NROG, New Force Against Online Gambling Ban
Published: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
NROG - A NEW FORCE AGAINST ANY BAN OF ONLINE GAMBLING IN THE USA
Non-profit body formed to fight HR 4411
There's a new and growing force in the online gamblers' fight against legislative bans of online gambling in the USA.
The National Right for Online Gambling (NROG) was formed six weeks ago to stop an online gambling ban proposed by Bill HR 4411 being passed in the US Congress.
The non-profit organization says it will concentrate on informing and educating online gamblers and non-gamblers alike about the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act, its carve-outs and its consequences for all American online gamblers.
Founded by Brian Jakusik, the executive director, and Jason Bailey, the director of development, NROG will draw the attention of the American public to the inequities of the proposed legislation, which has passed in the House of Representatives and now awaits attention in the Senate.
Commenting on the coverage achieved by federal and state officials in pursuing offshore gambling operators, Jakusik claims: "It scares me because there's only one side of the issue out there right now in the media. The politicians supporting the online gambling bill and the arrests of online gambling executives are what people are seeing in the media, so they're not getting a balanced view of the issue. Their only source of information is the media, so they believe what they see there."
Jakusik and Bailey have a different strategy to that deployed by other outfits opposed to an online gambling ban. Most of the organizations already active in this area are directly targeting the politicians to stop the bill. NROG plans to take a different direction by using the media to better educate the American public on the issue and enlist their support.
"So far the politicians and other government officials have been allowed to build a negative image of the online gambling industry without any opposition," Jakusik said. "Our goal is to educate the people on the other side of the issue as well, and we believe that most Americans will be opposed to an online gambling ban when they get all the information."
One of the messages the organization hopes to get across is that most online gambling companies are no different than any other legal, legitimate business. Jakusik said that someone gambling online at home is no different than if they were to go to the corner store for a lotto ticket.
The fight isn't necessarily just about the right for a person to choose to gamble online, or not either. It's an issue of personal freedoms and what limits the government has in interfering in a citizen's personal life.
"Once you give an inch, there's room for them to take more and more," Jakusik said. "If a person isn't allowed to gamble with their own money in their own home, the government will find other ways to infringe on freedom as well."
Jakusik said he thinks there would be a lot of people who've never played poker or gambled online who will step up to support the organization in their fight against the ban because it's a personal freedom issue.
What it will take to get to these people is to tackle the monumental task of educating the public on the issue. "Right now there are people who actually play online who have no idea this is even going on," Bailey said.
The NROG is currently in the first phase of its plan to educate people and fight the online gambling ban. They're working on fundraising, making contacts in Washington D.C. and building membership of people who want to stay informed on the issue.
They're working with a company to conduct a nationwide poll in order to gather information like how many people know about the issue or how many even care. The poll information will help them craft a future media campaign so it's more effective and reaches more people.
"Mass media will be our big push," Bailey said. "There are thousands of outlets we could use tomorrow, but we want to do our research first and build our message and backing."
When the timing is right, the NROG will begin an intense awareness campaign, running in multiple outlets across all mediums. Key elements include target media campaigning in states that will influence opposing congressmen, as well as increasing the nationwide campaign, and focusing on "battleground" states.
US players and citizens can sign up for free membership at www.saveonlinegaming.com. With their membership they'll receive updates on NROG's progress as well as the status of the online gambling bill in Congress. The organization also suggests that people can write or call their state's representatives to let them know they oppose an online gambling ban, or they can send a letter to the editor of their local newspaper expressing their opinion of the legislation.
