Former FBI Director gives backing to online poker

Former FBI Director gives backing to online poker

Saturday, 17 September 2011

As the battle to legalise online poker in America continues one lobby group has received some heavyweight backing. FairPlayUSA, which is campaigning to get the US Congress to regulate online poker, has added former FBI Director Louis Freeh and former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge to its Advisory Board.

“Current federal laws fail to provide U.S. law enforcement vital tools to address illegal internet gambling, enabling a ‘wild-west’ atmosphere,” said Freeh. “I am joining FairPlayUSA to improve this environment by clarifying these laws, better empowering law enforcement agencies to crack down on violators and using licensing and regulation to ensure safe and legal online poker.”


In a statement released yesterday, FairPlayUSA stated, “Current laws that attempt to prohibit Internet gambling have failed to stop the illegal Internet gambling market from growing to $6 billion in the United States, which exposes minors to Internet gambling sites of all kinds, adult consumers to potential fraud with no legal recourse in dealing with unregulated operators and denies states the right to opt out of online poker.”


“States and tribes have rights that must be protected by authorizing them to decide for themselves whether to accept or prohibit online poker and make use of sophisticated technologies already in use in other industries to enforce those decisions,” said former Governor Ridge.


An amendment to an online gaming bill in Massachusetts that would allow online poker cleared its first hurdle earlier this week. The alteration will now be debated in the Massachusetts Senate before being put to a vote.


Voters in New Jersey will get the chance to vote in a referendum on sports betting in November.



Tags: legislation, FairPlayUSA