60 Minutes Online Poker Scandal Show Prompts Push for Regulation in USA

Both the PokerPlayers Alliance (PPA) and the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative (SSIGI) were quick to react to Sunday's 60 Minute show covering the UltimateBet and Absolute Poker cheating scandals, saying the show underscores "the need for U.S. licensing and regulation of online poker to help protect consumers."

Jeffrey Sandman, spokesperson for the SSIGI, in his statement commented on the scandal coverage, saying: "The 60 Minutes and Washington Post stories demonstrate unambiguously that the existing government prohibition on Internet gambling is a failure and a mistake... leaving U.S. consumers without legal protections when they make a bet or play poker online."

He added, "It is clear that a different approach is necessary to protect consumers, as well as to recapture the billions of tax dollars currently lost to offshore gambling operators and out of the U.S. economy. Now more than ever, Congress should understand why it should step in and regulate the industry to protect the public. We are hopeful that increased attention in the media about the issue will lead to increased movement in Congress."

He pointed out that it was unfortunate that the show didn't highlight the benefits and efforts underway to regulate the online gambling industry, and added that "Revenues from regulated Internet gambling are estimated to be between $8.7 billion and $42.8 billion over 10 years, according to a tax revenue analysis prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers."

PPA SPEAKS

PPA Chairman Alfonse D'Amato, in a press release yesterday, noted that there is a strong demand in the American market for Internet poker, and that "The continued pursuit of poker prohibition... will only drive this industry underground. As the Washington Post pointed out, prohibition represents a widening disconnect between 21st-century technology and 20th-century laws."

Rather than prohibiting online poker, "the government should step up and exercise regulatory oversight on this multi-billion dollar interstate commerce, and collect the revenue - especially during this country's economic crisis," he stressed.

"The attempt to enforce an outright prohibition of online poker is deeply flawed and unworkable, and it invades upon the personal freedoms of law-abiding adults who wish to engage in a game of skill. And as 60 Minutes and the Washington Post stories reported it also exposes American consumers to the rare, unscrupulous bad apple operator who will take advantage of the lack of a U.S. regulated marketplace."

D'Amato closed by encouraging specific regulation, saying: "Now more than ever the U.S. Congress needs to step up and enact real public policy as it relates to Internet gaming. We look forward to working with the new Administration and the new Congress to advance sensible regulatory solutions such as those introduced in the 110th Congress by Representatives Barney Frank (H.R. 2046) and Robert Wexler (H.R. 2610) and Senator Robert Menendez (S.3616)."

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