According to eog.com On September 12, 2006, the Poker Players Alliance,
along with the support of other leading Poker forums who oppose any
legislation that would prohibit online poker, have organized a ‘Phone March’
on Capital Hill.The Phone March definitely made a dent in the legislation at
least five thousand calls were made, since most of the phone calls between
9:00am and 5:30pm EST were from poker defenders.In Virginia, Senator Allen
received over 26 calls from people complaining about the Internet gambling
bill.Hillary Clinton’s spokesperson even received over 33 calls in one hour
from members of the Poker Alliance regarding the gambling bill as well.”I’d
bet there have been over 100 calls to this office today about this issue,”
he said In California, Senator Boxer received phone calls from over 50
people, and it was still very early in the day.Senator Richard Durbin, at
the Illinois office seemed to be experiencing a higher then normal call
volume, and people were struggling to even get through.A spokesperson for
Illinois Senator Obama, said that Obama considers this bill to be low
priority.
Senator John Cornyn’s office in Texas received between 100-200 calls from
people expressing their views. The entire country has estimated at least
five thousand calls were made to one hundred Senators in hopes that it made
a difference.
According to the The Associated Press WASHINGTON 14 September — Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist is now trying instead to use a bill authorizing
U.S. military operations, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, to prohibit
people from using credit cards to settle Internet gambling debts.
Frist, R-Tenn., and his aides have been meeting with other lawmakers and
officials in both the House and Senate to get the measure attached to a
compromise Defense Department authorization bill, according to a Senate GOP
leadership aide.
The House passed a version of the Internet gambling measure in July, but the
Senate has taken no action on similar legislation. Neither of the defense
bills passed by the House and Senate mention it.
Frist is pushing for an approach that isn’t quite as sweeping as the House
measure, said the leadership aide and lobbyists following the issue. All
spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing negotiations.
Frist, eyeing a 2008 presidential bid, recently discussed the online
gambling measure in the politically important state of Iowa. He also called
it a legislative priority in a recent speech on the Senate floor..
The bills authorizing defense programs are: S.2507 and H.R.5122.
A recent CNBC poll showed that over 90 percent of Americans would like to
see online gambling poker regulated in the U.S. and NOT prohibited! Studies
have shown that regulation and taxation of online poker could net the
federal government over $3.3 billion in revenue annually and another $1
billion for the states on internet gambling.
There is over 23 million online poker players in US and thats over 20
Million votes that will not be happy with a ban.
88 countries worldwide including the UK, are right now starting to legalized
and regulated online gambling and online poker gambling.
Senate should use its litle time left this year on more importen things that
banning online poker.
With Bin Laden still at large, Iran building nuclear bombs, North Korea
threatening to test them and while hundreds are being slaughtered in Iraq
every day, what are they thinking off in Senate.
Telling American adults how to use their hard-earned money, whether on
e-bay, horse racing or on playing online poker after a hard days work,
should not be the federal government’s job.
