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Copyright © 2006 HUMAN EVENTS.
HEADLINE:
A Conservative Case for Internet
Poker
Body:
Poker, the American-born game of skill that has captured the imagination
of the world in recent years, is under threat from some surprising
forces. We at the Poker Players Alliance, a grassroots organization,
support individual players' rights and are fighting against federal
legislation that would compromise those rights.
Eminent historian John Lukacs recently called poker "the
game closest to the Western conception of life where free will
prevails over philosophies of fate or of chance, where men are
considered moral agents, and where—at least in the short
run—the important thing is not what happens but what people
think happens."
From Presidents, generals and justices to average citizens, more
than 70 million Americans play
poker. But even with its widespread popularity, (even Capitol
Hill neighborhoods have a booming social network of players) some
members of Congress think that when you put the word "Internet"
in front of poker, it makes it bad.
Representatives Jim Leach (R.-Iowa) and Bob Goodlatte (R.-Va.)
recently introduced bills—HR 4411, the Unlawful Internet
Gambling Enforcement Act, and HR 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition
Act—to prohibit certain forms of gambling on the Internet.
These “prohibitions” make for bad legislation not
just for poker players but for all Americans.
Individual Liberty
First of all, it is an affront to individual liberty to increase
government surveillance of private affairs without sufficient
cause. The banking enforcement provisions in both bills require
bankers to monitor their customers’ purchases and review
their checks. That is unjustified invasion of privacy.
And even while restricting Internet
poker, these bills allow certain other types of Internet gambling.
Goodlatte’s bill, for example, would allow people to play
state lotteries and place horse-racing bets online. These carve-outs
for non-skilled games are inequitable and offend our poker-playing
members.
If Internet gambling is bad, why not outlaw off-line gambling
too?
The proposed legislation will also be costly for taxpayers and
businesses. The additional regulations will require significant
resources—which could be better used toward counterterrorism
efforts—from the Justice Department and FBI to monitor the
Internet. Banks and Internet service providers (ISPs) would be
deputized to enforce the legislation and would have to spend bottom-line
dollars to carry out their obligations with no financial support
from the government. That, of course, should concern shareholders
in these corporations. But more importantly, all Americans should
object when government deputizes private corporations to take
actions that invade privacy.
Finally, the Goodlatte bill requires ISPs to remove or disable
hyperlinks upon court order, which amounts to censorship of the
Internet. Congress has rightly criticized China’s censorship
of the free flow of information to its citizens, now this legislation
deserves similar scrutiny.
Stopping adults from enjoying a legal American tradition creates
a precedent that could extend to censorship of religious and political
information that the government deems objectionable. This is a
slippery slope for the federal government.
I speak only for the game of poker, and our members who love
it. We have no position on broader Internet gambling, but oppose
legislation that makes select forms of Internet gambling legal
(Internet wagering on horse racing, state lotteries, and fantasy
sports), while making poker, a skill game, illegal. We support
formal legalization, regulation and even taxation of Internet
poker and would welcome a discussion with lawmakers to make this
happen.
Poker deserves to
be seen as the unique game of skill it truly is. It is clearly
distinct from thoughtless games of chance where the odds are stacked
against the little guy. There's no little guy in poker, just like
there’s no little guy in America.
Mr. Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance, has
held top positions with Oracle, NeXT Computer Inc., Nokia Display
Products, MongoMusic, and Liquid Audio.
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