Prohibition is Back, Lawmakers try to Outlaw Online Gambling Poker News Article

Congress has been really busy
lately trying to curtail the
booming online poker playing
phenomenon. Former Attorney
General John Ashcroft
launched the first round of
laws aimed at ending online
gambling. Commercials for
online gambling were
forbidden.

US Congress Tries to
Curtail the Online
Poker Phenomenon

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Prohibition Is Back
Again

by Anthony Sangenito

Congress has been really busy lately trying to curtail the booming online
poker phenomenon. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft launched the first
round of laws aimed at ending online gambling. Commercials for online
gambling were forbidden. I see commercials for poker rooms online all the
time. Gambling websites simply began promoting their sister sites where you
can "learn to play poker." As you probably know, there are links on the
freeplay sites where you can make a deposit and begin playing online poker
for cash. Congress has also launched a response to online poker, the
Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. This legislation would make it a federal
crime to gamble over the Internet. The punishment would be five years in
federal prison. Even if this law is passed, millions of players would simply
continue to play poker online.

Gambling is now a several billion dollar industry, and American banks are
jealous. Many offshore gambling sites set up accounts for their players in
offshore banks where regulators can not seize their assets. As billions of
untaxed wagers go offshore and corporate banks are not making millions on
it, so congress is trying to put online poker players in prison.

Perhaps congress will wake up and realize what a grave mistake this
legislation would be. There was a time when lawmakers tried to outlaw
street gambling networks that ran numbers. Now, most states run their own
lotteries, collecting millions of dollars in revenues each year. Imagine the
revenue stream the states would get if state lotteries also ran online poker
rooms. The states have been trying to tax online purchases for quite a few
years now, with out much revenue collected. In New York State, there is a
line on your state tax return where you are to estimate the dollar amount of
purchases made online, and you are asked to pay taxes on this estimate. Not
a very effective way of collecting tax revenue, but they are trying.

We will see what the future hold for online poker players and the legality
issues of gambling online. The states tried to prohibit alcohol, and we all
know what a disaster that turned out to be. I believe that more states will
take the New York approach and try to begin collecting tax revenues on
online wagering. The idea of losing millions of dollars a year in tax revenues
from online gambling has our congressmen scrambling to find a way to stop
this activity. The banking lobbyists are well aware of the potential revenue
stream that they are missing out on, and will not relent on trying to outlaw
online gambling for their own interests.

For now, I will continue to play online poker for cash and will wait to see
what the lawmakers will do in the near future to curtail this activity. I
personally believe that the lawmakers will not be successful in putting an end
to online gambling, just as they were unable to prohibit using alcohol in the
past. The will of the people is just too strong, and I believe that online
gambling is here to stay.

Anthony Sangenito is an Accountant and avid, everyday poker player who
plays online & live cash games and tournaments. He consistently cashes in
various buy-in tournaments on Poker.com and is profitable at the cash tables
as well. Anthony writes articles for his poker website, PokerPlayerPress.com
and affiliate site UltimatePokerForum.com.

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