A group of about 100 people arrived in Washington this week to lobby for the legalization of online poker. And considering that many of the 100 people are among America’s top poker players, it wouldn’t be wise to bet against them.
Chad Brown, Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, and Vanessa Rousso showed up; if you enjoy poker (and even if you don’t), you’ll probably recognize some of these names. “[Y]es, it can be used as a vice,” admitted Lederer to Anne Broache, “but for most of us it’s a wonderful form of entertainment that actually massages your mind, gets you thinking.”
And for that reason, poker is a game of skill, according to the group that lobbied Congress. Online poker’s problems come mostly as a result of it being considered a game of chance. The group supports bills that would still regulate online poker – allowing addicts, cheats, and children to be barred – but would also allow money to be bet.
Such bills might appease the EU and WTO, which believe that, by banning online gambling, the US has violated trade agreements. They might even make Yahoo happy – the company launched Yahoo Poker Online on its site for the UK and Ireland about five months ago, and expanding it into America would probably require little more than some currency conversions.
