Annie Duke Testifies for PPA
The hearing for bill HR 2267 was held before the House Committee on Financial Services on July 21. HR 2267 seeks to legalize online poker and online casino gambling in the United States and put in place a regulatory mechanism for the same. Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has for long been in the forefront as a nodal agency fighting for the legalization of online poker. It chose Annie Duke (also of Celebrity Apprentice fame) as its representative to speak in support of the bill.
The complete testimony of Annie Duke is available at the PPA web site. The salient points she made were as under. Annie said that she had just returned from the WSOP. She pointed out that the WSOP is the third most watched sporting event in the world and that this growth has been fuelled by Internet poker. However the issue at stake is greater. HR 2267 gives back to individual Americans the right “to do what they want in the privacy of their homes without the intrusion of the government”; a personal freedom that was taken away by the UIGEA. She accepted that those who opposed online poker had the laudable motives of protection of minors and those afflicted with pathological gambling at heart. However she pointed out that “public policy need not decide between respecting individual freedoms and protecting vulnerable populations in the context of Internet Poker.” HR 2267 addresses both issues satisfactorily. Annie stressed that American poker players want to play on sites licensed in the United States so that they are under the protection of their own government and can use their own laws to redress any grievances should they arise. She also said that American poker players and poker sites licensed in the United States would be more than willing to pay taxes in America.
Annie was bold enough to refer to the Ultimate Bet super user scandal. She said that she continued to endorse the site after she was sure that the new management had made amends and had voluntarily refunded the cheated players. She made the point that under regulation it could be ensured that online operators have adequate security measures in place, are independently tested and operate under American law.
Despite this powerful testimony the general opinion is that nothing will come out of the hearing. The matter will not be put to vote before the mid term elections and if the Republicans take over the House in November then time would count in years and not months.
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