On February 9th, the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will hold its second hearing about internet gambling. The first, which took place at the tail end of 2011, discussed how the Federal Government legalizing online gaming would impact tribal interests. This time around, the December opinion letter from the U.S. Department of Justice stating that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting will be the focal point of an oversight hearing. Read more about the first hearing.The committee hearing will commence at 2:00pm ET on February 9th and take place in the Dirksen Building, Room 628. In an e-mail sent to members of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) on Tuesday, the organization’s Vice President of Player Relations, Rich TheEngineer Muny, discussed the significance of the hearing: “These continued hearings are hard evidence of the great work the poker community has been doing to ensure our elected representatives hear from us.”
Runy concluded by saying, “I thank everyone for taking the steps necessary to ensure our elected representatives understand that we poker enthusiasts will not back down and will not simply go away.” The PPA is over one million members strong and serves as the primary lobbying voice for live and online poker players in the United States.
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs first tackled online gaming in mid-November. The highlight of that two-hour hearing was a quote from Mohegan Tribe Chairman and witness Bruce Bozsum (pictured), who heralded to the assembled crowd of tribal representatives, reporters, lawmakers, and spectators, “There are no boundaries. There’s no limit as to what they can do. I don’t think anyone is at a disadvantage. It’s an opportunity tribes should not miss. If commercial businesses do it, we’ll never be able to catch up to the pack.”On Tuesday, NPR published a story asserting that Connecticut tribes could be put in charge of regulated intrastate online gaming, and among those that stand to benefit is Mohegan Sun. Bozsum told NPR that the DOJ letter relegating the Wire Act to sports betting was a wake-up call: “We're talking about the employment of tens of thousands of individuals.” Foxwoods is also located in Connecticut and hosts a World Poker Tour event each year.
Bozsum added that successful intrastate online poker in Connecticut requires the Commonwealth’s legislature to act swiftly: “[Massachusetts has] announced they're going to have five casinos. [New Jersey Governor Chris Christie] has announced that he wants New Jersey to be the online gaming capital of the world, tied to the presence of the casino industry, which is competitive with our industry in the state of Connecticut. We've got to watch those things.”
A list of witnesses for next month’s Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing has not yet been announced, but not everyone will likely be for internet gaming.
Speaking out against the expansion of gambling to the Web in November’s hearing was Tulalip Tribe Vice Chairman Glen Gobin, who told supporters, “The legalization of internet gambling comes at a risk to tribal economies. The proponents that seek to legalize internet gambling say it will create $41 billion over the next ten years. However, let’s not forget that Indian gaming will provide $256 billion in the same period.”
Also serving as a witness at the last Indian Affairs hearing was PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato (pictured with Committee Chairman Daniel Kahikina Akaka), a former three-term Senator from New York who appeared in front of several of his ex-colleagues. D’Amato fired back at Gobin’s gloom-and-doom scenario during the meeting, arguing, “This will not have the kind of devastating impact that Gobin is legitimately concerned with. Right now, only 1% of all of the revenues at Indian casinos comes from the poker tables.”We’ll keep you posted on the latest poker legislation news right here on PocketFives.
Canada
United Kingdom
Costa Rica
Australia
Mexico
Denmark
Russian Federation
Sweden
Brazil
Germany
