US Soldiers Oppose I-Gaming Prohibition Amendment

Enter the latest critic of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and his efforts to ban online Gambling: The Screaming Eagle Poker Association (SEPA).

"I just flew in from Iraq on Monday, and my VP from marketing sent me information on what Senator Frist was trying to do. I was outraged."

-Felix Gutierrez
SEPA

The SEPA is a philanthropic organization run by, and for, armed services personnel who are currently deployed or recently returning from the war in Iraq. The organization plans, organizes and manages free weekly No Limit Texas Hold'em tournaments held at Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) centers throughout Iraq. SEPA's mission is to offer soldiers respite from the hardships invariably endured while serving in a combat zone. According to SEPA President Sgt. Felix Gutierrez, the tournaments have grown in popularity and are attended by hundreds of servicemen and women each week. Attendees range from soldiers to marines, airmen to Defense Department civilians.

"The tournaments provide an opportunity for us to meet every week to play some cards, have a good time and win some prizes. For some of the serious players, they can work on their games without having to worry about losing their house payments," Gutierrez said.

The SEPA has no source of funding.

"Basically, what we did was start a free poker league out in Iraq," Gutierrez said, "drumming up support from different organizations to donate prizes and things of that nature."

One such organization is the Poker Players Alliance, which, as the SEPA's first sponsor, donated chip sets, hats, shirts and various other items to be used as prizes.

On Capitol Hill this week, Frist, R-Tenn., has been hard at work in an effort to attach prohibitive Internet gambling legislation to the FY 07 Defense Department (DoD) authorization bill, which among other things authorizes military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

This came as a surprise to Gutierrez.

"I just flew in from Iraq on Monday, and my VP from marketing sent me information on what Senator Frist was trying to do," he said. "I was outraged. I understand that (the Internet gambling prohibition legislation and the DoD authorization bill) are two separate things. The way they're trying to attach the bill is undertaken strategically so that people will overlook that because we know any legislation regarding funding for the military, especially with what's going on in Iraq, is most likely going to pass. Some legislators might not even look at the attached bill that is trying to ban Internet gambling."

After receiving the news, Gutierrez drafted a letter addressed to the chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Service Committees (ASC), Sen. John Warner, R-Va., and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Ca., as well as the committees' ranking members. Feeling that Frist was pushing an agenda so conspicuously out of sync with the DoD bill as to merit criticism, he wrote:

This is a callous attempt to hi-jack an essential piece of military legislation with a non-relevant, pet cause and it is shameful. Particularly when you consider that it is being done simply with the hope of motivating a particular voting block of Americans. There is no room for politics when it comes to funding our military operations and (SEPA) are offended that the DoD authorization bill is being used as a pawn to reach political goals.
We are strongly opposed to any efforts to attach unrelated Internet poker prohibition legislation to vitally important legislation that funds our military. We hope you will stand with us in opposition to these efforts.

As of this afternoon, Gutierrez has received no response from ASC officials, but he expects one to be issued within the week.