Florida to legalise Online Gambling?
24th November, 2009
An article found on eGaming Review reports that the long awaited report on internet poker in Florida could be a major factor for whether the state legalizes the online game.
The report is 12 pages in length and was prepared by Florida’s office of program policy analysis and Government accountability (OPPAGA). The report is like to inflame all sides of the debate and is expected to be present to the Florida Senate at the end of the month.
The document suggests three options for the future of online poker in Florida. Firstly, wait for congress to legalise poker on a federal level; secondly prohibit online poker; thirdly authorize and regulate the game. The report seeks to find a solution with a neutral path among the three options.
For the first option OPPAGA notes, ‘this option would not require any state action, [it] also would not establish additional consumer protections for Florida residents who play Internet poker’ and that ‘at this time, the possibility for passage of federal legislation is questionable.’
However with the send option of making online poker illegal the study comments, ‘a law to prohibit Internet gambling could be difficult to enforce, as anyone with the appropriate equipment and Internet connections can play online poker in the privacy of his or her own home.’
The study however, continues to discuss the positives of outlawing the game, ‘a Florida law outlawing internet poker help limit the negative social consequences of Internet gambling,’ continuing that un-named ‘opponents of gambling expansion argue that prevalence of gambling addiction is three to four times higher with Internet gambling than with non-Internet gambling.’
The argument that online poker could generate $90m in tax has been rejected as, ‘expanding authorised gambling in the state to include Internet gambling could generate revenue [but] at this time no objective estimates exist to assess potential state revenues.’
The report concludes, ‘in the United States, the Department of Justice interprets federal statutes to prohibit all forms of Internet gambling; however the department’s interpretation relies upon some federal laws that predate the Internet. Florida law does not specifically address Internet poker or other forms of gambling”…”While Florida law does not expressly prohibit Internet Gambling… according to [Attorney General] opinion, the Wire Act provisions, in combination with state law, prohibit an individual from placing a bet or wager by wire communication or via the Internet.’
By Faye
