Spoke with my congressman who voted for UIGA

[Soul Rebel]

I'm usually very wary of opening posts in this forum cause of all the nonsense, but this was outstanding. Very nice work. It'd be interesting if you could follow up with him in a couple weeks to hear his thoughts on your article and see what he has to say.

[Johnny McEldoo]

Dan,

Very well done sir!!

[Ron Burgundy]

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That is a great post. Nice job.

One nitpick, though ... I'd be willing to bet that Rep. Ferguson and a lot of other congressmen really didn't "vote for" the UIGEA. They voted for the Port Security Act, which they cannot be blamed for, and a lot of them probably didn't even know the UIGEA was part of it.

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If I remember correctly, the house of rep. took an actual vote on this in July. That is when Shelley Berkeley and Barney Frank made their speeches. The senate was the house where the UIGA was attached to the Port Security Act, much later in the year. So Ferguson did vote for this after an actual debate.

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You're correct, Dan. The House voted for the UIGEA on it's own.

[permafrost]

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That is a great post. Nice job.

One nitpick, though ... I'd be willing to bet that Rep. Ferguson and a lot of other congressmen really didn't "vote for" the UIGEA. They voted for the Port Security Act, which they cannot be blamed for, and a lot of them probably didn't even know the UIGEA was part of it.

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If I remember correctly, the house of rep. took an actual vote on this in July. That is when Shelley Berkeley and Barney Frank made their speeches. The senate was the house where the UIGA was attached to the Port Security Act, much later in the year. So Ferguson did vote for this after an actual debate.

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You're correct, Dan. The House voted for the UIGEA on it's own.

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The House vote was for stronger legislation that included updates to the Wire Act and new policies and procedures. After the House vote, it was weakened to the present UIGEA, IIRC.

[flafishy]

To clarify my post, the legislation that the House passed was NOT the UIGEA. It was a totally different bill.

[Kodfish]

Dan, thanks for the post. I'm glad I took the 2 min to read it. It has definitely motivated me even more to hound my representatives and senators. Thanks!

[dstang21]

Dan, enjoyed the article.

dc_publius, you've got a good point about comparison. It's like comparing marijuana to alchohol, a weak argument that will get us no where.

But, just for fun, here's another comparison.

Baseball (America's pastime) vs. Poker (America's hobby)

Professionals in baseball compete directly against each other to make more money. They receive consistant pay, but make more on incentives based on their peformance and some luck. Professionals in poker compete directly against each other to make more money. They receive consistant entry fees from sponsers (and money for most - i don't know). They can make more money based on their performance and some luck.

Amateur baseball players compete directly against each other to make it to the minor leagues to get paid. Most have to have other jobs to support themselves, but continue to gamble on some skill and luck to get paid. Amateur poker players go through the same deal.

Both professions are very difficult to make a living in and the few that do are way overpaid.

I know this comparison might seem a stretch, and the argument to it is that it's about the money and where the money is going. My point is that our government has overstepped it's boundary. So many other things could replace baseball and have the same comparison. This is the land of opportunity. I've got pocket Aces, and I've got the opportunity to win this huge pot. Let me have it!

I do think that an American-regulated poker site will be around soon, but they should have had this ready before the law was even needed.

Also, I don't vote. I've never believed that my vote counts. But now that I'm affected, I'm going to help the fight. Let's all do the same.

[flytrap]

How were you able to get an audience with your rep? I'd love to be able to speak to mine as well, but I have no idea how I go about talking to him face to face.

[andywend]

Its important for everyone to know that similar anti-gambling legislation has passed in the house of representatives on several occassions only to die in the Senate due to lack of support.

Bill Frist tried on several occassions to get this UIGEA bill passed in the Senate through normal channels and could NOT do it. This time around (knowing he couldn't get it passed normally once again) snuck this legislation to the back of a "must pass" security port bill and he did this on the last possible day before the congressional recess.

Most senators did not even know the UIGEA was attached to the back of the security port bill as the SPB was 224 pages long and the UIGEA was about 25 pages.

There were a few senators who noticed the attached UIGEA legislation and wanted further clarification which Frist REFUSED to give.

Its estimated that 25 million Americans play poker online and this one individual took that enjoyment away from them.

Bill Frist should be forced to explain to the 25 million Americans why he attached this legislation to the back of something totally unrelated on the last possible day of congress and then refused to allow an open debate on the subject.

[flafishy]

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Bill Frist should be forced to explain to the 25 million Americans why he attached this legislation to the back of something totally unrelated on the last possible day of congress and then refused to allow an open debate on the subject.

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No explanation is necessary. It's obvious why he did it -- it was the only way he could get it passed.

It's SOP on Capitol Hill when someone wants to shove a pet project down people's throats.