Why Poker Legislation is needed in the US!

We continue to get closer and closer to Legalized and Regulated Online Poker in the United States. This Legislation is very much needed, in my opinion.  Even for non-poker players Legislation has plenty of benefits and should be supported.

While it remains harder and harder to play Online Poker in the United States, other countries have moved much faster in passing Legislation. Countries around the world are able to enjoy the freedom of playing Poker from the comfort of their own homes in a regulated and legal market. We don't have that freedom in the United States. While you can still play Poker Online from the United States, it is far from safe and legal as we all learned on Black Friday. The list of sitesthat still accept US players continue to get smaller. Some of the Poker sites that are still accepting US players have been forced to block players from specific states because of the state laws that exist in those states.

With the recent Debt Crisis legalizing and regulating Online Poker could bring a much needed new revenue stream. It's estimated that regulating Online Poker could bring in $42 Billion in new revenue to the Federal Budget over the course of ten years. It would also provide states with additional revenue streams. With US citizens still playing Online Poker despite the Department of Justice's recent crackdowns, I would rather those revenue streams remain in the United States, rather than a foreign country.

Our country is in one of the worst economic periods since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans are unemployed. The crackdown on Internet Poker on Black Friday only added to the number of Americans that are unemployed. Thousands of Americans made their living playing Online Poker Professionally. Thousands more Americans were employed by Affiliate Sites, Poker Coaching/Training Sites, and web design sites. Most of these players are unable to make the same living in the current US Online Poker climate because the sites still accepting US players have smaller player pools and they do not offer the same High Stakes as the Sites that were seized on Black Friday. Legislation would not only give these US citizens their jobs back, but it would also bring the offshore Poker Sites onto American soil which would create thousands of jobs including: Customer Service Positions, Marketing Positions, Technology Positions, Computer Programming and Networking Positions, etc....

Some may argue that legalizing Online Poker would open the door for problem Gamblers and Underage Gamblers. In fact, the opposite would happen under Government Regulation. Currently, we rely on these off shore Poker Sites to police Problem Gamblers and Underage Gamblers. Can we really trust that these off shore sites have the best interest of these individuals in mind? The current Off Shore sites cannot possibly catch all the Problem Gamblers and Underage Gamblers even if that was their intention. Good Federal Legislation would set up various detection methods to deter Problem Gamblers and Underage Gamblers.

The United States has always been the leader in terms of Freedom. It's time to get back to that and give US Poker Players the freedom to play in a legal, safe, and regulated Poker Market. Currently their are multiple bills to Legalize and Regulate Online Poker at the state level and there is also a Federal Bill. As US citizens we need to contact our Congressmen and let them know that we stand for Freedom and that we stand for Legalized, Regulated, and Safe Online Poker for various reasons including those mentioned above!