Poker is one of the best games out there, as it intermingles strategy with both skill and luck. That's given the game long-lasting appeal, as even after the Online Poker ban people flocked to live tables. Now, though, the game is popular enough for the government to legalize it again.
World Series of Poker 2017
The fact that this year's main event features the 3rd highest number of entrants ever has to have the poker community excited. And poker bloggers like Andrew Neeme and Doug Polk have rekindled the excitement around the game. That has more and more people talking about the possibility of online poker in future years.
And if it did come back, online poker would once again immediately become a huge industry.
Potential tax revenue.
It's hard to believe that the government has such a hard stance on online poker because they could easily make a ton of money from it. With regulation, poker sites would pay taxes on the take they receive from players, and by all accounts, it could be quite a lot of money. And as we all know, the government loves raking in money to use on programs from our paychecks. If they took in money from online poker, the government might just need less money in income taxes. I sincerely doubt it, but the government is definitely incentivized to legalize the game and bring in Tax Revenue.
Do we not trust adults to make their own decisions?
Ultimately, what the government's decision to not allow online poker comes down to is a distrust of the US population. The US government does not believe that the US consumer can gamble responsibly online. Are we really incapable of making our own choices with our money in poker or another investment?
And ultimately, the person who chooses to blow all their income on poker is likely going to blow that money somewhere else anyway.
It is not the US government's job to monitor how people spend their money. That job is up to the individual. Do we really believe that people in the United States don't know how to spend their money?
If we don't there's really no reason to not legalize only poker.
Push to Legalize Poker.
The more poker players push for legalization, the faster it will happen. The charge right now is being led by a host of professional players and their movement is gaining support with time. It won't be long before a bill is placed in front of the US Congress. At that point, it will be up to the people of the United States to write to their representatives to encourage them to legalize online poker.
