Letter: Internet gambling is least of our worries

Friday, July 14, 2006 | 7:38 a.m.

I have been playing low-limit poker in Las Vegas casinos for more than 25 years. Five years ago I began to play on the Internet and found it more conducive to my lifestyle.

I can now play in a smoke-free, clothing optional environment (my study) and not have to plan transportation to the casinos. The walk to my refrigerator is short enough so that I can grab a soda or piece of fruit between poker hands and feel no shame about not leaving myself a tip.

For me this has been a pleasant, harmless and lucrative pastime. Imagine my chagrin when I read that the U.S. House of Representatives, unable or unwilling to solve our country's major problems in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea, found the time to vote overwhelmingly to ban Internet poker gambling.

Yes, I may still play poker or engage in other forms of gambling, but our esteemed members of Congress do not wish me to do so from the comforts of home.

Has anyone thought about the disabled or profoundly handicapped people who use the Internet to enrich their lives? Why should Congress feel it is their responsibility to tell hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people how to live their lives?

Congressional arguments claim Internet gambling can be addictive. Yet state lotteries and horse racing were exempt from this bill ... sniff ... sniff ... Do I smell the stink of special interest lobbyists at work?

Howard Ginsburg, Las Vegas