Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for week of 6/11 & 6/18
Would you like to fight for your rights to play poker online? If so, please see
Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Weekly action thread on the Legislation board. Thanks.
P.S. Let's keep all the discussion in the main thread in Legislation.
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Well, we're gaining some momentum! We have a long way to go, but it's great to see progress. Robert Wexler will introduce a "skills game" exception to UIGEA today. Also, IGREA is gaining some steam. The hearing is tomorrow, so there's some real progress. Also, HR 2140, Rep. Shelley Berkley's [D-NV] Internet gambling study bill, is progressing with 60 cosponsors. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has indicated his support for the study bill. Finally, the UIGEA regulations are due on 7/10. Our opponents are complaining that the regs aren't "tough" enough, so we have an opportunity there.
It seems there's a lot we can be doing right now. And, we really need to do it RIGHT NOW. So, based on our group discussions, let's do the following:
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1. Please contact your congressman and senators by phone and by mail and ask them to support and cosponsor the Wexler poker bill (let's wait until it's out first, so we don't look like we don't read things we endorse, of course).
2. Please contact your congressman and senators by phone and by mail to praise the outcome of the 6/8 IGREA hearing and to encourage them to support the legislation.
3. Write to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Treasury Secretary Paulson. Ask them not to exceed the specific mandates of UIGEA when drafting legislation. Remind them that online poker is not illegal under any federal law. Focus on the Family is asking their members to write to Paulson and Bush to request tough regulations. See http://www.citizenlink.org/FOSI/gamb...A000004244.cfm , a Focus site. We should counterbalance this effort. Also, Sen. Kyl asked Gonzales for tough regulations during the AG Senate hearings. We should counterbalance this as well.
I realize this was an action from last time, but since then the FBI now claims online gambling is illegal in the U.S., at http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june07/gambling060607.htm , so we really should speak up for ourselves, IMHO.
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If you’ve ever thought about visiting a cyber casino, here’s something you should know: it’s illegal to gamble online in the United States.
“You can go to Vegas. You can go to Atlantic City. You can go to a racetrack. You can go to those places and gamble legally. But don’t do it online. It’s against the law,” says Leslie Bryant, head of our Cyber Crime Fraud unit at FBI Headquarters.
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4. Now that we have bills out there, we should try to work on our public image. Let's write to newspapers, magazines, post to blogs, etc. with positives of online poker/gaming. </font> </font>
Thanks everyone!