PPA: Action Center

Action Alert

Urge Your Member of Congress to Support HR 1174 H.R. 1174, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act

I have good news to report! On March 17th, Congressman John Campbell (R-CA) introduced H.R. 1174, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, which would establish federal licensing and regulation of Internet gaming, including Internet poker. The bill’s initial cosponsors include Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), Peter King (R-NY) and Ed Perlmutter (D-CO); it has been referred to the House Financial Services Committee.

Take Action

1	Compose Message

Message Recipients:

Your U.S. Senators

Your U.S. House Representative

Delivery Method:

Printed Letter

Subject:

Editable text:

(edit or add your own text - 7339 characters left)

I am a voter, a poker player and I live in your Congressional district.  I am writing today to ask you to co-sponsor H.R. 1174, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act which would license and regulate online poker and other online games.  This is a pro-freedom initiative that protects consumers and raises revenues without raising taxes.

As you know, millions of Americans enjoy the great game of poker on the Internet. Efforts to prohibit this form of recreation and competition are short-sighted and leave American citizens unprotected.  Licensing and regulating Internet poker, as proposed in H.R. 1174, would ensure Americans have the freedom to enjoy this game online as well as provide effective protections for every player as well as children and problem gamblers.  The exact language contained in H.R. 1174 was approved by the full House Financial Services Committee last year during the 111th Congress with broad bi-partisan support.  Your co-sponsorship of this new bill will reaffirm Congress' commitment to establishing a safe and regulated online gaming marketplace.  The alternative is the status quo -- unregulated online gaming in all 50 states!

WiredSafety, the world's largest Internet safety, help and education resource, commissioned an in-depth study of this issue which was conducted by Harvard University.  This groundbreaking study -- "Can Internet Gambling Be Effectively Regulated? Managing the Risks" -- examined issues like blocking of underage participation, prevention of money laundering, and providing of consumer protections against fraud and abuse.  The authors very credibly concluded that "establishment of a well-regulated industry under U.S. jurisdiction would offer far better protection against online gambling's potential social harms than outright prohibition" and that "consumers in the United States would be better protected than they are now" under a regulated system.  The study can be found at www.theppa.org/harvardstudy.  I hope you and your staff will take the time to read this important report and then see the value in co-sponsoring H.R. 1174.

In addition, licensing and regulation would add billions of dollars (up to $41 billion according to a recent Congressional Budget Office study) of Federal revenue that is currently lost and could be used to fund important domestic programs.  Given these difficult economic times our government should not allow billions of revenue (without raising taxes) to go untapped.

I hope I can count on your support to protect me, my fellow poker players, American consumers and Internet freedom by co-sponsoring H.R. 1174.

Tip: Cutting-and-pasting? Save as plain text first.

Your Closing:

Your Name:

2	Sender Information

This system requires that you provide your name and contact information. This information will not be used for any purpose other than to identify you to the recipient.

Your Contact Information:

Prefix (required by some officials)

First *

Last *

Email *

Address *

City *

State *

ZIP *

ZIP + 4

Phone *

	Remember Me! (what's this?)
	Sign me up for the Action E-List.
A copy of your message will be sent to the e-mail address entered above.

(Please click only once.)

PPA: Action Center

Search the PPA

PPA In My State