It’s not often that you see a conservative website rip apart a Republican but Big Government does exactly that. They focus on Kyl’s childish attempt to block Treasury nominees in order to get back at the Obama administration for agreeing to delay the UIGEA. Here are some of the more choice parts of the article.
So, is Kyl standing up for improvements in the health care bill, reduced federal spending, or limits on federal power? No, he is not. Sadly, Sen. Kyl is wasting this powerful, one-shot weapon to register his dissatisfaction with the administration’s granting of a delay in implementing Internet poker and gaming-related financial regulations — a delay that was requested by his fellow Republicans.
The bottom line is that UIGEA is completely unworkable and unenforceable. Many traditionally conservative organizations agree that the act needs to be fixed. These groups include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, many financial institutions and credit unions, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
As a result of the many problems with UIGEA, twenty-one Republican lawmakers wrote to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to ask him to delay implementation of the regulations that enact key provisions of the law for six months. Included in this group are Senator Mitch McConnell, the entire Kentucky Congressional delegation, Rep. Peter King, and Rep. Ron Paul. Only two wrote in support of UIGEA — Sen. Kyl and the hapless Rep. Spencer Bachus.
As a result of the mainstreaming of poker, Americans now realize that the talking points of those who wish to stop others from playing poker are quite exaggerated. The dwindling ranks of poker prohibitionists (who represent the final remnants of the Prohibitionists of the Progressive Era) will say whatever they think needs to be said to persuade others to vote for poker bans. No one knows if they are lying on purpose or are simply clouded by their preconceptions, but fortunately there are real studies and real experiences from which to draw data.
As I mentioned in my last column, the UK, a nation with ample licensed online and “bricks and mortar” gaming, has a problem gaming rate of just 0.6%. This is unchanged from the pre-Internet gaming days of 1999. That is hardly the dire situation anti-gaming folks would have us believe. Likewise, online poker is available right now in all fifty states, and there has been no massive explosion of people with excessive gaming habits. Also, as online poker is already widespread throughout America, poker rights supporters are not seeking an expansion of online poker. Rather, they simply seek to bring the industry onshore, where it will create American jobs while placing the industry under the auspices of American law.
The article is definitely worth a read in it’s entirety so go check it out.
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Hi, my name is Bill Rini and this is my poker blog. I've been blogging about poker and the poker industry since around 2003-ish. Like most people I started out playing poker as entertainment in home games whenever we wanted to sit around and smoke cigars, drink beer, and eat pizza, and needed a good excuse. I started playing online shortly after the first online card rooms opened and it wasn't long before I was playing 20, 30, or even 40 hours a week or more. One day I received a phone call about a program manager position at Tiltware which was the company that consulted to Full Tilt Poker on software development and marketing. After Tiltware I spent about 2.5 years working at Party Poker where I was the poker room manager.
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Hey!! I don’t know where I’m supposed to leave a post on “May”. So here it is. I and prolly all your male readers would like to see her post anywhere. Shes a llittle cuttie (and a poker player besides) big plus, and it appears that she is a little spicy from the looks of the pose she strikes. Missing Thailand and can’t wait for my next vacation. Keep up the good work. Greg