The House Judiciary Committee will begin the debate on online poker on Friday and vote on whether House Resolution 4777,  better known as the Internet Gaming Prohibition Act, should be passed on for full consideration from the House of Representatives.

This is one of the bills, sponsored by Virginia Representative Bob Goodlatte, which is currently floating around Washington, DC that would legally ban Americans from playing online poker and other gambling sites through the blocking of transferring funds to the offshore sites.

The bill also calls to enforce that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the US remove gaming links to such poker and casino sites and would also force financial institutions to monitor the spending habits of their customers and report violations.

Ethan Ruby,a disabled American recently sent a letter to his representative in the House, Rep. Jim Langevin, to point out the effect that passage of HR 4777 would have on his life. Mr. Ruby said he has enjoyed the benefits of the contact that not only the Internet but also online poker has provided to himself and other persons in his situation.

“The expansion of the Internet has truly revolutionized how people with disabilities communicate with family, friends, and others throughout the world,” his letter said.”I urge members of the Disability Caucus to oppose any attempts by Congress to prevent Americans from enjoying the game of poker on the Internet due to the unintended consequences it will have on the disabled community.”

Mr. Ruby’s goes on to state that online gaming benefits “those who cannot easily leave their homes or go to a casino, online poker allows them to compete as equals, something that is not available in other sports.”

Michael Bolcerek, the president of the Poker Players Alliance, is also in Washington performing last minute lobbying with members of the House Committee. The PPA has spearheaded the drive to stop the Goodlatte resolution, HR 4777, from  becoming a law.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 25th, 2006 at 9:51 am and is filed under Online Poker, Poker Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.