As some of you may know, the pending Massachusetts legislation that would legalize casino gambling also has the potential to make internet poker a crime. The Poker Players Alliance offers this quick and easy web application for generating a letter to Governor Deval Patrick and the appropriate representatives. I urge any of you who are registered to vote in Mass to take a moment to send a letter.
There is a default letter available, but these things tend to have more impact when they are customized. If you’d like, you can cut and paste my customized letter, as a few duplicates would still probably have more impact than the 10,000th version of the same letter generated by the PPA:
“As a Massachusetts voter and a poker player, I am very concerned about the impact that H. 4307 would have on my freedom to play a game of skill online.
Casino Gambling Legislation: H.4307 seems to criminalize all forms of Internet gaming, including online poker (See Section 15(h)(2)(i)). This section of the bill is an outrage and must be removed.
Poker is a time-honored game of skill that teaches valuable life lessons about decision-making and negotiation. These are important skills that ought to be cultivated for a 21st-Century workforce, not arbitrarily criminalized.
According to the Poker Players Alliance, Massachusetts has one of the largest numbers of poker players in America per-capita. If enacted, this bill will mandate prison terms for many of the same people who voted you into office, simply for partaking in their chosen form of entertainment. Why is a Governor who claims to support the “common people” so eager to make criminals out of them?
Prohibition of internet poker is destined to fail. By passing this legislation, you will send internet poker underground and will make ordinary Massachusetts citizens susceptible to all kinds of unscrupulous Internet scammers who have no regard for the law. Any legitimate concerns about problem gambling or access by minors would be better addressed through active regulation of internet poker than through prohibition.
Massachusetts has a proud history of innovative and standard-setting regulations. Why not become the first State in the Union to capitalize on internet poker rather than to ban it? It sure makes a lot more sense than making criminals out of us all.
I feel betrayed by the very existence of this legislation. It’s especially aggravating that this language is contained in a larger bill to expand casino gambling in the Commonwealth. This contrast is utter hypocrisy.
I encourage you to oppose Section 15(h)(2)(i) of H.4307, and also to study the potential for revenue generation that regulating and taxing online poker may have for the Commonwealth. I’m sure you will find this a much more suitable alternative than sending the very people who voted you into office to prison.”