Not sure if anyone noticed this one at end of Oct: WASHINGTON — You've got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em — and that means poker is a game of skill and not luck, a panel of lobbyists, academics and gamblers argued Wednesday on Capitol Hill. The distinction involves a pot potentially worth tens of millions of dollars. Federal law classifies poker as "a game subject to chance," and for such games it bars the transfer of funds from a financial institution to an Internet gambling site. That means online poker players can't use credit cards — a major obstacle for the use of increasingly popular Internet gambling sites. While Internet gambling is illegal in the United States, offshore poker sites have used MasterCard and Visa as international modes of wagering. Leaders of the Poker Players Alliance, claiming 800,000 members nationwide, visited congressional offices and sponsored the Wednesday's forum in an effort to convince lawmakers to change the law. Professional poker champions Chris Moneymaker, Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, Barry Greenstein, Andy Bloch, Vanessa Rousso, Chris Brown and Victor Ramdin were among those making the pitch. High-stakes card tournaments televised by ESPN have made national celebrities of many players of Texas Hold 'Em and other poker variations. "We're poker players. We're here to speak to our legislative representatives," said Charles Nesson, a professor at Harvard Law School and founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The current law is "a disreputable piece of legislation," he said. The Poker alliance supports a bill sponsored by Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., called the Skill Game Protection Act. It would exempt poker, mah-jongg, chess, bridge and other games where contestants compete against each other rather than the "house" from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. "Poker is a game, not a crime," Wexler said. "Millions of Americans enjoy competing with each other in games of skill on the Internet.?We should protect the freedom of law-abiding adults to participate in these great American pastimes." These "games of skill" would not violate the federal law against "bets and wagers" on the Internet, Wexler explained. The current law already exempts horse and harness racing, fantasy sports and lotteries. In a prepared statement, Wexler said his bill creates safeguards to prevent minors from participating in Internet gaming, excludes players in states that forbid Internet game participation, combats fraud and money laundering, provides assistance to persons with gaming addictions, and protects the privacy and security of persons engaged in these games. Keith Whyte, director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, disputed the contention that poker is primarily a game of skill and not luck. "Poker is clearly gambling," he said in a telephone interview. "The majority of the outcome depends on chance." But Whyte said his organization is taking no position on Wexler's legislation and has traditionally remained neutral on whether any particular form of gambling should be legalized or not. Some of the Poker alliance members expressed doubt that Wexler's amendment distinguishing skill and luck will work. "I don't think this is an argument that's going to get a lot of legislative traction," said Radley Balko, senior editor of Reason magazine. "For people pushing this (online gambling) ban, this is a moral issue." The poker proponents are supporting two other legislative remedies. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., has introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2007, which would amend federal tax codes to regulate — and tax — online gambling. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007 to license and regulate online gambling sites while also banning Internet gambling on sports. The bill allows states to opt out of the licensing system if they want to ban all Internet gaming or certain types. Sitting on the Capitol Hill poker panel, Lederer — known as "the Professor" because of his scholarly demeanor at the card table — said poker is "a wonderful form of entertainment that massages your mind." Lederer decried the current law as "leaving it up to the banks to figure out what is legal and what is not" — punishing the financial institutions that allow credit cards to be used for online gambling without setting strict parameters. The result, the panelists said, is overly strict interpretation. Attorney Kenneth Adams advised the alliance to create "a group of single-issue voters" for whom legalization of online poker is the defining issue on how they cast their votes. Then "make sure the poker voters go to the polls," he said.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 7, 2007 Mr. WEXLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, and section 1084 of title 18 of such Code to clarify the applicability of such provisions to games of skill, and establish certain requirements with respect to such games, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act shall be known as the `Skill Game Protection Act'. SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. The Congress finds as follows: (1) Millions of Americans enjoy competing with other players in a variety of games of skill, including bridge, mah-jong, backgammon, and poker, over the Internet, where the operator provides the Internet venue for competition and receives a fee for such service. (2) For some Americans, these games provide their primary source of income. (3) While each of these games contains an element of chance, over any substantial interval, a player's success at any of these games is determined by that player's relative level of skill and is widely recognized as such. (4) Games where success is predominantly determined by the skill of the players involved, as a matter of law and of policy, are distinct from the games of chance traditionally described and addressed in Federal and State gambling statutes. (5) Despite the fact that the language in section 1084 of title 18, United States Code, commonly referred to as the `Wire Act', has been interpreted by Federal courts as applying only to betting on sports, some in law enforcement interpret the section as prohibiting the acceptance of both sports and non-sports betting through a communications device. (6) The Federal Government should take appropriate steps to ensure that, with respect to skill games-- (A) minors are prevented from playing for money; (B) persons with compulsive behavior should be identified and referred to treatment; (C) operators of such games should not be vulnerable to, or participate in criminal or terrorist money laundering; and (D) appropriate taxes are collected. SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION. Section 1084 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (f) `(f) As used in this section, the term `bets or wagers' does not include operating, or participation in, poker, chess, bridge, mahjong or any other game where success is predominantly determined by a player's skill, to the extent that-- `(1) the game provides for competition only between and among participants, and not against the person operating the game; and `(2) the operator is in compliance with regulations issued pursuant to section 5368 of title 31, United States Code.'. SEC. 4. SAFEGUARDS. (a) In General- Subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section: `Sec. 5368. Games of skill `Before the end of the 180-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of the Skill Game Protection Act, the Secretary shall prescribe regulations requiring each person who operates a game of skill on the Internet to maintain the following: `(1) Appropriate safeguards to ensure that the individual participant depositing funds is 18 years of age or older. `(2) Appropriate safeguards to ensure that the individual participant is physically located in a jurisdiction that does not bar participation in the particular Internet games of skill in which the individual participates at the time in the individual participates. `(3) Appropriate mechanisms to ensure that all taxes relating to Internet games of skill due to Federal and State governments and to Indian tribes from individual participants are collected as required by at the time of any payment of any proceeds of Internet games of skill. `(4) Appropriate safeguards to combat fraud and money laundering as may be prescribed by regulations issued by the Secretary or a designee of the Secretary. `(5) Appropriate safeguards to combat compulsive participation in Internet games of skill. `(6) Appropriate safeguards to protect the privacy and security of any person engaged in Internet games of skill.'. (b) Clerical Amendment- The table of sections for subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 5367 the following new item: `5368. Games of skill.'. SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. (a) Nonapplicability to Games of Skill- Section 5362(1)(E) of title 31, United States Code, is amended-- (1) by striking `or' at the end of clause (viii); (2) by striking the period at the end of clause (ix) and inserting `; or'; and (3) by adding at the end the following new clause: `(x) participation in any activity which does not constitute `bets or wagers' within the meaning of section 1084(f) of title 18 and is operated in compliance with the regulations issued pursuant to section 5368.'. (b) Nonapplicability to Non-Sports Wagering- No provision of this Act, or amendment made by this Act to any other provision of law, shall be construed as implying that section 1084 of title 18, United States Code, applies or applied to non-sports wagering before or after the enactment of this Act.
