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Barry Greenstein Goes To Bat For Online Poker - 10-31-07
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Author: Marc Weinberg
October 31 - Barry Greenstein vs the US Congress. For those of you who follow poker it hardly seems like a fair fight at all. Greenstein is brilliant, logical, and fearless. Congress is dense, irrational, and motivated by fear, mainly the fear of alienating individual constituencies and being booted off the gravy train. Greenstein will attempt to enlighten congress when he testifies on November 6 as to why online poker should be legalized and regulated in America.
There are two bills that are attempting to do as much right now. The first is the Wexler Bill, which seeks to carve out a niche for online poker as a skill game, while not overturning the lumbering UIGEA (an excellent example of the intellectual limitations and self-serving interests of US politicians). The second is the far more ambitious and sensible Frank Bill, which would jettison the UIGEA in favor of strict regulation of all online gambling in the USA.
Greenstein, in a recent audio blog seems optimistic about the future of online poker, hinting that politicians on the hill will get behind one of these two bills. There are three main reasons why he feels this may occur:
1. The current UIGEA is not enforceable, and as a result will never prove effective.
2. Significant tax revenues are being frittered away through ignorance and hyporcisy by not regulating online poker and thereby taxing it.
3. Multi-billion dollar sanctions, up to $100 billion, are being threatened by the EU, Australia, and others for violating WTO rulings as it pertains to online poker.
It's that third point that seems to have the attention of Congress, if not the Bush Administration, which is used to losing battles abroad due to pigheaded-arrogance. If these trade sanctions go through, which they will in some form, the penalties that the USA will have to pay are going to amount to billions of dollars. There is a solution, however. The litigants have suggested that they will drop the sanctions if the USA allows firms based in other countries to offer their products (online poker and online betting on USA horse races) in the spirit of free trade.
The protectionsim argument is far stronger than the game of skill argument, although if anyone in Congress suggests that poker is a game of luck it would be prudent of Mr. Greenstein to suggest that they play a heads-up match to settle the matter. Would Goodlatte and his band of drooling supporters be willing to put their money where their slack-jaws are? I think that they might demur and shy away from that particular challenge...
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> Absolute Poker Ends Their Denial And Seeks Help - 10-17-07
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> Party Poker Woos Las Vegas Casinos - 10-10-07
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