Beat The war drums?
Second Internet Gambling Congressional Hearing of 2012 Scheduled[ return to main articles page ] ..By: Dan Cypra [See all articles by Dan Cypra]
Published on Jul 19th, 2012
Email A Friend On Thursday, July 26, the second hearing focused on internet gambling of 2012 will be held. As all Representatives and one-third of Senators gear up for their election bids in November, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee will hold a hearing entitled, "Regulation of Tribal Gaming: From Brick and Mortar to the Internet." A live webcast will be available next Thursday and the action gets underway at 2:15pm ET in the Senate Dirksen Building, Room 628.
Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Vice President of Player Relations Rich TheEngineer Muny broke the news to the community in a thread on the PocketFives forums this week: "Great news! On Thursday, July 26 at 2:15 pm, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee will hold an oversight hearing to 'examine the regulation of tribal gaming, focusing on brick and mortar to the internet.' We don’t yet have a list of witnesses. At this point, I don't know if there will be a witness representing poker players."
The last time the Senate Indian Affairs Committee took up internet gambling was in February, when PPA Litigation Director Patrick Skallagrim Fleming (pictured) was part of the witness panel. Fleming spoke about the complex web of state and Federal gaming laws and tried to reassure Indian casino operators that opening the door for online poker would not severely erode land-based revenues.
To that end, Fleming argued, "All the preliminary evidence strongly suggests that there is a healthy relationship between online poker and live poker. Poker is, at its core, a social game of person against person. Hence, poker players as a general rule enjoy both settings and use one to compliment the other. While there are some poker players who prefer live games and some who prefer online games, the majority play both with equal enthusiasm." He added that many players use low-stakes online poker as a primer for live games.
Fleming reminded those in attendance that the 2011 opinion by the U.S. Department of Justice that the Wire Act only applies to online sports betting could have a profound impact on Tribes: "The DOJ's new position that the Wire Act does not apply to gaming other than wagering on sporting events will have large and significant ramifications for Tribal gaming interests. Depending on future developments in state laws, those ramifications will present Tribal gaming operators with significant competition issues that current law leaves them woefully unprepared to meet."
Also at February's hearing, Seneca Nation of Indians President Robert Odawi Porter asked Tribal leaders to contemplate the following when considering whether to support online gaming.
"As a Tribal leader, there are two questions that must frame our discussion," Porter narrated. "First, will the decision of the Congress support or destroy the Indian gaming jobs held by our tribal citizens? Second, will your decision support or erode the gaming revenue that tribes use for services? In recent years, big gaming and state regulating interests in Nevada and New Jersey have pushed for Federal legislation that would give them monopolistic control of internet gaming in the USA… They are determined to shove Indian gaming away from the table."
Poker Players Alliance Vice President of Player Relations Rich TheEngineer Muny reacted to news of the hearing, telling PocketFives, "The hearing is terrific news. The desire of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to hold a third hearing on this issue shows that it is under serious consideration right now. I hope everyone interested in licensed online poker in the U.S. will do their part to help ensure this hearing is a success by participating in the Fight for Poker Daily Action Plan on PocketFives."
States have already begun to move. Nevada has already doled out licenses to offer online poker and, recently, Kentucky-based Churchill Downs Incorporated applied for an interactive gaming license in the desert state. Across the country, Delaware's Governor signed a bill green-lighting internet gambling into law in the final days of June. Online games, including poker, could launch as soon as the early part of 2013 in both states.
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee also took up internet gambling last November, when PPA Chairman and former three-term Republican Senator from New York Alfonse D'Amato (pictured) testified on behalf of the poker community.
D'Amato drove home the fact that Tribes would feel little negative impact from the expansion of online poker: "Right now, only 1% of all of the revenues at Indian casinos come from the poker tables. We have empirical evidence that since we have had a TV craze for Texas Hold'em and since the internet has been used by offshore companies, the revenues in the card rooms have gone up. It has encouraged participation. It is not a revenue loser."
The consensus remains that any progress on any internet gambling legislation would not likely occur until the Congressional lame duck session after November's elections.
We'll have more information for you on this still developing story right here on PocketFives. .
AI
