This week, the PocketFives.com Podcastwelcomes third-ranked online tournament superstar Paul paulgees81 Volpe, who recently won the PokerStars Sunday Million for over $253,000.

Our second guest is Keith Whyte, Executive Director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. Among other topics, Whyte breaks down the Council’s reaction to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) introducing draft legislation to legalize and regulate online poker in the United States late last year. Whyte told listeners that he was under-whelmed: “We were frankly a little bit disappointed that there were not more sufficient provisions to prevent problem gambling.”

The Council is neutral about legalizing and regulating gambling. Instead, it seeks to ensure that proper provisions exist to protect players. On some of the common signs of problem gambling, Whyte explained, “If you can set a reasonable limit of time and money and stick to it, you will never be a problem gambler… What it really boils down to are things like loss of control. If you’re able to stay in control and set those limits before you start gambling and stick to them, that’s really the crucial point where it goes from something you’re very into to something you’re obsessed with.”

In June 2009, Congressmen Jim Moran (D-VA), Lee Terry (R-NE), and Frank Wolf (R-VA) introduced HR 2906, the Comprehensive Problem Gambling Act. Now that a new Congress has convened, Whyte expects to have his sponsors re-up the bill: “Our sponsors have agreed to introduce the bill again in this Congress and we’re hopeful, given all of the support that we garnered last session, that this session will be the one that gets us over the top.” HR 2906 attracted 70 co-sponsors, but was not acted on during the 111th Congress and was declared dead.

Whyte told the PocketFives.com Podcast that HR 2906 would have served as an excellent compliment to Reid’s: “We thought it was legislation that would have been a great compliment. We would have loved to see our legislation amended onto other bills and I guess that’s why we were doubly surprised when Harry Reid (pictured) introduced his bill with none of our language in it. We thought we had clearly garnered a lot of support.”

Reid’s bill failed to come to fruition in the closing days of Congress following an effort by the Nevada lawmaker to add language addressing online poker to the tax relief act. Like Reid, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), and others, it’s back to the process of educating lawmakers about the issue: “The most common response we’ve had is a lack of awareness that gambling addiction is a real disorder… Once we get past that initial barrier, the stories I remember come from staff and Congressmen themselves. This is an issue that, when you start to talk about it, most people have a story.”

The Council has chapters in 35 states in the U.S. and offers a toll-free, confidential, around-the-clock hotline at 800-522-4700. Last year, it received nearly 280,000 calls, or about one for every 1,000 Americans. The Council also offers its annual National Problem Gambling Awareness Week, which will run from March 6th to 12th.

This year, the Awareness Week will focus on sports betting: “One of the themes we’re going to hone in on again is sports gambling,” Whyte revealed. “It occupies a space much like poker in America where a lot of people do it, the laws around it are unclear, and there’s a tremendous amount of interest in poker and sports gambling… We’re pointing out that whether it is legal or illegal, there’s vast participation in it and we need to pay some attention to the downsides.”

Check out the rest of this week’s PocketFives.com Poker Podcast. Visit the official website of the National Council on Problem Gambling for more information.