Why Poker Should Be Legal

Poker In America: Continued Hipocracy

March 9, 2014

Why Poker Should Be Legal

by Ronald Borst

Poker has been in America ever since the first settler set foot on the east coast. The game has been played in homes, pubs, grange halls, garages, and poker halls. Poker has been a social game, a family fun night, and a life ending proposition. Poker is like baseball, embedded in American culture like a slice of hot apple pie.

In April of 2011, the United States Government seized the three largest online poker sites, citing racketeering and fraud. Online poker has yet to be fully restored in the U.S. Will poker ever have the same stature as it did before April 11, 2011?

Will poker be legal again for Americans? Why is poker illegal? What does the American public say?

Poker History

The history of poker began in England, and followed the exodus to America. Games like whist and bragg, resembled poker and was often played for stakes, or money. Over time, games and tastes changed, and by the Civil War, the game of poker as we know it today, was beginning to take shape.

Poker was easy to play within the confines of male dominated arenas such as an army barrack, but poker was flailing in society. Poker was considered a “swindler's” game, a game of trickery and deceit, and not at all in line with American morality.

For most of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, poker made the rounds from riverboats to backstreet saloons and on to private clubs, quietly building a foundation that would make the game a staple of America for centuries. When communities would find some moral or religious reason to vilify poker, the game would move on. 

 

Then, in the 1950s, Nevada legalized gambling, and made it possible for poker to spread to the masses. By 1970, poker was so popular, that every casino in Las Vegas had a poker room. In the 80s, California legalized poker, saying poker is “a skill game with luck involved.”

Today, casinos are everywhere, and many poker rooms are in these casinos. Outside of casinos, exclusive poker halls do exist. Many cities and towns allow poker halls which host tournaments and cash games, and poker has also enjoyed a “home-game” boom. People host games in their homes, and it is not uncommon to see large poker tournaments in garages and barns.

 

In 2003, Chris Moneymaker(real name), won a satellite tournament online at a poker site called PokerStars. For about fifty dollars, Moneymaker won an entry into the World Series of Poker(WSOP), a tournament he would fatefully win. The prize was a cool $2.5 million.

Poker would blow-up. Online sites sprouted up from all places. Poker rooms were suddenly in every municipality. And so was the paternalistic government, which has banned poker in many places. In Albany Oregon, a municipal code outlaws poker rooms. Just a block outside the Albany city limit, the Black Diamond Poker Room sits, often with a few dozen poker players.

Much like our local politicians, internet poker was in the online crosshairs for some time, and finally in 2011, the U.S. Government banned online poker. In a much hyped seizure, the U.S. shut down three of the largest poker sites, PokerStars, FullTilt Poker, and Absolute Poker.

Today, Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey, have legal poker. Legislation about online casinos is in the future, so once again, players can play poker.

Online Poker

In the late 1990s, internet poker was born. With a blooming internet, poker interest was high. 1999 brought the “Mad Genius of Poker,” Mike Caro, to Planet Poker as its online face and spokesman. By 2005, 50 online cardrooms existed, and by 2008, online poker was a multi-billion dollar business.

With Chris Moneymaker winning a ten-thousand dollar seat to the WSOP by way of a $50 buy-in on the internet, and the popularity of poker on television, poker was at an all-time high. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act would change all that. 

Of the poker sites online in 2011, none may have been bigger than Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt was started by professional poker players, and even had the software written by a high-ranking professional. PokerStars was the other big online poker retailer, and is still operating overseas. Full Tilt was seized by the U.S. feds, after discovering that dozens of professional players had bilked depositors of $350 million dollars.

As of 2014, online poker has made a comeback. Many sites still operate around the world, and some American states have legal online poker. There is continuing political debate as to how to handle the pending legalization of internet poker.

Legislation

The UIGEA was the government's paternal response to the huge business of online poker. The law, in line with an outdated 1950s Wire Act, prohibits internet poker in America.

The United States has a history of paternal law, and poker has been vilified since its beginnings, long before the internet. At each junction in history, poker has become more ethical and regulated, resulting in an easier re-entry into social acceptance.

Most poker laws are knee-jerk reactions to a game that does in fact have cheating issues. Even online, where collusion and software combine to present unique security issues, poker is subject to questionable legislation due to political fears about the safety and morality of online poker. Poker cheating is not common, and security personnel as well as other players, are pretty good at detecting cheats.

In the 1980s, California successfully argued that poker was a “skill game,” and that higher stakes poker was not a “security risk.”

In Oregon, where Keno advertising benefits the state ran gambling games, poker is a municipal issue. Some cities allow it and some don't. But the ones that don't, such as Albany, still sanction the state lottery and its games.

The ideology that poker is somehow a lesser moral game than a lottery scratch-off, is odd at best. Poker law, it would seem, is much about propaganda.

Cheating is a legislator's target, and cheating has occurred in poker at a higher rate than lotto fraud. But to spite a popular and historic game, is not legislation. Real legislation would be to prosecute the American professionals who had a hand in Full Tilt Poker's theft of the American public.

Poker's Future

Poker will not go away. The game has proven too popular and entirely safe. It makes little sense to continue to outlaw a game that is legal to play in your home. It makes even less sense, to sanction and advertise state-run lottery games in the face of outlawed poker.

 

In Nevada, one can play online poker as long as your Internet Provider address is based in Nevada. In New Jersey, the most populated legal gambling state, online poker is legal and is available at any time, along with many other casino type games.

Whether it be online or in a “brick and mortar” establishment, poker absolutely should be legal. The fears surrounding poker scream like a fallacy laden cry from a child. There is very little risk to consumers, very little cheating, and honest taxes to be claimed. Religious innuendo about gambling morals do not apply to poker, let alone internet poker. Sitting in a two-hundred dollar computer chair while playing four tables at a time on a Mac, has little to do with morals and much to do about personal freedom.

 

Laws that restrict poker, while trying to sell keno cards at Safeway, are indeed not what Americans would ever vote for. Poker should not be illegal, plain and simple. The American Civil Liberties Union agrees. In Kentucky, the state attempted to seize domain names from a number of online gambling sites. The ACLU joined a class action suit that looks to limit the state's reach, as even Kentucky does not want the domain names. Kentucky merely is trying to stop “illegal” internet gambling.

 

In Albany, requests during the poker boom, for legal cardrooms, was dismissed. “We have a No Gambling Ordinance,” the city council said. Yet, a dozen video poker “cafes” are in Albany. All of those are state-run lottery video games.

The key here, is the terminology. Legal online cardrooms are the bain of some out-of-date policymakers. Legal online cardrooms are now serving Americans(slowly, due to “in-state” requirements), and in the near future, online poker will return to its former status, as a very busy, around-the-clock poker room.

If Americans were left to vote on the legality of poker rooms, the outcome would be the inevitable. Poker should be legal, and in the near future, will be.

A dining room home-game hand of No-limit Texas Holdem.

Works Cited:

CardPlayer Dec 17, 2008, “the inside straight,” “Kentucky Domain Case Attracts ACLU,” Bob Pajich

Bloomberg Business Week Sep 2011, “Poker Expats In Paradise,” Caroline Winter

Poker1, poker1.com, profile information

L.A. Times, latimes.blog, latimes.com,“Poker sites shut down”

Personal interview with Albany City Council, Council Meeting August 2005