The long awaited hearing focusing on internet gambling in the House Financial Services Committee headed by Barney Frank (D-MA) took place last week.  The hearing was only 90 minutes long and did feature witnesses that were in favor of US Regulation of Online Gambling (as opposed to ban), but several strong opponents of online gambling spoke up or provided testimony to cast a negative light on poker.

One of the strongest enemies of online poker is Spencer Bachus (R-AL), the Committee’s Ranking Member, who last year falsely relayed a study linking internet gambling and suicide.  He said Online gamblers can gamble 24 hours a day, seven days a week from home. Children may play without sufficient age verification and they can bet with a credit card. This undercut’s a player’s perception of cash. Young people are particularly at risk because if you put a computer in a bedroom or a dorm room, it’s a temptation that they may fall prey to.  He also stated that UIGEA should have been implemented and finalized two years ago.  He also said, “If Congress repeals the law, online casinos will proliferate. In the next five years, I feel that if [we] are successful in creating a federal right to gamble on the internet, we will create a generation of millions of Americans who from their youth will be addicted to internet gambling and, therefore, life-long problem gamblers.” Barney Frank labeled Bachus’ comments “hyperbole” and “based on no factual basis whatsoever.”

The Tribal Chairman for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, who has been lobbying to have the tribe offer internet gambling in California, came to the hearing against online gambling because it hurts Indian Tribe casino business and was upset Tribes were not consulted about the UIGEA extension.

A letter was released at the hearing, from Shawn Henry, assistant director for the FBI’s cyber division, that stated “Technology exists to manipulate online poker games in that it would only take two or three players working in unison to defeat the other players who are not part of the team. The online poker vendors could detect this activity and put in place safeguards to discourage cheating, although it is unclear what the incentive would be for the vendor.”

The good news is overall the hearing seemed a positive for the online poker industry and the chances for regulation. Chairman Frank opened up the proceedings with the most logical opinion from a freedom-loving American, “I continue to believe it’s a mistake for the Congress of the United States to tell adults what to do with their own money on a voluntary basis. Some adults will spend their money unwisely, but it’s not the business of the Federal Government to prevent them from doing it.”

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