About Us

FairPlayUSA is a new coalition of law enforcement officials, consumer protection experts, poker players, companies in the commercial gaming industry and other Americans concerned about Internet gambling. Our goal is to educate policymakers and the public on the broad public policy issues raised by the illegal, unregulated market for Internet gambling run by offshore operators that offers Americans no consumer protections.  FairPlayUSA supports Congress once and for all defining what is illegal gambling and providing stronger law enforcement tools to ban such gambling, as well as providing a strict regulatory framework for online poker.

State of the art technology, coupled with strict regulation, will enforce our laws, protect players and children, and create tens of thousands of American jobs. We believe that poker, “America’s Game,” should be safe and fair for law-abiding players. Our goal is to educate and create public momentum for effective law enforcement, consumer protection, and strict regulation.

Principles

  1. Modernize and strengthen the Wire Act of 1961 with conforming amendments to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) to unambiguously eliminate illegal internet gambling.
  2. Provide tools to crack down on unlicensed foreign operators who do not comply with U.S. law, empowering law enforcement to shut down the illegal operators coupled with assistance from financial institutions.
  3. Enhance penalties for those who violate the law.
  4. Give states and tribes the authority to authorize or prohibit online poker -- a peer to peer game that has been part of the cultural and recreational fabric of our Nation for years and  has never warranted a specific federal prohibition as with house banked gambling games --   subject to strict  regulatory mandates and  sophisticated tools to block consumers in those states that choose to prohibit online poker.
  5. Establish a strict state gaming regulatory framework for licensing and enforcement of online poker in jurisdictions that choose to accept it.
  6. Require licensed operators to offer state-of-the-art problem gambling controls, including limits on wagers, deposits, losses, and playing time.
  7. Mandate that operators of licensed online poker sites maintain a transparent record of all transactions and player identities and comply with existing U.S. laws on federal bank secrecy and suspicious transaction reporting.
  8. Require that technologies currently used successfully in other age-sensitive industries be used to combat underage poker play.
  9. Mandate technological safeguards be utilized to ensure that games are fair and honest, offering the same strict regulatory scrutiny as commercial poker rooms.
  10. Mandate that players' deposits be maintained in escrow accounts and available on demand.