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 Alfonse D'Amato the chairman of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) voiced his opinions on politico.com with a piece entitled, On poker, are politicians listening? In his piece he spoke out on a range of subject including the taxation of online poker, the government actions in regards to U.S. banks, and the intentions of our Founding Fathers.
D'Amato started the paper out by mentioning the popularity of poker and the amount of support it has received following the implementation of the UIGEA. "Under the liberty and freedom section of the new GOP website America Speaking Out, more Americans voted to legalize Internet poker than weighed in on any other issue," the paper reads. "When President-elect Barack Obama solicited ideas on his new website, www.change.gov, legalizing Internet poker was one of the two top issues."
Poker players around the country have rallied behind the PPA in recent years. Since the passage of the UIGEA the group has grown to include more than a million members and their enthusiasm for the game can be seen in the pure volume of calls, written letters, and e-mails sent into State Representatives.
"It takes real passion to get people to take valuable time out of their day to log onto these websites, give up a portion of their privacy and cast their vote for an issue," stressed D'Amato. "So it is extraordinary that making Internet poker legal consistently ranks as a top issue for the American people."
One of the biggest headaches for online players has been the depositing and withdrawing of money from online poker sites. Since the execution of the UIGEA players have found it nearly impossible to complete deposits at online poker sites and many have been forced to wire money or use E-checks rather than using more secure money transfer methods.
"The fact that America has not already regulated Internet poker but has actually tried to prohibit it by deputizing U.S. banks to play the morality police is bizarre," said D'Amato. "Proponents of the law say that it helps deter kids from playing poker in their bedrooms. But there is little evidence to suggest that this law has deterred kids from playing poker.
"In fact, playing Internet poker is still easy to do for just about everybody. Instead of playing in a more regulated industry, the law has created an environment where there is no federal oversight - because there are no U.S. companies to regulate."
D'Amato also points out that the country would benefit enormously from the taxes received from the regulation of online poker. He found it very hard to understand how a country that's facing more than a trillion-dollar budget deficit could ignore such a potential source of income.
"By refusing to regulate this industry, the federal government has also decided to refuse to tax it. That means that billions of dollars in potential tax revenue go uncollected. This is just about the only industry I know of that has basically begged to be taxed - only to be ignored by politicians who refuse to listen to the desires of the American people," said an outraged D'Amato.
What it all really comes down to though according to D'Amato is the fact that America itself was founded on the principles of liberty and freedom. D'Amato referred to the founding fathers when he said, "The freedom to play poker is not one of the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights. But when the Founding Fathers conceived of a new nation, they never dreamed that someday Congress would dream up a law to ban that particular freedom - especially when such a ban was so clearly against the wishes of the American people."
The House Financial Services Committee hearing on the markup of HR 2267, a bill designed to regulate Internet gambling, was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed until today. It's not too late to tell your State Representatives how you feel on this very important issue!
Visit www.standupforpoker.com and send a letter to your State Representative today. Time is running out.
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