Stop Predatory Gambling

Key predatory internet gambling supporters don’t lose their own money gambling online

by Les

As the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Manufacturing subpanel prepares to hold a hearing Tuesday on Internet gambling, it is important to note that four of the leading proponents of legalizing predatory internet gambling, including the bill’s chief sponsor, don’t lose any of their own money gambling online.  They are distinguished members of The Smartest Guys Not in the Room list- a remarkable list of casino owners, slot machine designers and public officials who profit from and promote gambling but don’t gamble themselves.

Congressman Joe Barton, the lead sponsor of the bill to allow predatory internet gambling

Barton is the chief sponsor of legislation that would open a poker casino in every home, office, dorm room and smart phone in America.

While Barton has said he is an occasional poker player in a social setting,  he said he does not gamble online with his own money. He has no personal experience with the incredible speed, the intensity of the high, the frequency of play, the enormous amount of money lost and the highly predatory marketing involved with internet poker.

Congressman John Campbell, an outspoken co-sponsor of legislation to open the door to commercial internet gambling

Campbell is a vocal co-sponsor of legislation in the U.S. House that would open the door to predatory internet gambling by legalizing for-profit online poker sites.  He has said that legalizing and regulating online poker would create jobs in the U.S.

But while he is working hard to allow gambling interests to target his constituents through the internet, Campbell has acknowledged he does not lose his own money on gambling.

Congressman Barney Frank, a vocal supporter of legalizing online commercial gambling in Congress

Congressman Frank has been one of the leading proponents of legalizing internet gambling in Congress but he says he does not lose his own money on gambling. Below is an excerpt from a front page story on internet gambling that appeared in The Boston Globe, July 13, 2008:

“Barney Frank does not play poker or blackjack. The games bore him, and he thinks he would be terrible at them even if he tried. He’s never played a slot machine, doesn’t go to casinos, and has never tried to gamble online.

“I wouldn’t place a bet with your money,” he said. And yet, over the past year, the Democratic congressman from Newton has quietly become a cult hero for poker players and the online gambling industry – the pit boss of poker politics – by championing their cause on Capitol Hill. “

Congressman Ron Paul, a lead sponsor of legislation to legalize online gambling across America

Paul has been a vocal supporter in Congress of legalizing online casinos.

Does he lose his own money in government’s gambling program?

According to this excerpt from a profile in The New Republic, December 31, 2007:

“I don’t gamble, but I’m the gambler’s best friend,” he says, boasting of his support for online casinos.