Recently a law was passed that had some sort of effect on online gambling. I didn’t hear a lot of coverage of it, so I asked my gambling addict friend Pat if he wanted to write a guest post. He actually did it. Here it is.
How It Happened
On Friday, September 29th, 2006 Congress was in its final hours of session before taking the election period recess. Only one thing was left to do was for a vote to be taken on a bill called the Safe Port Act, HR 4954, that dealt with port security. Seemingly harmless, this bill contained an Act that would strike horror through the community of online poker players and gamblers throughout the world. Title VIII, The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, was stuffed into this unrelated Safe Port Act by Senator Bill Frist that was sure to pass. And sure enough it passed with ease minutes before Congress went in recession.
What It Does
This Act is designed to target the prosperous overseas gambling companies, the online banking companiesm, ISPs, and not the individual gamblers in their homes. Pretty much it says that the government will now hold any “financial transaction provider” or any company in the “business of betting or wagering” accountable for causing such harm to the American public. This includes any internet provider, Neteller, Firepay, Pokerstars, Partypoker, and many others.
Its Effects
On Monday, October 2nd, the stock market opened for the first day after the Act was passed. The two major companies that are traded over a Stock Exchange are Partypoker and Neteller. On Monday Partypoker, who happens to be one of Britain’s most successful companies, had a drop in their stock price of 58%, from 107 to 45, in a single day. Practical devastation of the British company done solely by the American Act that has not even been passed into law. Also Neteller has dropped significantly but not near the amount that Partygaming lost.
The Problems
HMMMM…. where to begin here. How about the way in which the Act was passed through the Senate in the first place. Senator Bill Frist took an Act that was supposedly being voted on sometime next year and shoved into a completely unrelated bill that was almost sure to pass. We poker players have been planning our defense since a vote was held in the House of Representatives in July. Yet we were not allowed to defend our position whatsoever. Next, the supposed reasoning of the Act compared to the actual reasoning. This Act took the assumption that Internet gambling was illegal by the Wire Act, while in reality this is a leap of faith. It is near impossible to find a federal, state, or tribal law that clearly defines an Internet bet as illegal, with the exception of Washington State of course. Then it declares that Internet gambling is a growing problem for banks and credit card companies. How so? All major banks and credit card companies already have blocked all accounts from transactions with Internet gambling sites. So what is the real reasoning? The fact that the U.S. Govment is not benefitting from all this Internet gambling. Instead they are watching money go from us gamblers in the U.S. to sites overseas. This pisses them off obviously. Then fucking make it legal and regulate it you dumbshit politicians. Sorry, lost it there for a second. Finally the Act uses the wording “games subject to chance” to describe the desired illegal gambling bets. This wording is designed specifically to allow Internet trading in the Stock market such as securities, commodities, and futures. But ask yourself, is playing the stock market any less of a gamble? Or is it legal because the U.S. Govment benefits from it.
What to Do
Every person in America should be concerned about this Act and all of its aspects. It shows the trend of the government sticking their noses into business that does not concern them. My hope is that the WTO really sticks it to this Act. How long until the government decides they want to control an important aspect of your life? This has affected myself and many of my friends in an extremely negative way. Already many sites have pulled their business out of the U.S. with most of the other companies still indecisive but likely to do the same. Internet Poker is the job for many people that I know and have met over various sites. It is not gambling, it is a game of skill, just like trading in the stock market is and there is no reason the government should have the right to tell me that I can’t play poker with my own goddamn money. If you feel strongly enough on this subject and want to help the cause go to the following site.