The long road to freedom for poker players
When it comes to the future of poker, things seem to be more optimistic. 
Poker Players Alliance organized the first National Poker week during the week of July 19-25 and the outcome seems to be very positive – now, more than ever before the fight to legalise online poker in the States seems to be gaining impetus. “I think we made a very strong impression on lawmakers who weren’t aware of online poker or maybe even opposed it,” said PPA executive director John Pappas. “We raised the overall understanding of the situation.” And these words are certainly not overstating the current state of affairs, because awareness was certainly created. Firstly, during this week the PPA managed to gather over 375,000 signatures on a petition to President Barack Obama supporting the legalization of online poker. Furthermore, nearly 200,000 letters and emails were sent to U.S. representatives in various areas and members of the PPA attended over 100 congressional meetings. Think about that for a moment. Furthermore, many poker and other celebrities stood up and participated in our fight to play poker. Even radio host Howard Stern signed up as a member of the PPA! Pappas, together with PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato, 33 PPA state directors and seven professional poker players (Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, Jan Fisher, Howard Lederer, Dennis Phillips, Linda Johnnson and Greg Raymer) all travelled to Washington, D.C. to show their support for legislation that would legalize and regulate online poker in the United States. “I truly feel we are winning on this issue and the time is ripe for pro-poker legislation to pass into law,” said Andy Bloch, professional poker player.
It certainly has been an uphill battle, according to Pappas, but at least it seems as if things are heading in the right direction. “There is obviously a great fear when it comes to online gambling,” he said. “People are concerned about having a casino in every home. That’s not necessarily the case as we are bringing a skill game into people’s homes.
“This isn’t anything new. People have been playing poker in their homes for their entire lives. This way the government would be able to collect tax revenue from it.”
As an organization, Poker Players Alliance put a great deal of support behind Rep. Barney Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act (HR 2267) which was originally scheduled for a hearing in July and then rescheduled to September. The PPA was able to convince seven more representatives to co-sign the bill, which is now up to 54 co-sponsors. Rep. Betsy Markey, Rep. Bill Pascrell and Rep. Russ Carnahan were all among the recent co-sponsors.
“We had several goals in Washington and I think we exceeded them all,” Pappas said. “It was a great success. The only thing we weren’t able to do is actually meet with President Obama and present him the petition with signatures. We hope to accomplish that later this year.”
Despite the fact that National Poker Week is now something of the past, the PPA will continue to educate politicians about the game so that their misconceptions about poker can be addressed. “We will continue to talk to people and promote the game,” said Pappas. “We hope to set the stage for Frank’s bill in early to late September. Pappas also said “We also have the short-term goal of getting poker excluded from the current Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which will officially be enforced as of Dec. 1, 2009. We want them to leave poker out of that legislation because poker is a skill game.” It is the misperception that poker is equal to gambling that creates all the misfortune and prevents the game from being recognized for what it truly is.
Pappas went on to say that New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez will finally be dropping his long-awaited poker-only bill on August 6, 2009.
In the end, when it comes to the future of online poker, Pappas was optimistic. “I think it’s going in the right direction,” he said. “For the first time we are on the offensive when it comes to legislation. We’re seeing numerous pro-poker bills and I haven’t seen a single anti-poker bill introduced for months……. The bills that have been introduced lately have all been about extending poker player’s rights.” This is indeed the long road to freedom for poker players.
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