Players try to vote poker onto Obama agenda

Online poker players and poker supporters in general now have a chance to get their thoughts on legalizing online poker onto President-Elect Barack Obama’s radar.

Obama has asked the American people for input on what they would like to see him do over the next four years. In order to make that happen, the Obama transition team has set up an area of their Web site, Change.gov, to gather that input.

The section is called the Citizen’s Briefing Book, and gives people a place to submit their ideas for Obama to focus on as well as to vote on the ideas already there that they agree with.

One topic already suggested on the site is the legalization and regulation of online poker. There are four topics on the subject, but one in particular, “Boost America’s Economy with Legal Online Poker,” already has more than 1,000 comments and is ranked among the top vote getters on the site.

This is a chance for poker players in the United States to have their voices heard on the issue of online poker and poker players’ rights.

The Poker Players Alliance has already put out a call to action to get its members voting and leaving comments on the site.

“Together, we can all let Obama know that we demand our rights!” says the organization on its Web site.

The idea is that players want to have the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act reversed, or at least get exclusion for online poker because it is a game of skill.

One comment came from a poster calling himself dboy. He wrote:

This is win/win, the government can stop attempting to limit the freedoms of Americans to spend their time and money as they please, and in return gain billions per year in tax revenue.

Even if you are against poker, no one is forcing you to play, but you will benefit from the taxes collected from those who do.

Poker is a skill game that is NOT played against the house, so there are also many skilled americans who earn additional income from it and the government should not be trying to take that away.

We have to realize that gambling is never going away, and we must also realize that it is better to regulate it than to prohibit it (because prohibitions do not work).

Americans who would like to help vote up legalizing online poker so Obama will give it a serious look when he begins his term can go to Change.gov and register. Once you’ve registered, do a search for UIGEA or online poker.

One of the results will be “Boost America’s Economy with Legal Online Poker.” Once you click on it, you can vote it up and add in your own comments as well.

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