SOME GOOD REASONS TO LEGALIZE INTERNET POKER
IT TREATS AMERICANS AS ADULTS
Adults should have the freedom to decide how they want to spend their free time and money without being controlled by the government.
The risk one takes when they gamble is intrinsic to capitalism, and part of the American way of life. We gamble when we invest, start businesses, play the state lottery, in a casino, or at the horse track. Online poker is just as legit as any of these options, and it's huge market will not be denied.
THERE IS ALWAYS A LOOPHOLE
American consumers are technically still not braking the law by playing internet poker. They can basically keep playing, just with added hassle.
As for the loopholes, well lets just say that people are transferring money into their online poker account without using a credit card, a debit card, or even a bank account!
This completely circumvents the Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, and speaks volumes to the resourcefulness of players, as well as the poker rooms who will continue to develop new methods for cashing in and out.
IT CAN BE TAXED
If you subscribe to my theory that the games will continue, shouldn't the United States at least allow its corporations to compete in the giant market, thereby generating tax revenue?
I would absolutely love to see online poker generated taxes pumped 100% into a few specific places, namely our schools, or health care system. Imagine if all revenue generated by online poker taxes went directly to our schools in the form of practical real world subjects like teaching them money, interest rates, loans, and investment.
It would much better prepare them to make better decisions with money in the future.
Getting back to the issue, it is estimated by the Poker Players Alliance that online poker would generate as much as $3 billion in tax revenue, and this does not even include any licensing fees that would be added on for the right to run a legal U.S. Online Poker Room.
IT CAN BE CONTROLLED
History has shown that where a huge demand exists but no supply is found, someone always moves in to fill the void. It happens with drugs, happened with alcohol during prohibition, and it will happen with online poker.
If we have learned anything from watching Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and the countless other corporate scandals, it's that legality isn't the biggest factor in people decision making process when millions of dollars is at stake.
As the more established sites have chosen or been forced to temporarily abandon the U.S. market, Online Poker is essentially forced more underground.
The people who run the internet poker rooms in the future may not be as honest and dependable as the sites that have left, or they may even be funded by terrorists or other criminal organizations.
BAN GAMBLING BUT LEGALIZE POKER
I want to first want to point out that games that pit the player against the House should not be offered in any form on the Internet. They are too susceptible to manipulation, and it would be virtually impossible to detect. Plus, whatever money people lose to the House, won't make it to the Poker table!
Poker pits player against player and skill and strategy is what determines your results for the long term.
Compared to games like Roulette, Slots, Craps and Blackjack, which are heavily dependent on chance, Poker rewards solid play.
Most of the people that lose money in real life casinos usually lose it before they ever get to the poker table, playing blackjack or craps. We can ban games of chance on the internet, but legalize poker.
I do admit that gambling addiction and the subsequent issues that go along with it is an issue to be considered, but I feel restricting the majority to save a few addicts that can gamble anyway is a dangerous path to follow.
Besides issues of gambling addiction are much better brought out into the open, and legalization could lead to better treatment for and recognition of problem gamblers, given the new source of revenue.