Poker Big Guns In Bismark
Published: Friday, March 11, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
POKER BIG GUNS IN BISMARK
Support from the experts as poker Bill debate
continues
Some high powered industry personalities were gathering in North
Dakota this week to show their support for a proposal to legalise online poker.
Associated Press reports that the 2004 World Series of Poker champ, Greg Raymer
is among a contingent of poker industry officials visiting North Dakota who are
lobbying for a bill that could make it the first U.S. state to license Internet
poker sites.
Raymer spoke at a news conference in the state capital Bismark
organised by Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, who is sponsoring legislation to authorize
state licensing and regulation of Internet poker sites.
A resident of
Stonington, Conn., and a former biotechnology patent attorney for Pfizer, the
pharmaceutical company, Raymer won the World Series of Poker last year. The annual
Las Vegas event drew more than 2,500 players last April, and Raymer's victory
earned him a $5 million prize, paid in cash.
No U.S. state licenses Internet
poker sites, and a group of industry officials and experts said Monday that North
Dakota could reap a financial windfall if the state is the first to take the plunge.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Bill this week.
Several
officials, including Frank Catania, an attorney and former top New Jersey gambling
regulator and independent director of the online casino regulator eCOGRA, and
Patrick O'Brien, a lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and former U.S. customs agent,
disputed U.S. Justice Department statements that Internet gambling is illegal.
"It's very easy (for the Justice Department) to write a letter, but it's
something else to get into court and defend that letter," O'Brien said.
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman, an attorney who is an owner of Card Player magazine
and chief executive officer of the poker Web site CardPlayer.com, said she believes
poker is a game of skill, rather than gambling.
Raymer agreed, although
he said "luck is a huge element" in poker. He played poker as a part-time
professional for a dozen years before winning the World Series, and he never had
a losing year, although he had stretches where he lost more than he won, Raymer
said.
"I know plenty of other people out there who have supported
themselves just from playing poker for long periods of time," Raymer said.
"Clearly, if it was a game of just luck, which you can say about things like
roulette, craps and slot machines, they could not have made a living for all that
period of time by playing poker, because they're not going to stay lucky for decades."
Related Online Poker Links:
Basic Internet Poker Information
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Partypoker - Poker Room Review
