PPA Library Blog

[MT] Response from Sen. Max Baucus (07/03/08) - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: [MT] Response from Sen. Max Baucus (07/03/08)

Thank you for getting in touch with your support for legal online poker. I appreciate hearing from you on this issue. American law has always reflected our ambivalence towards gambling. Anti-gambling laws were common in colonial America, yet even then the lottery was a popular form of public finance. A majority of states continue to outlaw most forms of gambling, but most also continue to employ a lottery as a means of public finance and to allow several other forms of gambling as well. The Wire Act (1994) made the use of telecommunications to conduct gambling a federal crime. Consequently, online gambling was illegal well before the popularization of internet poker. As you are aware, The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) seeks to cut off the flow of revenue to unlawful Internet gambling businesses in a variety of manners. Online gambling was illegal previous to this, but only now is rigorously enforced through the UIGEA provisions. Recently, the game of poker has experienced a renaissance in popularity and participation. If and when gambling issues are brought up in the Senate, rest assured that I will take into account your thoughts on this matter. Thanks again for sharing your ideas on this evolving topic. Please feel free to contact me in the future with any additional concerns. Senator Max Baucus