[Pokerdemic]

Hi All,

Here is a draft of a letter I am sending out on Monday (hopefully). I've blanked out all of the location information. If you are interested in what I am doing and where I am doing it, I'll be happy to chat by PM. If you see any problems with the content or have any suggestions, let me know.

Dear Representative XXXXXX,


I am writing to ask you to co-sponsor the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2046). This bill will designate poker as a game of skill, and thus exempt it from recent anti-online gambling legislation. Before the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, online poker was rapidly expanding. While many poker players argue that online poker should be legal and taxed because it will provide additional revenue for the state, I believe it should be legal for an entirely different reason.

Online poker should be legal, ironically, because of its educational value. Learning how to play poker encourages analytical thinking, deductive reasoning, and numeracy, skills crucial to the success of America’s information economy. The research of James XXX, former professor of education at the University of XXXXXX, has repeatedly shown that video games contain enormous potential for educating the citizenry.

Apart from the skills learned while playing, each day thousands of people, many of whom are college students, congregate on the internet to write, read, and argue about poker strategy. I am a PhD student who studies the history of writing. And I consider many of these arguments to be so richly complex that I have begun an academic project, which has been submitted to a scholarly conference, to study the writing of the college students who participate in the discussions. I believe that by studying the ways in which students learn to adapt their writing to particular audiences, we can better refine the methods college instructors use to teach writing. In other words, the literacy acts encouraged by poker can be beneficial, and not detrimental, to these students’ academic success.

Writing is a crucial skill for success in college, and as an established body of research shows, writing is a crucial skill for the information economy. Studying poker strategy and theory encourages our citizenry to learn complex skills of argument and reasoning through written communication.

I would like to say that I do not necessarily support the gambling industry. Before I became a voting Democrat of XXXXX, I taught Adult Basic Education in XXXXX, XX, for a number of years. Based on what I saw in XXXXX, I do not consider casinos or gambling to be productive enterprises; however, as a Danish court has recently affirmed, poker is much more a game of skill than it is luck. Simply put, it is not gambling. Online poker should be legal and regulated. I can play poker legally in XXXXX casinos, but not in my own home: I think you will agree this is folly.

Historically, Americans and Congress alike have recognized new developments in technology enable new economic opportunities. But these new economic opportunities demand that citizens constantly re-skill and re-educate themselves. In the twenty-first century, our citizens must be life-long learners. I believe poker to be a wealthy source of educating our public in skills needed to keep America competitive in the global information economy. Please cosponsor Frank Barney’s bill to regulate online poker (H.R. 2046).