PPA Fighting Back on Poker Ban

The Poker Players Alliance, which counts 800,000 members, organized a "D.C. Fly-In"lobby campaign in Washington, D.C. in late October.

The mission: to rescue online poker from a year-old federal crackdown on Internet gaming.

Nearly 100 Poker Players' Alliance members, many of them celebrities on the international poker circuit, converged on Capitol Hill to talk with legislators about online gaming and hopefully get some media coverage to follow.

Did it work?

"By all accounts the Washington Fly-In and policy conference was a huge success, and we made a significant impression on Congress and the media,"said John Pappas, PPA's executive director.

In one way, he is right.

The members did find a Congressman to co-sponsor bill HR 2046, which was originally sponsored by Rep.

Barney Frank (D-Mass.). HR 2046 would legalize and regulate Internet gambling, overturning a ban that became law after former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) inserted it into port security legislation late last year.

They want lawmakers to reverse the ban before some of the Frist regulations go into effect next year.

They even recruited former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) to lead PPA. And World Series of Poker players Chris Moneymaker, Howard Lederer and Annie Duke were among the gathering.This year, the PPA has raised nearly $500,000 in campaign contributions in hopes Congress will see the light and regulate gambling, something that could be worth $3 billion a year in taxes.

"We were armed with the message that poker is a game of skill which should be regulated, not prohibited and we successfully delivered that message,"Pappas said. "Several of our meetings resulted in ommitments of support and co-sponsorship of HR 2046."

Two main arguments by the group, other than the tax benefits, are: technology has advanced to the point that minors can be stopped from playing, and that allowing bets on horse racing and state lotteries and Indian casinos is similar to poker anyways.

"It's outrageous telling the American people what they can and cannot do in the privacy of their own homes on their own computers,"said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., whose district includes Las Vegas. "If somebody wants to play, if somebody wants to bet online, God bless them. This is America. They have
every right to do it."

However, things still don't look good. With a presidential election year upcoming, it will be tough to combat the sizable family and religious organizations that are sure to say prohibiting gambling is good for America. In addition, most of the major pro sports leagues are in favor of the ban.

"We realize right now that the bill does not have much of a chance in this Congress, but we don't want people to think that it has a chance,"said Tom McClasky, a Focus on the Family spokesman.

McClasky called the Frank bill "somewhat ridiculous"and raised concerns about the logistics of online gambling. "There is the anonymity angle. You just do not know where the money is going."

The sports leagues are working with family groups and have signed onto letters with those organizations.

In other words, online poker fans, don't hold your breath. Until that point, stick with WagerWeb.com!