Post by Randy C on Feb 13, 2007 18:06:05 GMT -4
Below is a Press Release that I recently released to all media agencies in Massachusetts as State Rep for PPA:
Greetings;
I am writing to you as the Massachusetts State Representative for the Poker Player’s Alliance. The Poker Player’s Alliance is a non profit organization whose primary mission is to preserve, protect and expand the rights of poker player’s in America.
The game of poker is deeply rooted in American history and has become America’s favorite pastime. Some 70 million American’s have played poker. Moreover, poker has been played, and continues to be played by Presidents, Generals, Governors, Supreme Court Justices and members of Congress for over 150 years. It is, by all accounts, America’s game, yet it is under brutal attack by private interest lobby groups who shell out vast amounts of money in political campaign contributions to keep poker lumped in with “gambling and gaming laws”.
Most recently, Congress dealt a devastating blow to poker player’s nationwide when they passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that was secretly tucked into another bill called the Safe Port Act. The Safe Port Act’s bill had absolutely nothing to do with poker, gambling or gaming, so it’s a very real concern why these two separate forms of legislation were tied together. The answer is clear really; several attempts over many years to ban online poker as well as gambling had been proposed in Congress by certain politicians and were defeated time and again. These failures to ban online poker as well as gambling sent a clear message that Americans simply didn’t want governmental interference in such private matters as what forms of entertainment one chooses from the privacy of their own home. Living in America, “land of the free”, we hold very dearly the premise that censorship and invasion of privacy on any level from our government is inherently wrong.
In a last ditch effort, and in the eleventh hour, the UIGEA was surreptitiously lumped into one of the most important anti-terrorism legislation bills; the Safe Port Act. What in the World does online poker and gambling have to do with terrorism? The truth is “absolutely NOTHING”! Here’s the catch, though; two exemptions were made to the UIGEA, horse racing and State lotteries. Horse racing? Are you kidding me? Isn’t horse racing a form of gambling? Of course it is, but the National Thoroughbred Horse Racing Association made a hefty campaign contribution to ensure that horse racing received an exemption to the law.
The Poker Player’s Alliance contends that poker should also be exempted from this law, and here’s why:
First, Poker is a game with a predominance of skill. Like chess, poker is a “thinking man’s game” that relies upon strategy, mathematics, psychology, timing, focus, concentration and money management. Some might have you believe that poker is nothing more than a game of chance. Those who hold such a belief need only sit down at a table with some of the World renowned professional poker players for an hour or more and see how well they fare. A true poker player believes that sole reliance upon luck is a “fool’s crutch”. Again, unlike other forms of gambling, poker is a skill game where performance is merited, and a community game, where the “house” is not your competition. These are real and significant differences. Simply putting the word “Internet” in front of poker does not change the qualities of the game and it should not make the people who play it suspect.
Second, 75% of American’s oppose banning online poker. According to National Polling, a vast majority of Americans oppose federal efforts to ban online poker.
Lastly, prohibitions simply don’t work. If history is any kind of teacher, our Legislator’s should be well aware that prohibition will fail and will only drive online poker underground where it will be open to all kinds of seedy enterprisers who’ll seek to take advantage of American poker players.
The really big question is why hasn’t the federal government sought to regulate, tax and control the internet poker industry? That would be an ideal and perfectly viable solution to satisfy the millions of poker players in America who wish to play poker from the comfort and privacy of their own home. Billions of tax revenue is being lost. According to an economic analysis, $3.3 billion in federal tax revenue and an additional $1 billion in state tax revenue could be raised if the federal government were to regulate Internet poker. If nothing else, the current trend and rise in the popularity of poker and recent enactment of the UIGEA demonstrates that our federal government dismissed the rights of a very significant populous of voters without so much as creating a commission to explore the impact that regulating Internet poker might have on the American economy. Clearly, with such a significant number of Americans who oppose the ban of online poker, the formation of such a commission and subsequent report was the least that our legislator’s could have done before placing the final nail in the coffin of hard working, tax paying poker players nationwide.
It is the hope of the Poker Players Alliance and the millions of poker players nationwide that the issue of regulating internet poker will be revisited and that poker will properly be exempted from the UIGEA in the very near future.
I openly invite your news media agency to contact me at anytime for an interview or for further information regarding the above issues. As the Massachusetts Representative for the Poker Player’s Alliance, I am willing to cooperate in any way I can to spread the message of hope for our poker playing future.
Sincerely,
Randall D. Castonguay
Please feel free to copy and paste this letter and conform it to your own State news media agencies and politicians. Let me know what you all think of it.
All In,
Randy C~
Greetings;
I am writing to you as the Massachusetts State Representative for the Poker Player’s Alliance. The Poker Player’s Alliance is a non profit organization whose primary mission is to preserve, protect and expand the rights of poker player’s in America.
The game of poker is deeply rooted in American history and has become America’s favorite pastime. Some 70 million American’s have played poker. Moreover, poker has been played, and continues to be played by Presidents, Generals, Governors, Supreme Court Justices and members of Congress for over 150 years. It is, by all accounts, America’s game, yet it is under brutal attack by private interest lobby groups who shell out vast amounts of money in political campaign contributions to keep poker lumped in with “gambling and gaming laws”.
Most recently, Congress dealt a devastating blow to poker player’s nationwide when they passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that was secretly tucked into another bill called the Safe Port Act. The Safe Port Act’s bill had absolutely nothing to do with poker, gambling or gaming, so it’s a very real concern why these two separate forms of legislation were tied together. The answer is clear really; several attempts over many years to ban online poker as well as gambling had been proposed in Congress by certain politicians and were defeated time and again. These failures to ban online poker as well as gambling sent a clear message that Americans simply didn’t want governmental interference in such private matters as what forms of entertainment one chooses from the privacy of their own home. Living in America, “land of the free”, we hold very dearly the premise that censorship and invasion of privacy on any level from our government is inherently wrong.
In a last ditch effort, and in the eleventh hour, the UIGEA was surreptitiously lumped into one of the most important anti-terrorism legislation bills; the Safe Port Act. What in the World does online poker and gambling have to do with terrorism? The truth is “absolutely NOTHING”! Here’s the catch, though; two exemptions were made to the UIGEA, horse racing and State lotteries. Horse racing? Are you kidding me? Isn’t horse racing a form of gambling? Of course it is, but the National Thoroughbred Horse Racing Association made a hefty campaign contribution to ensure that horse racing received an exemption to the law.
The Poker Player’s Alliance contends that poker should also be exempted from this law, and here’s why:
First, Poker is a game with a predominance of skill. Like chess, poker is a “thinking man’s game” that relies upon strategy, mathematics, psychology, timing, focus, concentration and money management. Some might have you believe that poker is nothing more than a game of chance. Those who hold such a belief need only sit down at a table with some of the World renowned professional poker players for an hour or more and see how well they fare. A true poker player believes that sole reliance upon luck is a “fool’s crutch”. Again, unlike other forms of gambling, poker is a skill game where performance is merited, and a community game, where the “house” is not your competition. These are real and significant differences. Simply putting the word “Internet” in front of poker does not change the qualities of the game and it should not make the people who play it suspect.
Second, 75% of American’s oppose banning online poker. According to National Polling, a vast majority of Americans oppose federal efforts to ban online poker.
Lastly, prohibitions simply don’t work. If history is any kind of teacher, our Legislator’s should be well aware that prohibition will fail and will only drive online poker underground where it will be open to all kinds of seedy enterprisers who’ll seek to take advantage of American poker players.
The really big question is why hasn’t the federal government sought to regulate, tax and control the internet poker industry? That would be an ideal and perfectly viable solution to satisfy the millions of poker players in America who wish to play poker from the comfort and privacy of their own home. Billions of tax revenue is being lost. According to an economic analysis, $3.3 billion in federal tax revenue and an additional $1 billion in state tax revenue could be raised if the federal government were to regulate Internet poker. If nothing else, the current trend and rise in the popularity of poker and recent enactment of the UIGEA demonstrates that our federal government dismissed the rights of a very significant populous of voters without so much as creating a commission to explore the impact that regulating Internet poker might have on the American economy. Clearly, with such a significant number of Americans who oppose the ban of online poker, the formation of such a commission and subsequent report was the least that our legislator’s could have done before placing the final nail in the coffin of hard working, tax paying poker players nationwide.
It is the hope of the Poker Players Alliance and the millions of poker players nationwide that the issue of regulating internet poker will be revisited and that poker will properly be exempted from the UIGEA in the very near future.
I openly invite your news media agency to contact me at anytime for an interview or for further information regarding the above issues. As the Massachusetts Representative for the Poker Player’s Alliance, I am willing to cooperate in any way I can to spread the message of hope for our poker playing future.
Sincerely,
Randall D. Castonguay
Please feel free to copy and paste this letter and conform it to your own State news media agencies and politicians. Let me know what you all think of it.
All In,
Randy C~
