Obama's Citizens Briefing Book at Change.gov has a top-10 issue telling the Presdent-Elect to legalize and regulate online poker.

Thanks in no small part to an active online community, the repeal of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) could be at the top of President-Elect Barack Obama's to-do list once he's sworn into office Tuesday.  At Change.gov, Obama's transition Web site, an idea to legalize and regulate online poker has floated around in the top 10 issues as voted by visitors. Among other issues in the top 10 are repealing marijuana prohibition and closing the Guantanamo Bay facility. 

Users in online poker communities recently urged members to visit Change.gov and cast votes on the online poker issue. According to the Change.gov Web site, the best-rated ideas will be collected and presented to President Obama after he's sworn in.  

The UIGEA, passed by an act of Congress late in 2006, was designed in part to outlaw online poker by prohibiting financial institutions from depositing funds in online poker accounts.  It worked – at least in part. PartyPoker, at the time the leading online poker site, closed its operations to U.S. customers and experienced a 68 percent drop in profit in 2007. Other sites like PokerStars, FullTilt and UltimateBet continued to allow U.S. customers to play but showed marked decrease in traffic.  

A groundswell of support, however, could prompt Obama to rescind the UIGEA. The plea to repeal has generated more than 4,500 votes and nearly 1,500 comments, most of them supporting online poker. The initial post claims poker is a game of skill and therefore should not be regulated by the UIGEA – the language in the act refers mostly to gambling and games of chance. 

The post also suggests the federal government could make money from Internet gaming by taxing it. Online poker sites are based overseas and aren't subject to U.S. taxes.  An early response to the initial post mirrors this sentiment. "This is win/win, the government can stop attempting to limit the freedoms of Americans to spend their time and money as they please, and in return gain billions per year in tax revenue," wrote one user. 

While the repeal of the UIGEA could on one hand generate tax revenue, banking industry leaders also feel its implementation – which is set to begin next week – would be either cost-prohibitive or just plain impossible. The Treasury Department estimates the UIGEA will cost $20 million and 350,000 work-hours annually just to gather the information required in the act, according to an article by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and banks' costs to implement the mandate will likely be passed on to consumers.  

The Financial Times reported the Financial Services Roundtable, a group representing dozens of banks and financial institutions, said the UIGEA asks banks to enforce laws "that are more appropriate for law enforcement agencies." GamblingCompliance.com reports the U.S. Treasury estimates the UIGEA could cost financial institutions more than $100 million and a million work-hours in 2009. 

Visitors to Change.gov echoed this sentiment: "To try and mandate that banks and other financial institutions try and monitor millions of transactions to screen for on line gambling deposits and withdrawals is ridiculous. These institutions are having enough trouble during this time as it is, let alone taking on the massive cost and task of combing through millions of transactions every day," an online player wrote. 

Others pointed out the apparent duplicity of prohibiting online poker: "…barring someone from placing a wager online but allowing the same person to gamble at a brick and mortar casino makes no sense. Why is one act OK and the other not?" wrote another visitor. 

In fact, according to a California Research Bureau report, 37 states and the District of Columbia have lotteries, and 43 states allow wagering on horse and dog races. Commercial casino gambling exists in 19 states.  In the end, however, many visitors simply think government regulations over online poker are simply unethical. As one user simply put it, "There is too much government intrusion in our lives. Give us the right to play online poker." 

Time will tell if the President-Elect hears this plea.