During the month of October the Senate passed the Port Security Act, with a bill attached to it by Senator Bill Frist. This attachment concerned online gambling, a bill which prohibits banks and credit card companies from using their services to fund gambling accounts. I, as many other thousands and thousands of online poker players are very angry at the deceitful manner in which this bill was handled.
I am a member of The Poker Players Alliance (150,000 members and growing). Our goal is to seek legislation that will exempt poker from any and all anti-gaming laws. The Webster”s Dictionary says to gamble is to play a game of chance. Poker is not a game of chance, rather a game of skill. It takes years of experience to become a good poker player. More often than not, you play the players rather than the cards you hold.
I urge all poker players to go to our Web site pokerplayersalliance.org and join us in the fight to exempt poker from all gaming laws. On the right side of PPA Web site you will see Internet Poker Revenue Study, click on this. This 37-page document will answer many questions and explain our goals in detail.
All poker sites now stand on foreign soil. We stand for passing legislation that will permit casinos or companies in this country to manage these poker sites. Here are the advantages: 1) regulation; 2) players feeling secure would increase number of players; 3) profits would stay in this country; 4) create more jobs; 5) government would realize three billion a year in taxes. Online is big, big business.
For those people out there who are not players but feel we have a just cause, come join us. Some say that the government is taking away our freedom piece by piece.
When the government tells us what we can and cannot do in our homes and how to spend our money it”s time to stand up and be counted.
William W. Grey
Fresno, CA
