March 20 - An interesting symposium comprised of some of the top experts in
the gaming industry took place today at the University of Richmond in
Massachusetts. The symposium, entitled "Legal Issues in Online Gambling", was
hosted by the Richmond Journal of Global Law and Business.
The panel was made up of several top speakers, including the Global Poker
Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS) founder, Harvard Professor Charles
Nesson and the organization's executive director, Andrew Woods.
The symposium was created to discuss the legal regime surrounding online
gambling in the current United States market, including the effect of the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) on trade and commerce, as
well as the future of online gambling in the United States.
Other issues on the agenda included a focus on poker, especially within the
current new Massachusetts legislation that allows citizens to gamble in
land-based casinos but which makes online poker and casino gambling punishable
by law. Under the conditions of the new law, anybody caught gambling online
could be jailed for up to two years and face a $25,000 fine.
Professor Nesson who founded GPSTS several years ago said: "This symposium
underscores that poker is more than just a fun game. It is one of the best tools
we have to teach negotiation, risk assessment, strategic thinking and other
essential life skills, and the US legal regime interferes not just with that but
also sets a dangerous precedent for limiting internet freedom in general."
Joining the GPSTS experts on the panel were Professor John Kindt of the
University of Illinois Business School and Professor Frank Vandall of Emory Law
School. Also on the panel was Professor Nelson Rose of Whittier Law School.
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