ANOTHER CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON INTERNET POKER LEGALISATION?

Monday, November 28,2011 : North Carolina Congressman says he wants Department of Justice evidence to be heard
 
Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack's House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade has already held two hearings on the legalization of internet poker in the United States, but she could be calling for a third…and the Department of Justice may be invited to give evidence.
 
The ranking politician on the sub-committee, North Carolina Democrat G.K. Butterfield, has written to the chairwoman suggesting that she convene a third hearing at which the evidence of federal authorities like the Department of Justice be heard.
 
Rep. Butterfield feels that if such agencies are to be expected to be involved in any regulatory process, it is only right that their perspectives be considered.
 
Butterfield wrote that the subcommittee “….cannot obtain informed answers about the effectiveness of gambling regulation or consumer protection if we fail to invite key federal government agencies to testify as witnesses.”
 
Nominating several federal departments that he felt should be invited, Butterfield explained the likely involvement of each if legalization, regulation, licensing and enforcement went ahead
 
Butterfield also voiced his concerns that underage gambling be guarded against, quoting the 2010 Annenburg research study which claimed that 6 percent of boys in the age range of 14 to 17 had admitted to using an online gambling site in September of that year.
 
“If the subcommittee is to proceed with the federal legalization and regulation of Internet gambling, it must do it right," Butterfield stressed in his letter. "I respectfully request that our subcommittee seek formal comments from federal entities that would be involved with any legalized gambling regime."