While I would commend Duke, Lederer, and Hellmuth for their part in trying to make these people see sense, I find myself wondering whether the main reasons/excuses for banning it, addictiveness, debt, poverty etc are justifiable to poker itself.
On the most part, online poker players improve over time thus limiting their losses etc, and in a lot of cases improve their financial situation.
It is usually the newbies ( fish ) that afford others to make a buck or two, until they themselves improve to a degree that allows them to profit or float along at an affordable level.
Would it be fair to say that
online casinos albeit that many operate both
poker sites and casino games, hold the most responsibility for addiction and debt.
Were any of their high brow promoters alongside Duke and the likes?
Slot machines for example are very addictive and are dependant on the click of a button while having no skill factor involved, and no scope to improve your game play, thus always relying on luck and prayer.
Surely these are the types of games that should be targeted if indeed the powers that be are genuinely concerned about the well being of the average American family.
If horse race betting is allowed then surely online poker should be too, they both require a certain amount of knowledge, thought, skill, and preparation and don't depend on pure 100% luck.
If they are so adamant on taking the moral high ground then let them target games of chance and not games of experience and skill such as horse racing and poker, well poker, as horse racing appears to be above reproach.
I suppose that old argument still arises whether or not poker is a game of chance or not, we all know it isn't, but until the powers that be admit it is a lot more than that, this type of thing will continue to damage the game.
The Lotto is a game of pure chance but is allowed to continue, and I suppose the reasons for that is the fact that money goes back into the community for good causes etc, maybe if poker went the same way things might be different.
A lot of the big name players are renowned for their charitable work within the poker community often gathering large sums of money from fellow players through various events, so to some degree they are already like a lottery.
It just seems very strange to me the way things are moving with regards to online gambling in the USA, and if this is a federal thing then its time to close down Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City etc to show they mean business ( as if ).
Keep your chins up across the pond, something good will come of it all and like the rest of us, you can go back to starving your children on a daily basis with your evil $2 S & G event.
