Internet Gambling Bill Gains Three New Supporters Internet Gambling Bill has gained three new co-sponsors, all three of them being Democrats. The number of co-sponsors of the bill has now risen to 54. Three more Congressional representatives have signed as co-sponsors to the Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2267). This brings the number of co-sponsors of the bill up to 54. The bill was introduced by Rep. Barney Frank in May this year and if passed, it will essentially repeal the UIGEA and make internet gambling (internet poker included) legal in the United States. The latest three co-sponsors Betsy Markey of Colorado, Rep. Russ Carnahan of Missouri and Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey are all Democrats. Frank is hoping that the bill will make it further through the legislative process this time with the support of Democrats controlling the House and the Senate, along with many supporters in the Republicans ranks.
How so? I agree on things like Poker or Blackjack or whatever, where the human interaction is part of the experience (and cheating/integrity of the system could be a concern). But I used to use it for sports betting - it was very convenient and no issues with cheating.
Online poker is huge. Millions of people play millions of hands online and have been for years. While there have been a handful of issues, they are at worst comparable to all the ways you could get hosed playing in person. And of course, making it legal and regulating it is a way to make it even safer. I'm curious, what would you be afraid of happening?
I don't profess to be an expert on the ins-and-outs of online play, but there are quite a few stories like this one out there. It's similar to my online shopping paranoia- you really have no idea how secure that server is holding all your personal information/creditcard.
Regulation and security oversight should help to close those holes, and it can only be done if online poker is regulated.
Yeah, that's the one story I'm aware of that is serious. I don't know of any others. There are also some minor things like people playing under more than one account in the same tournament, but the odds of being affected in any real way are pretty tiny. And live poker can have integrity problems as well. I guess when it comes to credit cards I figure that if I hand my card to a waiter at a restaurant without worrying then I won't mind being one of millions of people who give their numbers online. The same principle applies to online poker.
I miss playing online poker. I used to make a little extra money in college playing on Party Poker. Cash games were so easy to bluff in. And its all in fun if you have the money to play.
You can still play without using a CC. I go to HEB, buy the prepaid cards and play on Pokerstars a lot.
