Former US Senator Bill Frist believed that poker is a game of chance when he created the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. The law prohibited US-based banks from conducting financial transactions with online gaming websites, including many of the popular online poker sites. The act nearly killed online poker in the US, with most of the major sites withdrawing their support for American customers.
The Poker Players Alliance believes that poker is a game of skill and has campaigned to get the UIGEA either revoked or revised to exclude poker. The law currently excludes transactions involving horse racetracks and state lotteries, but still precludes banks from dealing with online poker sites. Representatives of the PPA have testified before Congress that poker is a game of skill and that it should enjoy the same exclusion.
Dr. James Dobson believes that poker is a game of chance and that it is destructive to the American way of life. In 1999, he wrote that gambling “destroys marriages, undermines the work ethic, increases crime, motivates suicide, [and] destroys the financial security of families”. He has spoken out against efforts to exclude poker from the UIGEA regulations.
US Congressman Barney Frank believes that poker is a game of skill. He has sponsored a bill, called the Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, which would regulate online gaming, including online poker sites, with legal oversight, licensing fees and taxation. The PPA has endorsed Congressman Frank’s legislation, believing it would be a model for a safe, legal internet gaming industry in the US.
Regardless of how stridently the hardliners on each side of the issue strive to make their points, the argument over how much skill (or luck) is involved in success at poker will not die down any time soon.
