Phone March on Capitol Hill – Tuesday, September 12th- Help stop the gambling bills

[JC]

Phone March on Capitol Hill – Tuesday, September 12th

Call both of your Senators on Tuesday, September 12th. Let them know you vote, you gamble online, and you strongly oppose H.R. 4411 and any other anti-internet gambling legislation the Senate may consider.

This is part of a greater effort being organized by the Poker Players Alliance. They are providing an 800 number tomorrow between 9 AM and 5:30 PM EST. It is (800) 289-1136. If you wish to call direct and not go through their network call (202) 224-3121.

MAKE SURE YOU CALL TWICE, ONCE FOR EACH OF YOUR SENATORS FROM YOUR STATE.

The Key points you should let them know are:

• You vote and pay taxes in their state.
• Your friends and family while they may not call also vote in their state and are with you on this.
• Online gambling is a recreational hobby enjoyed by millions of Americans and adults should be free to spend their entertainment dollars as they see fit without interference from the government.
• If the Senate must bring up some legislation it should be for regulation, not prohibition.
• The House legislation has nothing to do with morals or protecting the consumer, it’s just about protecting some forms of gambling over other from competition.
• Your Senator should not to vote for any anti-online gambling legislation!

I personally think this is a very good idea and hope we make it a weekly thing. If only 1% of everyone who plays online calls every week, we can have an impact.

I urge all site owners to send this out to all of their players. Please post this on as many forums, chat rooms, and blogs as possible.

Thank you

[moses millsap]

I agree, take a few minutes out of your day and make the call.

[pags11]

agree it is worth the time as well...

[JC]

Bump for the MNF crowd

[moses millsap]

Call today guys. I'll be calling after I wake up from my nap.

[JC]

Today's the day. Every poster and reader of this site should call today. No excuses.

[Santo]

Except not being American :P

[jjgold]

Yeh great idea, call your Senators office where EVERY call is traced no matter where you call from or what device you use and say your a gambler and break the law and bet on sports.

I bet one of you will be made an example of that you bet sports illegally.

[RabidDog]

It's NOT Illegal to place a bet (Except for a couple states). It's just Illegal to except them... Most online gamblers are not breaking the law!!!!

[JC]

Everyone should be calling. Word is they are getting a lot of calls, don't let the poker players dominate. Stand up and be counted.

JJ,

If you're scared, go home!

[moses millsap]

JJ,

If you're scared, go home!

He lives in a basement, he said.

[jjgold]

I have word this stuff will never pass anyway in the Senate, why bother flagging your a gambler and telling everyone.

JC settle down, online gambling is not going anywhere.

[TheGambler]

I made the call just now. it only took about 2 minutes to get through and I just spoke with my Senator's message lady. I didn't have to identify myself or anything like that so I still think everyone should call in even if we think it will never pass.

[JC]

Make sure yo ucall twice. Everyone has two Senators.

[Dark Horse]

A report of how the day went. Not too bad...

Internet Gambling Phone March on Capitol Hill Today a Success
written September 12, 2006
I spent several hours today tracking the volume of phone calls to different Senators' offices around the United States today and here is what I came up with.
In Virginia, at 3 PM EST, Senator Allen's office told me I was the 26th person to call voicing my dissatisfaction over HR 4411 and my other Senator's office, Senator Warner is reporting that perhaps two dozen people called to complain about the Internet gambling bill.
So, I got a little bit more daring and tried a bigger market, namely New York. I specifically asked for Hillary Clinton's office. Before I could get a word out of my mouth, her spokesman asked, Are you from the Poker alliance, calling about the Internet Gambling Bill?"
When I said, "no, I was against the sports betting part of it too," he said, "you are the 33rd person to call in the past hour alone!"
And he also stated, "I'd bet there have been over 100 calls to this office today about this issue." When I mentioned to him that he may not be able to use the "bet" word soon, we both starting laughing.
Getting more ambitious, I went out West to Senator Boxer's office in California. I was told about 50 people had called her office throughout the day but then again, it was only NOON over there.
Then I called Senator Richard Durbin's office in Illinois only to get a recording stating, "due to a high volume of calls, please try your call again."
So, I called the other Senator's office in Illinois, Senator Obama, and after I was put on hold for 5 minutes, a man answered the phone and we began talking. The spokes person doubted that the Internet Gambling Bill would come to the Senate floor this year, and said Obama hadn't taken a position on it and it was considered "low priority." He believed around 65 people had called the office before I had.
Last but not least, I called Senator John Cornyn's office in Texas, where a young lad and I got into a half hour debate after he told me the Senator was in support of the bill. The good news is he told me he had received between 100-200 calls today from people expressing opposition to the Internet Gambling bill. The bad news is that he was "clueless" and didn't know what he was talking about when we debated. Gosh, where is CNN when you need them?
Overall, it appears to me from scouting different areas of the country today that apparently, at least five thousand calls were made collectively to one hundred Senators.
Could it make a difference?
Judging from the offices I spoke to on the phone today, they all believed it can (except that guy from Cornyn's office).
It's really anyone's guess as to whether or not this bill is brought up before the Senate adjourns for the year which at the earliest is October 6, but may be extended.
For those who enjoy Internet Gambling, I sincerely believe that the "phone march" today was a great success but I wouldn't stop now.
I strongly advocate repeating this process once per week until the Senate recesses for good this year.
What about next Tuesday?
written by Kenneth Weitzner

We owe the poker players one.