No matter what happens with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, Americans will continue to play poker. They will still be able to walk into a casino and play, and they will still be able to gamble on the Internet. You see the act only blocks credit cards from being used to fund internet gambling, but there are multiple other ways to fund a poker account. For example, you can have someone transfer you funds via another poker account, or even wire the money to the site. Banks will be put in the uncomfortable position of watching the transactions of their customers, something they dont have the desire or resources to do. Can you imagine what this will cost to monitor? Surely customers will foot the bill through increased fees and such. Plus, there are many creative ways to bill a credit card. Sites can take various measures to make the transactions go undetected, and banks will have to actively search out and monitor such transactions. Instead of trying to stop Americans from doing something they are going to do anyways, Congress should follow the example set by Europe and look into legalizing Internet Poker. Poker can be differentiated from other gambling games like Slots and Roulette in that it is a strategy game that involves more skill than luck. On any one hand luck does play a roll, but over time that luck tends to even out and solid, correct strategy is rewarded. Legalizing the games would allow the government to get their fair share. The Poker Players Alliance has estimated that taxing Internet Poker would generate as much as $3.3 billion in revenue. It would also give Las Vegas and Atlantic City heavyweights the opportunity to enter the market. Can you imagine an online poker room owned by Donald Trump? Allowing U.S. corporations to get involved would bring a new level of credibility to the industry, and would keep American dollars on U.S. soil, instead of sending them to shady foreign corporations in places like Aruba, Costa Rica, and Trinidad. If one accepts the argument that Americans will still be able to gamble online, despite the legislation, what are our legislators really hoping to establish and at what price? From where I am sitting forcing banks to monitor their customers and curtailing freedom in the process and leaving billions of tax dollars on the table is simply too much to pay. |
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