CasinoGaming.com


	Sundays: Inside Gaming Tuesdays: Video Poker Wednesdays: Off the Shelf Fridays: Richard Eng, Player's Edge Saturdays: Pocket Aces

POCKET ACES

Columns

• Back to Maryann's index

• Back to columnists' index

Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Nov 10, 2007

Never Trust A Poker Player. Say What?

It seems since the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, at least one politician has adopted the tactics used by (former) U.S. Representative James Leach to get his act on. Leach (for those who don't remember) is the man who did an end around and attached the anti-internet gambling verbiage to a bill aimed at enhancing U.S. port security, a bill that was a virtual shoo-in. It seems Leach understood his colleagues all too well and knew they would not read the port security bill thoroughly one last time before voting. He also knew that no one would really want to vote against a bill that would potentially protect the edges of the U.S. waterways from terrorists.

The latest attempt to make Internet gambling against the law came in the great State of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick came up with a rather lengthy (28 pages) proposal to bring casino-style gambling to his state. Hidden somewhere in the depths of the pages was a tiny paragraph that essentially allowed for imprisonment up to two years and/or a hefty fine ($25,000) for anyone in the state caught gambling on the Internet. The governor probably wouldn't have gotten this whole scheme off the ground anyway but it's important to note that the Poker Players Alliance brought the hidden agenda to the attention of the public.

How is it that gambling, whether it's recreational, professional or addictive can be legal if it's done in a building on land (or ostensibly on water) in a state but be illegal if it's done in your own home using a virtual casino? You can gamble in Arizona, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin as long as you do it in a place that the governments of those states declares legal. (Other states allow gambling but have no laws against Internet gambling.) Here's the weird thing. In some cases, the laws of these states don't have any true binding jurisdiction over these gaming venues because they are on Indian reservations and tribes are considered independent nations government by their own rules. So how can the states decide on their legality?

Sometimes it does appear that politicians make up their own definitions for words when it comes to gambling. Look at the books in Arkansas, for example (with thanks to Chuck Humphreys at http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Laws/Arkansas/). "16-118-103. Gambling debts and losses. -- (a)(1) Any person who loses any money or property at any game or gambling device, or any bet or wager whatever, may recover the money or property by action against the person winning the money or property." This does not, however, pertain to turf wagers (as spelled out later in the same code). Betting (gambling) on horses and dogs is okay but betting on anything else is not Đ at least that's how the bill seems to read.

So, does that mean gamblers at the dog tracks in that state can now sue for the some $90 million they spent on slot machines there? Apparently not because "The games at the $40 million track in West Memphis, Ark., are not gambling devices under that state's law because they require skill to spin electronic wheels to match rows of bars, fruit or playing cards." (See www.casinocitytimes.com/news/article.cfm?contentID=166532.)

It takes skill to pull a slot machine handles! That's a new one!

Maybe Americans really do speak with forked tongues, especially the country's politicians. This isn't to say we can't trust our lawmakers but it does make one wonder how they would do at the poker table.

Personally, I miss playing Internet poker because I enjoy playing poker. I don't have a lot of extra time to run around Las Vegas looking for a game. My computer often serves as my recreation and I'd like it back!

Hmmmm. Maybe we can get some politician to back a bill stating that it takes skill to operate a computer and therefore, using the computer to gamble is okay!