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IGREA Initiative Begins in Washington DC
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19-Sep-2007, 08:00
On Friday of last week 435 packets containing information about the current state of Internet gambling, were hand delivered to each member of the United States congress. Each packet was hand addressed to each individual representative. With the delivery of each, the interests of the general public were made aware to United States lawmakers. The packets delivered contained four sections and the project was titled, 'The IGREA Initiative'.
Three Casino Gambling Web representatives spent the better portion of last week in Washington D.C., talking to congressional aids, meeting with lawyers, company presidents, the National Council on Problem Gambling, and the Poker Player Alliance. A representative explained that the trip was a huge success.
"We went to Washington D.C. to let everyone in the nation's capital know how big of an issue the illegality of Internet gambling is in the US," the rep said, "and we left feeling as if we accomplished our mission."
The big issue, explained the rep who wishes to remain anonymous, is that an estimated 15-25 million Americans gamble online each year, and with the passing of the UIGEA those 15-25 million Americans were left without protections that regulation would easily offer.
Once the UIGEA passed, said the rep, "Problem gamblers were left with no means of help. Underage gambling began to run rampant. And 10 million online poker players were deserted by the poker rooms they trusted, leaving them vulnerable to corrupt sites who could easily steal their money."
"We did our part," said the rep, "now its up to those 15-25 million Americans we went there to fight for to start calling their congress people and express their support for 'The IGREA Initiative'."
The IGREA Initiative is what Casino Gambling Web put together as the packet that their reps delivered. Each packet contained four sections. The packet began with an introduction to the online petition that Casino Gambling Web sponsored. After the petition statement was a list of all the signers who left comments from each individual state. Each congress person got a copy that specifically contained signatures and comments from their state.
The second part of the packet was 'The IGREA Initiative' part of the packet which contained 10 reasons why Internet gambling should be legalized and regulated. Each packet was hand signed by a United States voting citizen.
The third part of the packet was a summary of Barney Frank's Bill H.R. 2046, aka The Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, aka the IGREA.
The fourth part of the packet was a CD that contained all the testimony from the Financial Services Hearing on whether Internet gambling could currently be effectively regulated, the complete list of all petition signatures, the complete Bill H.R. 2046, the Harvard study that found only 0.4% of the 40,000 online gamblers they studied developed problems, and other studies and information.
"The packet we delivered, which was put together by Susan Torres of Casino Gambling Web, was complimented by everyone who saw it and all agreed that it would be powerful enough to make something happen if it was coupled with follow up phone calls by US citizens in support of the effort," said the rep.
Callers should begin calling on Monday and they should continue to call their representative everyday until the bill is passed, the CGW rep said. When asked what callers should say specifically the rep said, "They should say specifically that they support 'The IGREA Initiative'. They should ask politely if they received the packet that was delivered to them on Friday on their behalf. They should ask to speak to an aid who is handling bill H.R. 2046, which is Frank's bill, and then express to the aid that they want their representative to support the bill."
Casino Gambling Web originally planned to lobby on behalf of the American people in Washington D.C. in July, but they rescheduled for September because of advice given to them by aids in the Financial Services Committee. The company began thinking about lobbying on behalf of the American people after receiving thousands of emails from US citizens expressing their concern over the difficulties they were having playing online casino games.
Asked if he had fun in D.C. the CGW rep commented, "I can't wait until the House passes this bill so we can come back here and do the same thing for the senators."