 Poker Stars
Lobby on Behalf of Online Casinos
The online casinos industry is a $12 billion
dollar a year venture, but has nevertheless, despite its great
profitability, been met with regulatory and legal problems all
across the globe in recent times. Online casinos face big
detractors in the United States, as the US Congress has aimed to
ban credit card companies from operating with online casinos.
Online casinos have also been the subject of regulatory measures
in Asia, and recently in Italy, as many British online casinos
are aiming to test this new Italian ruling.
Online casinos in Antigua and Barbuda are also pressing the
United States to comply with a recent World Trade Organization
(WTO) ruling on the legality of online casinos. Nevertheless,
despite these negative aspects, there are some positive backers
of online casinos, including the recent World Series of Poker
champion, a player who began his career at online casinos, Greg
Raymer.
Raymer got his start at online casinos and eventually won the
2004 World Series of Poker, winning a then record $5 million
dollar purse.
Raymer and two of his professional gambling colleagues, Howard
Lederer, dubbed “the Proffesor,” and knonwn to many online
casinos players as well as TV viewers, and Chris “Jesus”
Ferguson, another poker star, made for an unusual lobbying trio
as they appeared before the US Congress and aimed to voice their
opinions in the recent political debate regarding online
casinos.
The trio were in Washington to oppose the bill that would ban
the use of credit cards to play at online casinos. It is illegal
to run online casinos in the United States even though many
other countries, including Great Britain, allow it. And
Americans, despite these rules, have easy access to online
casino sites.
The bill’s sponsor did not agree with Raymer and his gambling
buddies. Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.), said, “Online gambling
doesn't just hurt gamblers and their families, it hurts the
economy by draining dollars from the U.S.” He continued, “Our
children have been placed in harm's way as online gambling has
been permitted to flourish.”
Raymer, though said, "Why should this be prohibited just because
it's on the Internet, when it is not prohibited otherwise. The
poker star also added that it should be the job of parents, not
the government, to educate their children about the dangers of
gambling addictions, and to monitor the industry from within.
Adding to the debate, Radley Balko, a policy analyst at the
libertarian Cato Institute, said a credit card ban would have
little effect. "First of all, it can't be stopped," Balko said.
Balko also said that gamblers online could find easy access to
get around these credit card requirements, anyways.
After he appeared in front of the Government, Raymer was asked
to compare lobbying with poker, and he said there's no bluffing
when it comes to fighting legislation. And because another bill
can come along at anytime: "I don't think there is going to be
an 'all-in' position,” he said.
|
