Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) made waves at the 2007 World Series of Poker. He stepped into the Amazon Room on Day 1-D and was met with a mountain of applause. He came in support of the Skill Game Protection Act, known in the U.S. House of Representatives as H.R. 2610. The bill does something that should excite each and every person in the United States that enjoys playing online poker – It carves out an exemption for games of skill. In Wexler’s bill, that means games like poker and chess, where competition is between players and not against the house. “My bill would undo the prohibition that was put in place during the last Congress that prevents adult Americans in consensual fashion from playing poker and a whole other set of games. My bill essentially says that an adult in America can play a game of skill if he or she chooses and that the U.S. Government should not be in the business of deciding what games adults should be playing on the internet.” The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed last fall after a successful last-minute play by former Congressman Bill Frist (R-TN) that attached the legislation to an unrelated Port Security bill, which passed by an overwhelming margin in the House and by unanimous consent in the Senate. Wexler continues, “The irony is that the last Congress exempted horse racing and lotteries. It’s an absurd result. It’s a violation of the purest form of personal freedom. All that we’ve done is force people to participate on websites from overseas that aren’t as well protected as they would be if they were in America. That money is being pushed overseas where they wont be paying income taxes.”
The tax component has been addressed by another piece of legislation proposed by James McDermott (D-WA), appropriately called the Internet Gambling Tax Act. It’s H.R. 2067 and, like Wexler’s bill, is still awaiting discussion. No matter what route Congressmen plan to pursue, the overall picture remains the same. Wexler explains, “Poker is a national pastime. People play poker in the House. There are stories about Reagan and Tip O’Neill playing poker when they got together. American soldiers play poker all over the world. It enjoys an enormous amount of support and I was happy to learn that there are more Americans who watch poker on television than watch college football and the NBA. I think that’s an illustration of how much poker is part of the American fabric of life.”
Congressman Wexler came to Las Vegas with the Poker Players Alliance, the main lobbying arm of the online poker industry. Joining him were PPA President Michael Bolcerek and former three-time Senator from New York Alfonse D’Amato. The PPA has been extremely effective, according to Wexler, a great first-hand endorsement for PPA members everywhere: “The PPA has an incredible product to sell and there are good people behind it. What they’re talking to members of Congress about is that no prohibition has worked in American history. Prohibition on alcohol didn’t work and prohibition regarding poker on the internet ultimately won’t work. What the PPA is accomplishing is educating members of Congress as to the current situation and also showing them that there are reasonable ways to fix it. My bill, I would respectfully suggest, is one of them.”
Wexler points out that the medium of playing poker has changed, not the game itself. With the advent of the internet, poker took on a whole new form. It is dealing with that change that has proven problematic for Congress. That said, reversing or providing for a carve-out from any legislation is not an easy task: “There’s a lot of work to be done still. Most members of Congress don’t realize that we have prohibited consenting adults form playing on the internet. They don’t appreciate the level of passion that exists in the country on behalf of poker players who would like to play, but can’t. We’re just at the beginning of a crescendo of political efforts.”
The PocketFives.com Podcast featuring Congressman Robert Wexler will be released on Wednesday, August 1st. A special thanks to Wexler and his staff for joining the show.
