Alfonse D'Amato speaks out about regulating online poker

Poker News / Matthew Pitt / 28 July 2010 / Leave a Comment

Alfonse D'Amato

Alfonse D'Amato, the outspoken chairman of the Poker Players Alliance discussed the possibility of regulating online poker in the United States in an article entitled, "On poker, are politicians listening?"

D'Amato, a 72-year old Republican, is no stranger to voicing his opinions after a career as a United States Senator spanning 18-years. Often referred to as brash and known for his sometimes controversial humour, D'Amato once stalled the passing of a bill a military bill in 1986 by talking for 23 hours and 30 minutes including reciting the entire phonebook of the District of Columbia! This particular speech was the second longest filibuster in US history.

Although his article on regulating online poker in the States was nowhere near as long, it did still hit home on a number of key points, points that will hopefully be fresh in the minds of the representatives at Capitol Hill for today's markup of HR2267, a bill that highlights how to licence and regulate online gambling.

He began by mentioning the popularity of online poker and commended the support it had received in the past couple of years. The Poker Players Alliance has urged its members, and online poker players in general, to write to their congressmen and women or email them to show their support for the game of online poker. Speaking of this, D'Amato said, "It takes real passion to get people to take valuable time out of their day to log onto these websites, give up a portion of their privacy and cast their vote for an issue," before adding, "So it is extraordinary that making Internet poker legal consistently ranks as a top issue for the American people."

One of the major problems poker playing US-citizens have faced in recent times is withdrawing their money from their favourite poker sites as cheques have often bounced and making a deposit has also become increasingly difficult, the the point of impossible for some recreational players. On this D'Amato said, "The fact that America has not already regulated Internet poker but has actually tried to prohibit it by deputizing U.S. banks to play the morality police is bizarre." before stating that despite this playing poker online is still relatively easy for anyone to do but they are doing so with no federal oversight because there are no US companies to regulate.

With the United States facing a three trillion dollar budget deficit, D'Amato believes this could be an angle to get online poker regulated and licensed. Despite the controversy surrounding online poker, the winning players of the game are still taxed in the United States although it is believed there are more that do not file taxes than those who do. On this D'Amato said, "By refusing to regulate this industry, the federal government has also decided to refuse to tax it. That means that billions of dollars in potential tax revenue go uncollected. This is just about the only industry I know of that has basically begged to be taxed -- only to be ignored by politicians who refuse to listen to the desires of the American people."

The House Financial Services Committee were going to discuss the markup of HR2267 yesterday but the two bills above it took too much time to discuss and the hearing was postponed until today. Today's discussion could see the first true steps being taken to fully licence and regulate the online gambling industry in the States, something we should all want. Regardless of the outcome of today's scheduled meeting it is certain Alfonse D'Amato will have something to say about it.