Online Poker for Florida?

An online poker player, Lisa Metzler, shares her poker experience in hopes of prevented Florida from moving forward with the legalization on online poker. She became a problem gambler spending over $20k per month. She spoke to Fox Tampa regarding her story and future efforts to influence lawmakers.

"I would sleep for an hour," she explained. "Yes, that's how addicted I got to it."

She also overdosed and said, "After I got out of rehab, I started right up again with sweepstakes and the casinos."

"I feel like there's going to be many more cases like mine," she said.

House conservatives in Florida have previously postponed Internet gaming but now the U.S. Justice Department says online poker in a violation of the Wire Act.

So far, Delaware and Nevada have licensed online poker and more states hope to follow suit as a means of generating income in the form of state taxes.

"It's going to be spent anyway. So if it's going to be spent, let's get our piece that should be coming to us as a state," said state Rep. Rick Kriseman.

Any decisions could once again be postponed by state legislators. It may be some time before they show their hand.

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