Vote To Legalize Online Poker

President Omaha’s website Change.gov is hosting a poll (visit poll) on the UIGEA. If you are unfamiliar with this bill it was attached to a “must pass” national security bill titled the Safe Port Act in 2006. UIGEA stands for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, it was attached into a the larger, more urgent Safe Port bill at the last minute to ensure it would pass. Any congressman who didn’t vote for the Safe Poker Act would have been branded as un-American back in those days so it easily passed even though many disagreed with totally unrelated gambling portion of the bill.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act did not make it illegal to play online poker for real money. It made it illegal for banks to processes payments to and from online gambling companies. The senators who created this bill did so because of what I would call bribes, others would call donations, from the horse racing industry which has been losing business to the online poker industry. This bill was largely ineffectual but many poker rooms such as Party Poker which is a publicly traded company closed their doors to US players out of fear. The banks found the job of monitoring for these types of transactions almost impossible so there was little change in that regard.

There has been a lot of people and companies working towards the regulation of online poker in the United States. You have a chance to tell President Obama your opinion on online poker via a poll taking place right now. Please visit the poll at http://ww.change.gov and vote to regulate online poker.