Brian Pempus: First off, what is the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection and what is your role with this organization? Mary Bono: Well, my role is to be a spokesperson. The group is about fighting a proposed online gaming ban. There are efforts in Congress to ban online gaming, and our coalition is just trying to make sure Congress doesn’t do so. BP: Why did you decide to get involved with this? MB: The coalition came to me and wanted to talk about it because of my leadership role in the last Congress and my 15 years as a member of Congress. When I chaired the Subcommittee on the Energy and Commerce Committee, we held hearings about online gaming and Internet poker. My approach was pragmatic and cautious, and I hopefully exhibited some thoughtful leadership on the issue. I was honored they came to me to see if I’d continue these discussions now that I’m not a member of Congress. BP: When you were involved with the hearings, what was the most important thing you learned through them that you didn’t know before about this issue and its complexities? MB: Not only during the hearings, but with other work I’ve been involved with over the years, the most important issue for me was that…if we ban gaming online we are going to be setting up all sorts of black markets. In the end, consumers would be less safe. I come from a Hollywood background, and one just has to look at what happened to the music and movie industries as they sort of tried to fight the Internet. They never really recovered fully from trying to get in the way of innovation and disruptive technology. It has been proven in the gaming world because the black market sites continue to exist and the lesson is that we should be trying to shape the Internet and keep people safe. Trying to stop it just doesn’t work.Get the Story:
Poker Q&A: Former Congresswoman Mary Bono (Card Player 3/7)
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