Second Congressional Hearing on Online Poker Held

Opinions presented, giving politicians material to ponder over The second hearing on internet poker legalisation was held on Nov. 18 by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, on which occasion a great number of witnesses presented various reasons for and against. The first one to speak was Rep. Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican who stands against the measure, warning that legalising online poker was not a cure-all for revenue raising, and that research proves that the social costs of gambling in terms of addiction outweigh revenue gains by a margin of 3:1. He also dramatically addressed Las Vegas suicide rates and the alleged addictive potential of internet gambling. Another party address the issue was Republican Joe Barton from Texas, who explained that the legalisation bill he has introduced into this session of Congress, only aimed at the federal legalisation of online poker and gave individual states the right to opt out. A vocal supporter of the legalization, the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Democrat representative from Massachusetts, Barney Frank once again stood up for his beliefs, telling the committee that government is not in the business of dictating to citizens how they spend their private leisure time and resources, expressing shock by the attempts to restrict the freedom of use of the Internet. However, despite his efforts to legalise online gambling at federal level in order to better protect the US player, Frank also stated readiness to cooperate and support the committee if it decides that legalised poker is as far as the it is prepared to go. Another supporter of the legalization was the Republican Representative from California John Campbell, who also said legalization has positive aspects, such as player protection and the raising of tax revenues. A detailed briefing was given by chairman of the Nevada Gambling Control Board, Mark Lipparelli, about the state's preparations for federally legalised poker, including the precautions against underage or problem gamblers and measures to exclude criminal activity. According to Lipparelli, it is extremely important to achieve regulatory harmony among the various states exercising their right to control regional poker if the game was legalised at federal level. He also opined that the technological capabilities of online software and services to track and record information at transaction level, allow regulators to effectively impose "robust" standards and requirements on operators, and that a combination of regulatory control, probity and software testing, compliance programmes and well considered and sensible regulations should be composed. As for the influential trade body, the American Gaming Association, its chief, Frank Fahrenkopf, seemed to be in favour of the Barton approach to legalising online poker rather than the broader attempt by Rep. Frank to legalise online gambling in general. However, he pointed out that the Association does not currently endorse any particular proposal and that it believes states' rights must be respected, since each state needs to be able to make its own decision to opt in or out of federally legislated and legalised online poker. In terms of the AGA-set priorities regarding online gambling in the country, Fahrenkopf specified three: “* It must not create competitive advantages or disadvantages between and among legal commercial casinos. “* Native American casinos and state lotteries were concerned that no form of gambling which is currently legal should be made illegal. “* The legislation must respect fundamental states' rights in an appropriate manner.” However, he found a distinction in opinion with a responsible gaming expert, Dr. Rachel Volberg from the University of Chicago, who claimed that Internet gambling makes players substantially more likely to develop addictive disorders, recommending that if online poker was to be legalised, there should be provision for a fund of around $50 million to be reserved for problem gambling research. Yet, Fahrenkopf politely opposed, stating that only 1 percent of gamblers become pathological. This "contradicts the belief that internet gambling breeds excessive problematic gaming behaviour,” he said. Some other concerns expressed regarding the domain of online gambling include the position of Charlie McIntyre, the chief of the New Hampshire Lottery Commission who was concerned about the competitive potential of internet gambling and its impact on lottery revenues. There was no vote at the end of the hearing, but chairperson Rep. Mary Bono Mack said that she looked forward to working with the various witnesses should the Barton proposal move forward in Congress. Apparently, she was satisfied with this hearing, which was called for to develop more information.