Legal Online Poker Transactions May Come to California
A California Assemblyman has crafted a bill that may provide the beginning of the end for the ridiculous restrictions of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. And all that stands in the way are the vested gambling interests of the state.
Lloyd Levine examined the reasons offered by the demagogues to outlaw online casinos (reasons which are almost certainly not truthful, of course). Opponents of online gambling cite the shady nature of online gambling operators, the ease of potential money-laundering, and exposure to children as factors necessitating a ban on online gaming, as accomplished by preventing banking transactions via the UIGEA.
Levine then proposed a solution, designed for online poker: keep all the gambling contained in state boundaries, a system in which both players and operators would be restricted to the physical limitations of state jurisdiction. Then each state could police, regulate, and legalize gambling as it saw fit, a very Constitutional approach. As everyone but the federal government knows, the Constitution gives to the states all authority not expressly granted to the federal government by the document itself.
Levine's bill was altered by the opposition; it now asks the Department of Justice to devise rules and regulations for an online poker system for the state, and then would require affirmative voting by the legislature to adopt the plan once Justice approved it.
Still, the voices against the measure resist, and they are powerful. Those who speak against all gambling are to be expected; but the more dangerous foes are tribal casino lobbyists, and other gambling powers looking to curb competition. The tribes are a potent gaming force in California, and they fight strenuously to prevent any dissolution of their product.
Isn't this always the truth behind online gambling bans? The reality is that neither money-laundering nor protection of minors rank nearly as high among the reasons to prevent online wagering as a simple urge to control competition, to hold on to near-monopolies, to grab all the money. Perhaps Lloyd Levine's bill will be the first crack in the wall Bill Frist built, the structure deigned to keep money flowing into Las Vegas... and Atlantic City... and tribal casinos... and racinos... and all the places that benefit from limiting YOUR freedom of choice.
Write your Congressman, tell him you are sick of the misinformation, fear-exploiting, and dirty outright lies of Representative Spencer Bachus, and you demand your right as a citizen of this country to shed the shackles of government and find your own path.
