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The following was written by PocketFives.com Chief Editor and Co-Owner Adam Small and appeared in the May 18, 2006 edition of The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessean

Several members of Congress are looking to place a ban on Internet gambling. Virginia U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte is currently heading the movement in the House to pass a bill that would make it a crime for Americans to gamble over the Internet, and Arizona Sen. John Kyl has been a heavy proponent of similar legislation.

I am one of the owners of a Nashville-based company called PocketFives.com, LLC. My company is made up of Vanderbilt graduates, each of whom found an interest in online poker and wanted to find an innovative way to promote it. We’ve now been running our company for well over a year, and our Web site has blossomed. I have come to realize just how many people are getting something positive out of this game.

Early on in the life of our business, we saw Tennessee heavily promoting the lottery via television ads, including a recently-launched World Series of Poker scratch off game that was endorsed by Nashville resident Chris Moneymaker, and we were fascinated with the level of interest in the game in Nashville and beyond.

Ever since Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003, online poker has been growing in popularity at an astonishing rate. For those who do not know, Moneymaker learned to play poker by playing online, and he went on to take home $2.5 million for winning the main event of the World Series. Since then, poker has become a pastime entrenched in literally millions of Americans’ lives, and nowadays, the majority of the world’s poker is being played over the Internet.

Without a doubt, many people lose money playing poker, but they do so taking a risk that they understand when they enter the game. It is not the federal government’s place to stop people from playing poker over the Internet with their money.

If you’re a poker player who enjoys playing from the comfort of your home, you can take a stand against this government action by visiting the Web site www.pokerplayersalliance.org. They are a lobby group with which many top professionals are involved, and they seek to convince our governments to not stand in the way of us enjoying the game we love.

If this bill were to pass, it would defame the accomplishment of Chris Moneymaker by making the activity in which he won his World Series seat to be illegal. It would not solve the gambling problems that plague individuals and families — it would simply stop allowing people the convenience of doing something they enjoy without driving to a casino or other venue.

Please do not support this bill — it’s an unnecessary and unjust infringement on our freedom.

pocketfives.com