When Conservative Reporters Favor Online Poker Legislation

"A New Deal Worth Fostering" is the headline of George F. Will's latest opt-ed piece appearing in the Washington Post. 

Wills is an unusual supporter of online poker it appears being that he is seen as someone on the Conservative right, as Pokerati.com points out.

Wills writes:

"Having turned gambling, which once was treated as a sin, into a social policy, government looks unusually silly criminalizing online forms of it. Granted, some people gamble excessively (although not nearly as many people as eat excessively). Granted, gambling becomes addictive to a small minority (although it is not nearly as addictive as smoking and drinking). Granted, gambling is morally dubious when it is only the unproductive pursuit of wealth without work (although gambling is productive of pleasure for tens of millions of Americans for whom it is a frequent pastime). But never mind whether government should try to tightly circumscribe a ubiquitous human activity that generally harms nobody."

Pokerati.com points out something that Wills may have missed in his piece while discussing noted poker pro, Howard Lederer.

Wills writes:

"First, his libertarian temperament - he lives in Las Vegas, where almost anything goes - is offended by mother-hen government. Second, he wants as many people as possible to have access to poker's delights. Third, the more poker players there are, the larger will be the ranks of competitors, and the television audiences, for professional poker competitions. Hence the larger will be the potential winnings."

Pokerati reminds us of the following, however:

"Full Tilt Poker, the cash cow of Lederer and others, stands to be one of the first sites to receive a license and legally cater to U.S. customers should the legislation pass. That doesn't in any way discount his other reasons for pushing for the bills, but disclosing his part in FTP might be pertinent."