Harvard Panel Speaks For Poker Legalization

The Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS) was established on October 1, as a recognized student club at Harvard Law School in order to publicize poker as a game of skill. On October 15, Professor Charles Nesson, who has been a law professor at Harvard for close to 40 years moderated a panel discussion that emphasized the importance of educating the public about developing life skills and the need for legalizing poker. Panelists included Crandell Addington and Howard Lederer.

On October 16 Professor Nesson moderated another panel that included Simon Lestor, a former lawyer with the World trade Organization, Steven Donziger, a lawyer who represented Antiguan online gaming operators, Kevin Washburn, a visiting law professor who teaches gambling law at Harvard and Joseph Kelly, a Professor of business law at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the co-author of Antigua's online gaming laws. The consensus of the panelists was that Antigua had scored a significant victory over the United States in it GATS dispute, that poker should be regulated and recognized as a game of skill and that the United States Department of Justice, especially under the Bush administration, has been hostile to all gambling.

Discussion also centered on the forces supposedly opposing the regulation of all online gambling. Some of the discussion addressed the opposition to online gambling by some of the United States casino companies; however there was also emphasis on the lobbying efforts of the NFL whose opposition to online gambling is well documented.

The next session will be held on November 5 and will focus on "Internet Freedom: The Power of Poker and the Consumer Electronics Industry" with Maura Corbett, Vijay Raghavan and Dan Walsh

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Joseph Kelly, mentioned in the above article, is also an author here at PokerPages.com, care of Catania Consulting. Click here to read his latest piece, written with Frank Catania, a legal analysis of the recently proposed rules and regulations for the UIGEA.)

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