Last week, CBS News program “60 Minutes” ran a feature story outlining the cheating scandals that erupted on online poker rooms Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker. The story claimed on multiple occasions that online poker was “illegal” in the United States. Jim Waters, Director of Policy and Communications for the Bluegrass Institute, sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss the episode.
To Waters, the 60 Minutes story demonstrated that the industry’s participants, in this case the players, were able to govern the industry adequately. Waters told Poker News Daily, “It was interesting that the players themselves saw this problem. This is an example of what happens when government tries to get involved in regulating matters that should be left up to individual liberty and choice.” The United States Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006, which prohibited the transfer of money to “unlawful internet gambling” activities. However, no definition of this term was given. Banks and other financial institutions are ultimately charged with its enforcement.
The Bluegrass Institute is focused on limiting government interference in free market activities and is based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Waters commented, “Individuals with proper incentive will usually do the right thing if allowed to. When government gets involved, it has to serve special interests and political issues. It may or may not even consider the Constitution. Individuals who have the incentive to do the right thing will do a better job than an outside force would. Who spends your money better than you?”
Waters and company have been focused on the case in Kentucky regarding the seizure and potential forfeiture of 141 internet gambling domain names. On Friday, December 12th, a Court of Appeals in Louisville, the largest city in the state, will hear arguments from the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) and Interactive Gaming Council (IGC). The Court of Appeals elected to hear the arguments made by IGC and iMEGA that the Commonwealth did not have jurisdiction to act and that the seizing of domain names violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.
In Waters’ eyes, there is an important parallel between the 60 Minutes story and the case in Kentucky. He commented, “The parallel is that, while cheating should not be acceptable to any of us in any realm, sometimes the solution to a problem is much more harmful than the problem itself. The solution is much worse when you talk about seizing website domain names and using the courts to determine individual choice.”
Many have questioned why Beshear would want to seize 141 internet gambling domain names in the first place. Arguments have ranged from moral reasons to wanting to protect the state’s horse racing industry and lottery. Waters hypothesized, “There’s a lot of hypocrisy involved. I question the motives of the government and those involved in wanting to seize these sites. I don’t think it’s because they want to protect Kentucky from the evils of gambling. It’s because they want to protect their own economic interests.”
TwinSpires.com is a site that allows online wagering on horse racing. It is owned by the parent company of Kentucky-based Churchill Downs and is not among the 141 internet gambling domain names named in the suit. Moreover, the Kentucky Lottery has an online option for second chance entries of tickets. Judge Thomas Wingate, a Circuit Court judge, upheld the actions by Beshear, claiming that the internet, despite its advances, was not above the law.
Waters summed up his hopes for the proceedings on Friday in Louisville: “Hopefully, the Court of Appeals will uphold, defend, and protect the Constitution. It’s not the Judiciary Branch’s job to make laws or get involved in how these operations run. It’s their job to look at the case in the light of the law and what our rights are.”
