Poker Hearings on IGREA Bill - Underage Gambling

I've been reading the news from Congress from latest rounds of hearings on online poker. It sounds like the online gambling hearing last Friday in front of the House Financial Services Committee was a real circus.

The House Financial Services Committee decides whether the Barney Frank IGREA bill should go before Congress. So these hearings are pivotal for the future of American online poker. Many gambling experts appeared before Congress to inform the congressional committee. Unfortunately, the expert testimony was overshadowed by what I consider a specific case.

ENTER: GREG HOGAN

Greg Hogan is a pastor whose son went to prison for attempted robbery of a bank. Hogan claims his son robbed the bank due to debts from online gambling.

This seems a little dramatic for my tastes.

First, the idea that a kid robbed a bank to pay off online gambling debts seems a little shaky to me. This conjures up Hollywood images of mobsters showing up at the dorms and threatening to break knee caps if the debts aren't paid.

But we're talking about online gambling debts. The most that could have happened was that Greg Jr. had maxed out his credit cards. So Hogan had joined a mass of college students with crippling credit card debt.

ONLINE GAMBLING ENFORCERS?

Were the gambling debts going to force him to miss tuition payments? Lose his car? What was he facing, that Greg Hogan decided he had to rob a bank to get out of his predicament?

Nothing. He didn't want to ask Dad for cash. According to ktrk news, young Greg bet $50 and won up to $300 quickly. So he thought it was easy money. But when he lost all his money, Greg (pictured above) says he was "in a rage". Instead of asking family members to loan him money to pay off his debts, he decided to rob a bank.

That hardly sounds like the act of a rational person. But instead of looking at whatever personal failings Greg Hogan Jr. has which might have led to the bank robbery attempt, it is implied that online gambling will lead to this kind of situation with youths across America.

Don't get me wrong. It's awful that a pastor's kid went to prison. I hate that a gambling addiction may have in some way helped led him to commit crimes. But does that mean everyone's right to privacy should be taken away, because a college student robbed a bank to pay off online gambling debts? I don't think so.

Unfortunately, this seemed to get the entire hearing off on a tangent.

SPIN AND COUNTERSPIN

Shelly Berkley used the Hogan case to push her 1-year study of gambling, which will put legislation off for a year to "study the problem". It also required a long discussion of the technology of online gambling, to ensure that young Americans are not drawn into gambling addiction. Men like Keith Whyte of the National Council on Problem Gambling and Andrew Poole of the Online Services for GamCare were called to inform the committee.

Whyte argued that the technology exists to limit problem gambling. The internet also offers unprecedented opportunities to educate problem gamblers about their condition. Whyte was good enough to mention the truth, that outlawing online poker will only drive the game into the darkest recesses of the internet.

The U.S. government can prohibit gambling, driving legitimate businesses out of the industry. Or it can regulate gambling, to make it safer for gamblers of all stripes, including problem gamblers.

JULIA CARSON OF INDIANA

One bright bit of poker news is when the committee talked about online horse track betting and online casinos. When it was mentioned that horse betting is allowed online, but poker isn't, Representative Julia Carson seemed to be astounded. She asked if someone could bet on the Kentucky Derby online. When said they could, she changed her stance on the gambling bills.

Though Mrs. Carson voted for the UIGEA, she said she would vote for the IGREA. She found the hypocrisy of our current federal gambling legislation a compelling argument.

Put aside the fact that U.S. representatives don't understand the basic arguments of the legislation they are voting on. The UIGEA was tacked on to the Safe Port Act at the last minute, so a lot of congressmen had no idea what they were voting into law.

I guess that's what these hearings are for. We are trying to introduce our politicians about proposed new poker laws. It's frustrating, but at least this issues are being brought up in committee. We will need all the Julia Carsons we can get, if we are going to overturn the existing gambling laws.

OTHER ARTICLE ON RECENT GAMBLING LEGISLATION

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Poker Hearings on IGREA Bill - Underage Gambling