I’ve been thinking a lot about the current state of affairs
as it relates to online poker. On the
one hand we see three states that have websites up and running where online
poker is legal and available; a far cry from Black Friday almost three years
ago. On the other hand most of the
players in the US still can’t play. And
there are rumblings from the “Coalition
to Stop Internet Gambling” to put a kibosh
on what’s already been re-established now and for the future, and they just picked
up some support from Steve Wynn, casino magnate who, not incidentally was for Internet gaming not that long ago
(as in he just got approved to offer it in New Jersey).
Wait, what?
OK, here’s where I wander a
bit. The fact is, we’ve been weird about
rules and laws and the like ever since…well, since forever. We find it hard to follow the Golden Rule to
the letter, we can’t manage to keep the 10 Commandments, the 600+ laws of
Leviticus is a circus of pick-and-choose (my
favorite is the anti-gay guy who tattooed Leviticus 18:22 on his arm,
ignoring Leviticus 19:28), there are 25,000+ pages of tax code, etc.
The very founding document of
our country states, “All men are created equal,” yet for 80+ years some men
were only 3/5ths of other men, and women weren’t even in the equation. And many of the laws and rules we have on the
books are not really new laws, but “exceptions” and “clarifications (read:
exceptions)” and “modifications (read: exceptions). So the rule is the rule, except…however…unless. And so some rules apply to some people
sometimes, but not others at other times.
So it’s no surprise that the
current situation regarding legislation of online gaming/poker is such a
hit-and-miss event. Bi-polar? Schizoid?
What term to even use here?
The main gist is the infamous “Federal
Wire Act” (actually called the Interstate Wire Act of 1961) which prohibited…well,
read the act (here’s
part a):
(a) Whoever being engaged in the business
of betting or wagering knowingly uses a wire communication facility for the
transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or information
assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest, or
for the transmission of a wire communication which entitles the recipient to
receive money or credit as a result of bets or wagers, or for information
assisting in the placing of bets or wagers, shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Of course, the main
impetus for the Wire Act back then was to prohibit “transmission” to the
illegal bookmakers who were mostly involved with taking bets on…horse
racing. And when the equally infamous UIGEA
was passed in 2006, it attempted to prohibit, “…knowingly accepting payments in connection with
the participation of another person in a bet or wager that involves the use of
the Internet…” There were two
exceptions made – and one was for horse racing!
(The other was for Fantasy Leagues, which just proves the old adage that
watching laws being made is like watching the making of sausages, except here
you have NFL officials wearing a few aprons, I guess.)
But I digress from my main
point, which is this – Federal laws have normally been of the “you can’t do
that” mode when it relates to gambling, except that they left the “loophole” of
letting states decide for themselves whether or not to allow certain functions
within their own boundaries. This might
have been fine and good back in the horse and buggy era, but nowadays it doesn’t
work well at all. Not even considering
the Internet, think about how well an anti-gaming stance works in keeping the
good citizens of Utah away from the dangers of the Lottery: the most popular Idaho Lottery outlet can be
found in the small town of Malad…yup, right on the Utah-Idaho border. Actually,
the top FIVE outlets are all on the Utah-Idaho border.
So given the universality of
the Internet (and pretty much life in general), it’s high time that the Feds
decided once and for all to either bet or get out of the pot. Sheldon Adelson’s Coalition says it wants to “…restore the
federal ban on Internet gambling” but one might be tempted to ask – would this include
horse racing? Do you think the Attorneys
General from Arizona, Florida, and Michigan – all states with major horse
racing action – would sign on to the Coalition’s letter calling for a national ban on online gaming unless
there was some “clarification” that the new law would NOT apply to horse
racing? Don’t bet on it.
Unfortunately, I also would not
bet that the gummit gets its collective shit together and decides, once and for
all, whether we can sit down at the electronic felt and spend our dollars as we
choose. For whatever reason, government by
the people for the people seems to want to worry about other more pressing
issues, like jobs.
It was really difficult to type
that last sentence without laughing.
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