Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Weekly action thread

[TheEngineer]

Some discussion points:

- America is a free country. We should be as free to play poker at home as British, Russians, and Eastern Europeans are. Moralists shouldn't be able to force their ideas of morality on others through force of law in a free country.

- This bill forces U.S. banks to act as the moral police of America; it shifts the costs to them as well.

- Stockholders in banks should complain about being forced to foot the bill for this.

- American companies are at risk of being completely shut out of the Internet gaming market. Existing Internet companies have already developed business models that don't rely on American players. America is losing a lot of potential revenue.

- The U.S. should desire a regulated market. That way, the U.S. can set and enforce the age limits. Also, money-laundering issues can be monitored.

- Compliance with the latest WTO ruling

[TheEngineer]

My letter to the subcommittee Republicans (my letter to the full committee is virtually identical):

April 8, 2007

House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
Minority (Republicans)
Rayburn House Office Building B-301C
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representatives:

I'm writing to ask you to restore the right of Americans to play Internet poker and other casino games in the privacy of their own homes. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is big government nanny-statism at its worst. I believe the outrage of my fellow poker players contributed strongly to the Democratic win in the last election. It's not just me; many Republican core supporters do not support the big government nanny state. That's why the Contract with America was so enthusiastically received by the Republican rank-and-file. In the interests of freedom and bipartisanship, I ask the committee to support Chairman Barney Frank’s upcoming Internet gambling legislation.

The impact of UIGEA includes the following:

· This law forces American banks to function as the moral police of America. It shifts the costs and other burdens of enforcement to them as well.

· As a result of this law, Americans are now less free than even Russians and Eastern Europeans.

· The Department of Justice has elected to act outside the scope of existing federal law. The recent heavy-handed DOJ arrests of the founders of Neteller and the seizure of pending EFT transfers from Neteller to American citizen are outrages. It seems the DOJ has a vendetta against U.S. online gamblers who broke no federal laws by playing. In other words, although they are part of the executive branch, they’ve elected to create their own laws – laws that have not been introduced through your subcommittee or approved by Congress.

· The House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions should desire a regulated market. That way, the U.S. can set and enforce age limits while establishing procedures for money-laundering monitoring.

· The U.S. should comply with the recent WTO ruling that concluded that our restrictions on Internet gambling constitute an unfair restraint of trade.
Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

TE

[Sniper]

WSEX GM post on how you can help, on behalf of the Antigua Online Gaming Association

[Sniper]

Your action plan should include picking one thread and sticking with it... [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
Your action plan should include picking one thread and sticking with it... [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm trying. I think too many people view these as "flat" and cannot see where each week's plan is.

[TheEngineer]

<font color="brown">Primary Actions:

1. Let's join the WSEX action plan this week and next. It's good that the sites are fighting back, so we should support that, I think. When writing these letters, I think we'll want to be careful to tailor them to the specific representatives and senators, of course.

In addition to contacting individual members of Congress, let's contact both the majority and the minority offices of the House Subcommittee on Trade. </font>

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This email is being sent to all World Sports Exchange customers as a courtesy to the Antigua Online Gaming Association.

Greetings Players,

As you may be aware, online gaming has been under attack by the United States for the last decade. The Government of Antigua and Barbuda has successfully challenged the malicious prosecution of Antiguan operators in the World Trade Organization. The WTO has found that the US's application of its laws against Antiguan entities is protectionist and in violation of the General Agreement on Trade in Services.

Now that Antigua has won the legal battle, it can use political support in Congress. Here's how you can help. Please email and phone your Representative in the House of Representatives and your two Senators. Remind them that the United States needs to abide by the decision in the Antigua-Gaming matter if they expect other countries to comply with WTO decisions in favor of the United States.

Here is a link to a letter to the USTR from Representative Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs:

http://www.antiguawto.com/LettertoUSTR.pdf

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen eloquently noted, "...our failure to resolve this dispute may harm our credibility as we seek to press countries like China regarding their violations on a range of issues, including intellectual property protection, subsidies, and currency manipulation." She further warned, "In the event the United States fails to reach a satisfactory resolution of the Antigua dispute, it could provide China with an argument to ignore a WTO decision favorable to the United States."

Please send the link above to your Representative and Senators. Ask them to send similar letters to the United States Trade Representative. Let them know you vote, you pay taxes, and you think the United States should comply with the decision in the Antigua-Gaming matter.

To contact your Representative and two Senators, follow the links below or call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and give them your zip code. Make sure you call three times.

http://www.house.gov
http://www.senate.gov


We will continue to fight the legal battle, please help us with the political fight.

Thank you,

Antigua Online Gaming Association
www.aoga.ag

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<font color="brown">2. Sen. John Kyl grilled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at last week's hearings not about the issue with the fired attorneys general, but about enforcement of UIGEA! He seems to think his anti-gambling platform enjoys 100% support.

Sen. Kyl bragging about UIGEA on his website, calling it the 'Kyl Internet Gambling Ban'!

Let's contact Sen. Kyl and Atty Gen Alberto Gonzales (if he still has a job next week) and tell them we support freedom to choose to gamble online. Kyl will not change his mind, but he needs to know there's a political price to pay for his positions. I'm going to write to him to criticize his big-government solution to the "problem" of people deciding on their own to play poker online and to inform him that I'll contribute to his next opponent (yeah, I know that's five years away, but many of us are not AZ residents and we need something actionable). Another benefit to writing this one letter is that we'll have templates for future letters to anti-freedom members of Congress.

Thanks everyone! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[TheEngineer]

This one should be starightforward, as we had a similar action just a few weeks ago. Looks like we can just tweak those letters up a bit and send them out.

[Maulik]

TheEngineer,

I think you should also start a blog even if you copy&amp;paste what you're posting here. You'll allow others a chance through google to help support our cause.

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
TheEngineer,

I think you should also start a blog even if you copy&amp;paste what you're posting here. You'll allow others a chance through google to help support our cause.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, but I think I'll need a lot more participation here before expanding the effort. After all, if WE don't care, why will the random googler?

If Barney Frank's new bill gets folks here motivated I'll consider a blog. I have a site available if we get that far.

I feel pretty good about folks jumping in to support Frank's bill. Let's kick some ass!!!

[TheEngineer]

Everyone: PLEASE contact your representative and senators THIS WEEK and ask him/her to support Frank's upcoming legalization legislation (Frank plans bill to undo Net-gambling ban).

The bill should have a number the morning of 4/26. Thanks!!! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]