Poker Players Hope for Hot Hand in Lobbying
The struggle for the Poker Players in making online poker legalized seems to be hitting a near end, as the Poker Players Alliance hopes for a hot hand in lobbying.
How Was it Planned?
On Wednesday, the alliance group had set around a hundred meetings with the Congress members and their aides. It also aimed to present a petition carrying more than 350,000 signatures to Barack Obama. Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, Greg Raymer, and Howard Lederer participated in this activity.
A night before the main event, the Player Poker Alliance group also hosted a charity poker tournament, announcing that all the winnings would go to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and USO.
The Chairing of the Alliance
Former senator Alfonse D’Amato chaired this alliance for the poker players. At the same time, all the funds and money were collected from the poker players members for this alliance and from a Columbia-based online casinos trade association, Interactive Gaming Council.
A Little History
In 2006, things strongly went against online gambling, and Congress passed the ‘Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.’ This Act aimed at strongly prohibiting gambling activities, and for that, it directed financial organizations to not accept payments via:
- Checks
- Credit cards
- Electronic funds transfers
Such a decision was made to prohibit online wagerers from betting online. One of the breaches in this law was that it could not finely define unlawful gambling on the internet. On the other hand, this Act referred to the existing laws at the federal and state levels and raised questions with different interpretations.
The Follow-Up
According to the Justice Department, gambling in the online space was still illegal even before this law was passed. However, the poker players contested this position, and they aimed to pass the legislation that would earn license and regulation for online poker, thus making it a legal activity.
Another meeting held by the Poker Player Alliance, which was mainly for the congressional staff briefing, was meant to prove how online poker could be effective in the U.S and, therefore, could be regulated here. In a statement by the poker group, members from the 20 congressional officers attended that meeting.
Overall, that event had a commercial air that went on with friendly conversations and directed the critical questions. The executive director asked the friendly questions of the poker group John Pappas. Such as requiring concern toward the children, Pappas asked the panelists whether it would be safe for adults to play at online casinos while keeping the children from it.
To this, the answer was an affirmation by a panelist, founder, and executive director of WiredSafety.org, Parry Aftab. The New York-based cyber-safety group founder suggested that parental control technology on computers is the best way to deal with this issue.
Another panelist, Paul Mathews, a former executive at International Game Technology and an independent consultant, pointed out that online gambling helped reduce pathological gambling. With this, the players could set the limits for the betting or how much they would lose beforehand.
However, an opponent of online gambling, Roberta Combs, also the Christian Coalition of America president, spoke on behalf of her organization. She said that online gambling was unacceptable, as it was too accessible for the users. They could use it at any time. In the end, it could easily break up a family.
The Player Poker Alliance group, in its petition to Barack Obama titled “Poker is Not a Crime,” sought to exempt the game from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act and its licensing and regulation of online poker.
Notably, the online gambling industry generates considerable revenue, as half of $16 billion was fueled by U.S bettors. Also, in action against online gambling, the federal government froze more than $30 million in the account of the processors who processed the winnings of the online poker bettors. Consequently, the players’ alliance aimed to get that money and return to the right winners.
