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Poker stars hit back at anti-gambling legislators

2006-04-06 18:00:00

Three of the world's top poker players have travelled to Washington DC to lobby the United States government to change its stance on online gambling.

Poker professionals Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Greg Raymer, are urging Congress to reject three bills aimed at banning US citizens from gambling on the internet.

The trio joined the Poker Players Alliance at a press conference and pointed out that poker is legal in casinos in the US and so should be permitted online.

Internet gaming is illegal in the US, but millions of Americans play in online casinos based overseas. The bills propose to stop this practice by allowing banks to monitor customers' transactions with overseas gambling sites and allowing courts to order internet service providers to shut down access to internet gaming websites.

Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance, said: "Monitoring what American citizens do in their own homes, with their own money and in their own time just isn't the federal government's responsibility."

Online gambling by US players generates an estimated $6 billion a year and the Poker Players Alliance, which represents 20,000 players, wants Congress to legalise online gambling so that it can be better regulated, taxed and monitored.

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