Written by
Paul C. Barton
WASHINGTON - Online poker sites hope a California member of Congress will help them clarify impressions about the industry and carve out an exemption from federal laws sometimes used to shut down an increasingly popular American pastime.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, is preparing legislation that he hopes Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, will bring up for hearings and a vote in the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on commerce, manufacturing and trade, which she chairs.
Barton, a former Energy and Commerce chairman, sits on her subcommittee. His spokesman, Sean Brown, said the Texan would prefer that Bono Mack take jurisdiction since he serves on her panel.
Bono Mack wants to think about it, her office said.
"Congresswoman Bono Mack simply said she is open to the idea," said her spokesman, Ken Johnson. "That said, the congresswoman does not have plans at this time to move any legislation through her subcommittee. There are a lot of people in our district she would want to consult with first."
John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, a lobbying group, said his group has been broaching the matter with Bono Mack's office as well.
"Energy and Commerce would make a very good starting point for legislation," he said.
Even if Bono Mack agrees to push it and it clears the full Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the House, Pappas said the outlook in the Senate is far from certain. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, however, is on the industry's side. Reid is from Nevada and the casino industry is eager to accommodate online players, seeing them as a major growth area.
Objections to online poker and other forms of gambling often focus on threats to the young and encouraging addictions among all ages that can wreck lives.
Those are some of the reasons another California member of Congress, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, remains reluctant to tamper with existing laws.
"I oppose Internet gambling and have supported numerous pieces of legislation aimed at curbing online gambling during my years in the Senate," Feinstein said. "Internet gambling has become too easily accessible to minors, subject to fraud and criminal misuse, and is often used to evade state gambling laws."
Pappas and representatives of another industry group, the American Gaming Association, said a regulatory scheme for online poker can address such concerns through licensing requirements, and by requiring fair operation of sites. Various academic studies and the experience of other countries, they say, make it clear it can work.
Industry pleas to Congress ramped up considerably after Attorney General Eric Holder blocked access in April to PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, three hugely popular Internet stops for American players.
Indictments against the operators of the websites cited multiple violations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, including conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.
The 2006 law makes it illegal for U.S. banks or other financial institutions to facilitate "unlawful Internet gaming" by handling deposits and electronic money transfers needed to finance games. It does not, however, define unlawful Internet gaming, something industry groups are eager to clarify.
Industry groups also contend that poker is a game of skill rather than chance, another factor that should free it from association with anything deemed unlawful Internet gaming.
"Poker is a uniquely American game, but it isn't a game of chance - it is a game of skill. To win you have to know how to read the cards and read people. I enjoy the challenge of playing and the camaraderie formed around a Texas Hold'em table and I am not alone - many of our greatest Presidents have also been Poker players," Barton said.
"The internet has revolutionized Poker and now millions play online every day. The bill I am drafting installs consumer protections for players and raises revenues for cash strapped states. I think it is a winner for all involved."
Officials associated with online poker, which has mushroomed along with other forms of Internet gambling over the past decade, question why the federal government has shown frequent hostility to it while allowing diversions such as online horse betting and lotteries.
Along with the 2006 act, Justice officials have relied on a 1961 law dealing with wire transfers to police online poker. After passage of the 2006 law, the online poker industry quickly moved offshore, although it continued to welcome U.S. players.
Between 8 million and 10 million Americans have poker accounts, according to figures from Pappas' group.
And Americans spend close to $4 billion a year on all forms of online gaming, according to the American Gaming Association. Worldwide, it's a $30 billion industry. There are close to 3,000 gambling sites of all types on the Internet, the association says.
If Congress made it possible for the industry to come back to the United States, federal and state tax revenues would be at least $2 billion to $4 billion a year, Pappas said.
States already have the right to allow online poker limited to their own residents, but Pappas says avid players find those games less attractive than ones where they can challenge residents of other states and nations. The wider pool of players, he said, leads to more options related to skill and betting levels.
Barton is far from the only member of Congress trying to help the industry. Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., also has legislation, and Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, has long argued the government has no business interfering with poker games.
Industry officials couldn't agree more.
"Indeed, federal and state governments have applied fragmented and sometimes inconsistent policies to this new technology for delivering a very old form of entertainment," the American Gaming Association said in a recent white paper.
Gannett Washington Bureau
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