Poker Week Brings in More Sponsors
July 30, 2009
The poker community has a friend in Rep. Barney Frank. He has been
fighting for the rights of poker players and online gamblers for some time
now and he constantly lets them know that they are at the forefront of their
thinking. He is concerned with making online poker and gambling legal again
and has been working hard to get legislation passed that would make that
happen.
However, with the economy being what it is, the bill got pushed back and
other things took precedence over whether or not poker and gambling would be
legal again in an online capacity. With this in mind, Frank came to the
World Series of Poker and told them what was going on, and told them how
important the initial support of his co-sponsor, Rep. Ron Paul, had been.
He said that because so many of the Republicans were against online gambling
and poker playing that it was important for them to see that one of their
own was for the bill. Frank said that it split the group so that they were
torn between their members that are “ardent social conservatives” and the
newer members of the Republican Party who did not think that online poker
playing or gambling should be illegal.
Giving that speech seems to have created more of a buzz for the poker bill
though, as three more sponsors have signed on to support the bill. They all
agree that online poker playing and gambling should be legal, it should be
regulated, and it should be safe for all players. They say that freedom of
the internet is the most important thing, and that by limiting it they are
limiting their basic rights under law.
