Widely Read Columnist Backs Online Casinos

The poker lobby's campaign to overturn anti-gambling laws in the United States was given another boost Sunday, following a positive op-ed by an influential Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper columnist.

Writing in his regular syndicated Washington Post column, George Will wrote that Congress must recognize the difference between being a professional poker player and a gambler, and rectify the mistake it made when it effectively criminalized the online form of the game.

Will writes that Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 by cloaking "cunning with moralizing," writing that "this was more than moral pork for social conservatives."

"It is also blocking online competitors from poaching gamblers from the nation's most aggressive promoters of gambling - state governments," he wrote.

He added that the states are become increasingly addicted to revenue gained from lotteries and from taxation of other legal gambling, pointing out that the 42 states that have lotteries spent $520 million in 2007 promoting them.

Poker Game Theory
Will went on to praise poker pro Howard Lederer for promoting the works of a Hungarian-born mathematician who specialized in the relevance of game theory to strategic thinking.

Will concluded with the argument that poker involves logic and probability, and held similarities to military and diplomatic strategy.

"It is a poker skill to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em... Congress probably should fold its interference with Internet gambling and certainly should get its 10 thumbs off Americans' freedom to exercise their poker skills online."