Posted by Big Donkey | Filed under Bloggers Corner
The sprit of revolution is still alive and kicking in Massachusetts. So for the moment is the political career of Idiot-in-Chief, Governor Deval Patrick − but that’s another story for another day. Still, I was very pleased to see the news earlier this week that Patrick’s proposal to build three new brick & mortar casinos in Commonwealth while at the same time outlawing online poker went up in flames when the House Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies voted against the bill.
Don’t get me wrong, as a former Massachusetts resident, I’m all for building some real casinos in the state. Sure, Foxwoods is located in the nearby Connecticut woods, but it’s still a good 90 minute (or more) drive from the Hub to the poker room which, let’s face it, is just too far for those of us who can suffer from the poker DTs without our regular fix. We want action and we want it now, damn it!
Hence the beauty of online poker. The puritans among us (and Massachusetts knows something about puritans) will argue that sites like FTP make it too easy for the common degenerate to log on and blow their rent money playing high-stakes Omaha. And they have a valid point – to a point. Yes, the Internet does make it easy for players from around the world to find their favorite games anytime they want – from anywhere in the world. It’s one of the marvels of our modern society and I for one am greatly appreciative of this fact. Just because some people may misuse or abuse this ability, however, is no reason to criminalize the act of playing poker online. Especially when, in the same breath, you’re saying that it’s perfectly fine for these same people to hop in the car and drive to their local casino for their poker fix.
It’s an argument that just doesn’t hold water.
It’s no secret that I love playing poker as much – if not more – than the next guy. I play a lot. The thing is, I know that whether I’m running hot or cold, I can easily get up from the table any time I want and walk away from the game. Not everyone can, and that’s too bad. Another person’s addiction – or potential addiction - however is no excuse to criminalize my ability to play poker from the comfort of my home.
Sure, people like Patrick can argue that online poker enables players with addictive personalities by putting the temptation to gamble no further away than their laptop. To this I say, so what? The fact is that in a free society, the choice of whether to play poker or not should be left up to individuals and not the government. What people like Patrick don’t get is that while the folks who run sites like Full Tilt Poker want to make it as easy as possible for their players to find seats in their favorite games, they don’t want these players to start flinging cards to the detriment of their families or livelihoods. In fact, sites like FTP go so far as to give players who think they may have a problem the option to self-exclude themselves from playing online for anywhere from 12 hours to permanently.
One of the rights that comes with adulthood is the ability to make decisions for ourselves. Sometimes we’ll make good choices and sometimes we’ll make bad ones, but so long as we’re not hurting ourselves or someone else, those choices should remain up to us. It’s not the government’s place to act as some sort of nanny telling us what’s in our best interest, especially when they say you can’t play online poker, but playing in a casino is just fine. Oh, and don’t forget your mittens and your hat because it’s not too late to catch a nasty cold on your way to the car.
So, what’s your point you may ask. Just this… I’m all for poker in all of its forms. Live games, online games, hell… Chinese poker games in restaurants. I’ve played them all and I think every other poker player should have the same opportunity to break out a deck of cards or a laptop and play whatever game they want from wherever they want at whatever time they want to play.
It’s all about freedom of choice – something that the fine people of Massachusetts should know all about.
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