In an op-ed that appeared in the National Review Online, Texas Governor Rick Perry (pictured) wrote about “Online Gambling’s Other Cost.” Perry also voiced concerns about internet gambling in March, when he sent a letter to the Judiciary Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives urging them to roll back the Department of Justice’s 2011 clarification of the Wire Act of 1961.

Rather than harp on the social effects of online gambling, Perry instead wrote, “Internet gambling proponents are seeking to create, for the first time, formal government oversight and enforcement of a specified class of internet content. The expansion of internet gambling will result in the expansion of government and raise more questions about the government presence in our daily lives.”

There are bills in Congress both to outlaw and regulate internet gambling. Perry said he worries about the potentially slippery slope that regulators could embark upon: “We already know the government has tracked our political activities, monitored our phone calls, and will soon have access to our most personal medical information. Once the government starts actively monitoring one aspect of our internet commerce, is it credible to believe that it will stop there?” Is internet gambling really just the tip of the iceberg?

Perry added that legalized internet gambling would “create a new breed of government internet content cops” and added that 50 states with 50 forms of internet gambling would “put up digital roadblocks at every state border, putting a huge burden on commerce.”

Three states currently allow internet gambling: New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware. The composition of internet gambling in each state is quite different to boot: New Jersey allows full online gambling run by individual casinos, Delaware has full online gambling run by the state’s lottery, and Nevada only permits online poker.

Perry concluded by saying, “The proponents of internet gambling are at the edge of a slippery slope, the bottom of which is a Federal Department of Internet Regulation with broad and intrusive powers.”

In the comments section of Perry’s op-ed, Poker Players Alliance Vice President Rich TheEngineer Muny was quick to point out that Perry neither favors Federal or state regulation of internet gambling: “Perry opposed state-licensed online poker too. He came out for total prohibition some time ago. He even wants the Feds to shut down licensed games in Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware.”

Interestingly enough, a Congressman from Perry’s state, Representative Joe Barton (pictured), introduced HR 2666 last July, the Internet Poker Freedom Act. The bill legalizes online poker in the US.

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