Poker Perambulation

Remember this one?  It was a letter to our State Attorney General.   He wrote in support of the UIGEA and the PPA wanted me to contact him and surely knew it was already an illegal activity to play online poker in Indiana.   Their suggestion that I contact the state's premier law enforcer about my bad habits seemed to miss the appropriate risk:reward.  But, fish that I am, I did it anyway. 

The Governor did forward it for me.  Nice man.  And I got the following response:

Proposals before Congress to loosen restrictions on Internet gambling by licensing online gaming operations through the federal government would tread on the state’s authority and send the wrong message, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said.

 “As attorney general, my job description requires me to defend the ability of our state to pass its own state laws and not have them nullified or preempted by the federal government. The proposals before Congress would likely undermine the gambling enforcement powers of states,” Zoeller said.

“While serious objections to this legislation have been raised by those in professional sports, college athletics and other groups — who warn that licensing online gaming will open the floodgates to gambling addiction by youth and adults, ruined credit and the potential for corruption and organized crime — there are other valid reasons to be concerned about this legislation.”

To which I replied:

His quote is, at best disingenuous.  Those who use addition statistics either misquote or are very selective in their quotes.   Gambling is addictive for some.  Over the years, with and without state licensed tracks, OTB, Lotteries, and Casino, the percentage of problem gamblers has remained fixed.  So, your quote to me leaves me with less respect for your boss than I had before.  Time for him to do his homework.

Related posts:

1. Interesting amounts
2. Word Count 311 — Content Zero
3. PPA wants me to turn myself in
4. Alts Test
5. Let’s Gambool