Do you think it's no one's business but yours how you spend your money and time, especially in the privacy of your own home? Well think again because starting this Wednesday you are officially committing a crime if you're living in Washington State and playing poker on the Internet. It is time to make your voice heard as more prohibitive legislation is currently being debated in Congress, and online poker could be banned nationwide by the end of the year if Congressmen Goodlatte, Kyl and Leach have their way.
The bill that makes playing poker online a Class C Felony in Washington State, SB 6613, was signed off by Governor Christine Gregoire on March 28th, and will come into effect on June 7th, 2006 (read also our earlier report). There isn't much that can be done to change SB 6613 in the short term, so if you're living in Washington State you'll probably want to consider switching to a game that's approved by your government, like Patience or Tic-Tac-Toe.
If you're a US citizen not living in Washington you might be forced to follow in the footsteps of your fellow Washingtonian countrymen by the end of this year, as federal legislation prohibiting online gambling, including poker, is currently making it's way through Congress.
In fact there are no less than two bills pending in Congress that attempt to restrict your freedom to play poker online.
The first bill is the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006" or HR 4411 introduced by Rep. James Leach. This bill aims "to prevent the use of certain payment instruments, credit cards, and fund transfers for unlawful Internet gambling, and for other purposes."
The second bill is the "Internet Gambling Prohibition Act" or HR 4777 introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte. This bill aims "to amend title 18, United States Code, to expand and modernize the prohibition against interstate gambling, and for other purposes."
Both bills already passed the House Judiciary Committee, and it's possible they will be combined before being voted on in a full House.
In the Senate an attempt by Sen. Jon Kyl to introduce similar legislation earlier this year failed, but Kyl is expected to reintroduce his bill if HR 4411 and HR 4777 are successful in the House.
There hasn't been much opposition against HR 4411 and HR 4777 and there's a good chance that 2006 will go into history as the year that online poker was banned in the United States. That is, unless you Make Your Voice Heard!
If you think it's no one's business but yours how you spend your money and time in the privacy of your own home then now is the time to act. If you want to continue to play poker online in the future then please take the time to let your Congressmen know how you feel about the legislation that is currently pending in Congress.
The Poker Players Alliance has set up a form letter here, that will take you less than a minute to compose and send. Just fill in your name and address and push the button! The text of the letter is already filled in and can be summarized as follows:
- Your personal freedom is at stake.
- Poker is a game of skill, not gambling.
- The House bills make exceptions for certain types of online gambling, like the horse racing industry and online state lotteries.
- The bills are difficult and very costly to enforce.
- The Goodlatte bill implies censorship of the Internet on court order.
Not mentioned in the letter is the fact that the Goodlatte bill, with it's exceptions for certain types of online gambling, violates a ruling by the World Trade Organization issued in a dispute between Antigua and the US (for more information on this dispute read our report from earlier this week).
For non-US citizens this is a good opportunity to help in the fight against prohibition of online poker in the US. There's obviously no point in sending a letter to US Congressmen if you're not a US citizen. However you can send a letter to the relevant trade envoys complaining that the US is violating a ruling from the World Trade Organization and reaffirming this with the Goodlatte bill.
A good example of a letter like that was send to the Canadian government by L.M. Murray, editor of the Canadian based website PokerPulse.com. You can find a full transcript of this letter here, courtesy of Mr. Murray from PokerPulse.