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Gambling has been a hot topic in Alaska lately. Many students have recently encountered petition-waving signature gatherers for legalized gambling in Alaska. The state House recently passed, but the state Senate defeated, House Bill 272, which would have legalized card-room gambling in Alaska.
The Alaska Debate Society, a UAA club, hosted a noncompetitive debate on the issue in the Student Union Den Oct. 3.
The club also invited Perry Green — owner of David Green Furs, winner of three gold bracelets in the world series of poker run-up tournaments and second-place overall winner of the world series of poker in 1982 — to speak on the topic.
Alaska Debate Society president Dana Ovsak, a junior studying English literature, said the club invited Green because of his demonstrated skill in world poker competitions, and because he was House Bill’s 272 primary advocate.
Chris Kolerok, a senior in economics, and David Childers, a junior in political science, comprised the team arguing in favor of House Bill 272. Michael Rose, a senior in political science, and James Stinson, a sophomore history major, teamed up to oppose it.
The debaters were assigned in advance to argue a pro or con position.
Kolerok and Childers focused on philosophical issues of autonomy and individuals’ rights to make personal, adult decisions. They argued card rooms would bring more tourist dollars to Alaska and that any social damage caused by legalized card rooms would be paid for by provisions in the bill.
They also emphasized that card rooms are different from casinos and are by their nature less harmful.
“In a card room, hand by hand, your mind can keep track of time,” Kolerok said. “Cardrooms are fundamentally different. By their nature, they’re about skills. They’re about strategy. They’re about people playing each other, rather than pumping money into the casino. People are better able to manage themselves in card rooms, which means there’s going to be less of these social ills.”
But Rose and Stinson said card rooms would hurt, not help, the economy by taking money away from other businesses and contributing economic costs associated with the social ills they said went along with legalized gambling. They cited examples from legalized gambling in other states such as Washington and California to illustrate their point. They argued that illegal, back room gambling would continue under legitimate gambling fronts and that legalized gambling would create more individuals in the state with gambling addictions.
“There’s only one way to become a problem gambler, and that’s to start gambling,” Rose said.
Both sides launched counterarguments questioning the validity or accuracy of the other side’s arguments. Rose and Stinson heavily referenced statistical data on gambling, but they never stated their sources, and Kolerok and Childers never asked for any.
A call of the house is a process of informally testing where the audience believes the winning hand in a debate lies, by asking them to cheer for their side. At the Alaska Debate Society’s noncompetitive debate on House Bill 272, a call of the house was used to determine the winner. At an intercollegiate competitive debate, such as the ones the Seawolf Speech and Debate Team participate in every year, a panel of judges would determine the winner.
But before the call of the house, Green addressed the audience and proved to be an engaging, if somewhat tangential, public speaker. He talked about his decades of experience playing poker all around Alaska and argued in favor of legalizing card rooms.
“Poker players, for the most part, are thinkers,” Green said. “And that’s one thing that people in Iraq are fighting for, the right to be free to think for yourself.”
After hearing Green’s speech, a call of the house was conducted, and the pro-legalized side won the most cheers.
The Alaska Debate Society is not a competitive debate program, but rather a student club dedicated to hosting speech and rhetoric-based events on campus. But many of its members are part of the Seawolf Speech and Debate Team, which does participate in intercollegiate competitions. The UAA competitive debate team won first place at the U.S. British Parliamentary Championships in Clairmont Colleges, Calif., in April 2005, and won second place in the same event in April 2006. The Harvard debate team won first place that year.
The Seawolf Speech and Debate Team meets twice a week, Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. and Fridays at 9:30 p.m. in Administration Building Room 262, to practice for upcoming competitions with debate coach Steve Johnson, an associate professor of communications. Students can join the competitive team now to practice for upcoming intercollegiate tournaments. The Seawolf Speech and Debate Team competes at Yale Oct. 29, Oxford Nov. 12, and Portland State University Dec. 5.
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