X-Post: Fight for Online Gaming!! Support the Frank Bill Here

[TheEngineer]

Would you like to fight for your rights to play poker online? Of course you do! Please see this week's action item thread on the Legislation board. Thanks.

P.S. Let's keep all the discussion in the main thread in Legislation.

Thanks everyone!

[TheEngineer]

Casino Gambling Web is sending representatives to Washington this month. They'll be taking, among other things, online signatures to repeal UIGEA. Please take a moment RIGHT NOW to fill it out, at www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/306149419 , and don't forget to have your spouse sign it as well (once you sign, you'll have to wait ten minutes or so before you can log back on for others in your household to sign).

Info is at http://www.prnewsnow.com/P.......20D.C.. Focus on the Family is very worried about this, so you know it's good for us. Their statement is at www.citizenlink.org/FOSI/gambling/cog/A000004244.cfm .

This is a x-post from Legislation. The parent thread is at Casino Gambling Web Representatives Headed to Washington!. Please keep all discussion there. However, I would appreciate a bump or a sticky for this important effort.

Thanks.

[TheEngineer]

Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for week of 7/16

Summary of actions:
1. Contact Steven D. Laughton (the UIGEA Treasury Dept. focal point), Treas. Sec. Paulson, and Atty. Gen Gonzales, and Steven D. Laughton to advocate for minimum UIGEA regs.
2. Post the link to the "Repeal UIGEA" online petition at www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/306149419 wherever you can (blogs, libertarian sites, Wikipedia, etc.), as it will be hand-delivered to each senator and representative later this month.
3. Write to Congress
4. Write to newspapers and post to blogs

Please see Fight for Online Gaming!! for details. Thanks!

[TheEngineer]

Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for week of 7/23

Summary of actions:
1. Write to Treasury and DOJ officials AT LEAST ONCE PER WEEK to request the minimum possible UIGEA regulations.
2. Write to your governor and to your state representatives.
3. Regularly write to Congress.
4. Write to newspapers and post to blogs.

Please see Fight for Online Gaming!! for details. Thanks!

[TheEngineer]

Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for week of 7/30

Action:
- Call Sen. Barack Obama on Monday, 7/30, and on Thursday, 8/2 to ask for his support. Post notice of this call effort wherever possible.

Ongoing advocacy:
1. Write to Treasury and DOJ officials AT LEAST ONCE PER WEEK to request the minimum possible UIGEA regulations.
2. Regularly contact Congress.
3. Contact your governor and to your state representatives.
4. Write to newspapers and post to blogs.

Please see Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for week of 7/30 for details. Thanks!

[TheEngineer]

Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for weeks of 8/6 & 8/13

Action:
- Write to Congress (your senators and your rep) with a rebuttal to one of the 8/1 FoF letters.
- Write to Congress (your senators and your rep) to ask for their support and to ask where they stand on Internet gaming. Reference the Congressmen For and Against Online Gambling article in the letter.

Ongoing advocacy:
1. Write to Treasury and DOJ officials AT LEAST ONCE PER WEEK to request the minimum possible UIGEA regulations.
2. Regularly contact Congress.
3. Contact your governor and to your state representatives.
4. Write to newspapers and post to blogs.

Please see Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for weeks of 8/6 & 8/13 for details. Thanks!

[TheEngineer]

Fight for Online Poker!! Weeks of 9/24 & 10/1

1. It’s time for an IGREA and SGPA push. This year’s Congressional session will end soon, so let’s ALL get some letters out to Congress this week and next (including House and Senate leaders)!

2. Write to Congress (separate letters from the ones above) and to five U.S. companies to explain the upcoming WTO trade concessions. Let them know they’re expected to finance online horse racing and fantasy football.

3. Continue to write to the NFL and their sponsors to complain about the NFL’s advocacy of a ban for all Internet gaming (which goes beyond sports betting and beyond even UIGEA). Ask the NFL to negotiate a pro-poker deal with Rep. Frank.

4. Regularly write to newspapers and post to blogs. A few posts here and there can start to put us in the national zeitgeist.

Please see Fight for Online Poker!! Weeks of 9/24 & 10/1 for details. Thanks!

[TheEngineer]

Important action alert!!

The proposed UIGEA regulations have been released by the Department of the Treasury for public comment. This is our chance to affect the regs, as our comments. I ask everyone here who cares about Internet poker will submit comments in favor of freedom and liberty. Thanks!

The PPA has released a list of talking points for our comments. That way, we know our comments align with the best interests of poker. The article is at http://pokerplayersalliance.org/news...le.php?DID=293.

1. The proposed regulations should be modified to clarify that they don’t cover games predominantly determined by skill, such as poker, bridge, mahjong and backgammon. Section 5362(1)(a) of UIGEA defines a bet or wager as “the staking or risking by any person of something of value upon the outcome of a contest of others, a sporting event, or a game subject to chance,…” “Subject to chance” can be interpreted in a variety of ways, but in a gambling context it should reasonably be taken to mean games like roulette or slots where players bet against “the house” and success is determined by chance. Poker players compete, not against the house, but against each other, and the success of a player over any significant time interval is determined by that players’ skill.

2. The regulators must define what is and isn’t “unlawful Internet gambling.” The federal and state laws governing Internet gambling are very ambiguous -- nearly all of them were written before the advent of the Internet, and it is not clear how they apply to Internet gaming. In the proposed rule, the regulators emphasize that it is not their intention to clarify this question, because to do so would require them to examine the laws of every state with respect to every gaming modality. Yet that is exactly what they are requiring every bank and payment system to do individually.

3. The regulators should refrain from implementing the regulations until the U.S. resolves its international trade disputes. The World Trade Organization has found the U.S. to be out of compliance with its obligations under the General Agreement on Trade in Services because of its attempts at prohibiting Internet gambling. This is likely to cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars in lost market share and export opportunities. The U.S. government is in negotiations with its trading partners over this matter. Inasmuch as these regulations arguably make that situation worse, the regulators should hold off on finalizing the regulations until the U.S. can resolve its international trade obligations.

4. The proposed regulations should not infringe on personal privacy. UIGEA deputizes banks and payment systems and turns them into the Internet morality police. These regulations should not compel banks to scrutinize the private transactions of individual poker players and others. To do so is hostile to the personal and financial privacy of every American with a credit card or checking account.

5. The UIGEA and the enforcing regulations should not apply to Internet poker nationwide. Federal case law has consistently held that the Wire Act applies only to sports betting and very few states have any laws against Internet poker. These regulations should be clear to only block those transactions which are in fact against the law. Games of skill which are not outlawed under current federal law – such as poker, chess, bridge and majong -- should be exempt from the UIGEA and the regulations.



The Legislation Forum discussion thread is at http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...=1#Post12525391.

[TheEngineer]

Fight for Online Poker!! Week of 11/26 & 12/3

1. We have three more weeks to sumbit our comments on the proposed UIGEA regulations (Dec. 12th) so let's make a lot of comments between now and then. Please go to https://pokerplayersalliance.org/new...le.php?DID=293 for instructions on submitting your comments and for ideas on what to submit.

To comment:

Click here to comment at the FRB site
Click here to comment at the Treasury Dept site. Select "DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY*" at line 2 (the circled "2"), click submit, then click the comment icon to right of the UIGEA proposed rule.

To review sumbitted comments:

Clck here to view comments made to the Federal Reserve
Click here to read UIGEA regulations comments at the Treasury Dept site. Select "DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY*", click submit, then click the link to the far left of the UIGEA proposed rule ("TREAS-DO-2007-0015").

2. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Internet gaming on Nov. 14th. Please write and call your congressman to remind them of our victory. The letter we all co-wrote with PPA is at http://capwiz.com/pokerplayersallian...46&type=co. Sending that takes less than one minute; adding info about the hearing takes only a few extra minutes. Regardless of when you last called, let's call this week. Phone numbers are at http://capwiz.com/pokerplayersalliance/dbq/officials. And, please contact the committee at http://judiciary.house.gov/contact.aspx to express your support for online poker. We won -- let's make sure we continue to be heard.

3. Write to your governor to tell him state laws should support your freedom to play. If you have ANY connection to MA, please contact Gov. Patrick and tell him you won't tolerate a ban on Internet poker. If you have ANY connection to KY, please contact governor-elect Steve Beshear and ask him to ensure that Internet poker is not excluded in his proposal to legalize casino gaming in the state.

4. Regularly write to newspapers and post to blogs. A few posts here and there can start to put us in the national zeitgeist.

Please see Fight for Online Poker!! Week of 11/26 & 12/3 for details and to post replies (let's keep all discussion on the parent thread in Legislation...thanks). Also, please remember to visit the Legislation forum on occasion to keep an eye on what's going on. Thanks! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]