This new bill from our good friends Reps. Paul and Frank, the one that simply makes the UIGEA go away, is the greatest piece of legislation yet on the subject. Sadly, very few poker players are jumping up and down about this. This new bill would save us from burdensome regulation and taxes and bring online poker back to the “good ole daysâ€. Why aren’t more people screaming for this version to pass.
Consistently, when I see an article about the new bill (that fixes all the government intrusion of the old bill), they lump it together with bills that would tax the poker player out of business. We should all be pushing as hard as we can for this new bill and throw the rest in the trash.
The last thing any poker player with an understanding of economics would ever want is a bill that taxes and regulates online gaming. The power to regulate is the power to destroy. It always has been. If we are to save the industry, there is only one answer to the UIGEA –eradicate it completely. The last thing any of us want is a precedent out there that the U. S. government has the right to tax, oversee and regulate internet sites. They are trying to get a foothold on the entire Internet and we must stop it in all forms.
Any organization that supports any other bills (such as the ones that tax and regulate online gaming) is no friend to the online gambler. Instead, they are clearly in the pocket of big Nevada gaming outlets that wish to clear the field of competition and take over the entire industry for themselves. With billions of dollars at stake, one can hardly blame them for trying, but we certainly do not have to hand them the bullets to shoot us with.
We now have a brilliant and safe bill to support. One without controversy. One without nasty side effects. Please call your congressmen and ask them to support the newest bill by [Ron] Paul and [Barney] Frank:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.5767:
While you are at it, demand that the poker player’s alliance support this and only this bill to protect us all from the ravages of government. Also, demand that they stop supporting the IGREA – the earlier attempt by Frank that was plagued with licensing requirements and draconian taxation methods. For those of you that wish to pay additional taxes to the Federal Government –feel free.
The House Financial Services Committee voted 32-32 on an amendment by Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., to block the Federal Reserve and Department of Treasury from completing the new rules until the agencies defined “unlawful Internet gambling.”
http://www.lvrj.com/business/21712069.html
-
The Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department have been unable to finalize rules to implement the ban because Congress didn’t clearly define online gambling when it passed legislation less than two years ago.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gSosJ3yBl86H6_d8cUo1a3tZgCgAD91HDHVO4
“The last thing any poker player with an understanding of economics would ever want is a bill that taxes and regulates online gaming. ”
. Regulation is needed to ensure software deals cards out at random between users, and to ensure users are on a level playing field. You can’t have fleecing websites set up where some people have access to what cards people hold etcetera, as that really isn’t poker.
-
I think that tax and regulation would be one of the first things any poker player with an understanding of economics would want
-
All leisure activities should be taxed too, unless they provide a benefit to society. In the case of swimming pools, there is a strong argument to subsidise swimming, as the health benefits to users mean that the cost to the health service from poor health is reduced of the population. Poker doesn’t have material benefits like this, and so should pay its fair share of tax, and in return operate within a legal, regulated framework.