The Street.com publishes article advocating regulation on online poker
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An article published today on financial news website TheStreet.com offers a positive view on the need and potential for the explicit legalization and regulation of online poker.
Excerpt:
Gallup polls in past years have shown that more than two in three Americans gamble in any given year. Fewer than 6% said gambling presented a problem for them. Moreover, another poll has shown that 63% of Americans find gambling morally acceptable.
Poker could be freed from the legality argument if it were proved to be a game of skill (I believe it is a game of skill). Courts in both California and Colorado agree, while others claim it to be a game of chance. Steven D. Levitt, one of the authors of Freakonomics, has a project called pokernomics to study the issue. A recent contributor to their New York Times blog has noted that computer “bots” (robots using artificial intelligence) have learned to beat humans. The computer test presents strong proof that the game requires skill. Poker reasoning can be taught and then replicated by an artificial intelligence.
No matter which side you stand on the gambling divide, one thing is clear: Public policy over these issues deserves debate. I believe the debate will lead to the eventual conclusion that online gambling, and poker in particular, can be regulated, and that the benefits far outweigh any concerns.
