for the regulation and taxation of online gambling. Major casinos support that action. And so does the Poker Players’ Alliance.
“Gambling on the Internet has become and extremely lucrative business,” he stated. “These offshore fly-by-night Internet gambling operators are unlicensed, untaxed and unregulated and are sucking billions of dollars out of the United States.”
One person pointed out that if Goodlatte were truly concerned about family values he would have declined $19,000 in donations to his campaign that came from the tobacco industry, as well as the $15,500 that his campaign received from the beer, wine and liquor industry and the $10,000 he received from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.
“We just commissioned a study to look at what kind of revenues the federal government and state government would generate from a regulate-and-tax approach and that number was $3.3 billion for the federal government and $1 billion for the states,” Bolcerek said. “And our legislators on Capital Hill won’t even look at that. They think prohibition is going to solve all of the ills.”
In March, the World Trade Organization ruled that existing restrictions and the proposed H.R. 4411 were in direct violation of international trade agreements. The WTO ruled in favor of Antigua and Barbuda, home to many online gambling operations, in a complaint brought against the United States. Additionally, the Department of Justice in June 2005 wrote letters to numerous media outlets threatening criminal prosecution for accepting payments for advertising from gambling sites. The letters warned that television networks, radio stations and print media outlets that ran adds for gambling sites faced charges of aiding and abetting illegal gaming activity. Published reports also provide documentation that the department seized $3.2 million from The Discovery Network that was paid to it by the Internet poker site Paradise Poker.
Bolcerek said that the bill is supported by several by right-wing conservative religious groups that are continuing to force their beliefs on America, and now they are targeting poker players and people who gamble online.
Among those groups signing letters of support were The Christian Coalition, The Family Research Council, Focus on the Family and the Southern Baptist Convention. The online auction site EBay also signed a letter supporting H.R. 4411 and specifically mentioned its PayPal affiliate, which is in direct competition with the electronic funds transfer operations that provide payments to gambling Web sites.
“This went on the American Values Agenda, which means that is whatever House leadership wants to pass as far as their social, moral agenda. And that really added some support to get this thing through,” Bolcerek said. “I think the fact that EBay and PayPal got behind this and wrote a letter in support of this bill shows that it is more about industrial policy and not about treating the ills of society that they talk about. The Internet is ubiquitous and I think that if you want to play poker, you will find some way to do so. It will certainly make it more difficult for the casual player, but it won’t eliminate it. It will just make it more difficult because it will only weed out the reputable operations that provide the necessary age verifications and provide assistance to people who do have a problem with gambling.”
While Congress was voting to end Internet gambling, the world’s largest poker tournament, The World Series of Poker, was taking place in Las Vegas. Gamblers from around the world, from both live venues and online casinos, are squaring off in a 45-day event that covers just about every known form of poker.
One of those players, professional poker star Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, took time out to speak with The Examiner about Goodlatte’s bill.
Esfandiari, like many professional poker players, is sponsored by an Internet poker site. His sponsor is UltimateBet.com. Esfandiari said he likes the way things are now but if it comes down to regulation or prohibition, he would support regulation because prohibition will never work.
“This is serious business,” he said. “This would be a terrible thing. They are trying to keep 70 million people from doing what they want to do. They are going to just make it more of a cat-and-mouse game on the Internet. There is no way to stop this completely. People are going to get through. I think it is ridiculous to stop 70 million people from doing what they want to do, especially when you are talking about a game of skill. You know, past presidents have been known to play poker. If the president of the United States is playing cards, what is wrong with the other 70 million people, or the 23 million people online, playing cards, as well?”
“Why don’t they just legalize it and tax it? Everybody is playing poker. It is on every single television network, which has made it become the third most watched sport in the country. This is a ridiculous attempt to stop people from doing something that they enjoy.”
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