Sep 20 2006 Congressional Letter Regarding E-Gambling Act

Written by Matt W | Wednesday, September 20th, 2006

Worried poker players and gamblers of the United States received letters from their Congressmen regarding the Internet Gambling Act.

Today I received the first contact from my Congressman stating his views on the Gambling Act. Let me first let you read the article. I have bolded the points I found interesting and discuss them below the letter.

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Beginning Letter from John L. Mica (Member of Congress)

Dear Roger:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the H.R. 3125, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. It was good to hear from you and your letting me know of your personal views was appreciated.

I am concerned about gambling in the United States and I support efforts to decrease the proliferation of this industry. Jeff Pash, Executive Vice President of the National Football League, testified that “Studies….indicate that sports betting is a growing problem for high school and college students. As the internet reaches more and more school children, Internet gambling is certain to promote even more gambling among young people.” I am also concerned about the social costs of gambling. About twenty percent of gamblers eventually have to file for bankruptcy as a result of their addiction and a University of Illinois study found that for every dollar states gain from gambling, they pay out three dollars in social and criminal costs. Gambling is addictive and it is a problem with serious personal and social costs.

One of the fundamental claims made by the proponents of this bill is that gaming on the Internet is impossible to regulate – and in the absence of regulation, it should be prohibited. Like you, I am concerned that this approach may not work. I am hopeful that there will be a way of addressing valid concerns about Internet wagering – without trivializing law enforcement or undermining states’ rights. You may be interested to know that this bill failed to receive the votes necessary to pass.

Please know that although we may disagree on this issue, I respect your opinion and I hope that you will contact me with your views on other issues in the future. With my regards and best wishes, I remain.

Sincerely,
John L. Mica
Member of Congress

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End Letter

Ok. so the first thing he talks about is how twenty percent of gamblers have to file for bankrupcy. That statistic must have been taken right outside a gamblers anonymous session. How many people do you know play poker? Ok now how many have filed for bankrupcy? Probably none. Again, Mr. Mica, we’re talking about poker (a game of skill) not casino gambling.

His second points talks about how internet gambling can not be regulated and therefore prohibited. Actually it can be regulated if you just tried and got your ass out of the bung hole of the person that is paying you off. I mean come on its harder for underage people to gamble online than it for underage drinkers to get alcohol. Why not ban that too? Oh yeah, that’s right….you tried and guess what…….that didnt work out so well.

So that’s what their real thoughts are. To me it sounds like exghagerated statistics and ignorance of the market. Either that or my intuition tells me there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that we can only speculate on.

Sep 20 2006 Congressional Letter Regarding E-Gambling Act

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