The Death of Online Poker - One Year Later

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Exactly one year ago today, October 13, 2006 will forever live in infamy as the day that online poker died.

A moment of silence please.

One year ago on that fateful day President Bush saved America from the scourge upon humanity that is online poker by signing the Port Security Improvement Act. Huh? What does online poker have to do with port security? Absolutely nothing.

Congress added the internet gambling ban to a bill that they knew would become law in a back room deal on the last day of congress. Why did they do this? Because America likes to gamble online, and multiple attempts to pass an anti-gaming bill on its own had been shot down already.

I could write a novel on all the underhandedness, but I think Congresswoman Shelley Berkley did a pretty good job summing it all up the day the bill was passed through congress.

Now the big question that remains is Why was congress so desperate to pass a bill that the majority of the public and the majority of lawmakers did not want?

Jay Todd has an interesting argument on that point:

So if the sponsors of the internet gambling ban want safety for children and gambling addicts, wouldn’t it be detrimental to push the industry underground and away from the public eye?

Rep. Barney Frank thought the same thing and introduced a bill to legalize and regulate internet gambling.

Of course, the bill has stalled and is now slated for further discussion in 2008. Although I should know better, I am keeping my fingers crossed that in the near future, we can have a safe, taxed, regulated online gambling industry so that once again America can be a shining beacon of hope and freedom in a world of evildoers…

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