This has been an exciting week for poker and I have several items of good news to report.
First, I am pleased to announce that Rep. John Conyers (MI) Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has agreed to co-sponsor H.R. 2046, the Skill Game Protection Act. Further, his Committee officially announced today that they are holding a hearing next week (Nov. 14th) to discuss Internet gaming issues. Both of these considerable achievements can be in a large part credited to our grassroots fly-in from just two weeks ago. During the fly-in we had more than one occasion to meet with the Chairman and explain our issues. He was so impressed with our arguments that he asked Annie Duke to testify at the Committee hearing. While the other witnesses have not been made public at this time, I can tell you that there will be experts to discuss the WTO, age-verification, the proposed regulations and problem gambling.
Click Here for more info on the hearing, we encourage our members who live in the Washington, D.C. area to attend.
Next, I would like to discuss some of our grassroots success. Last Friday the PPA sent a note to our members in the state encouraging them to write the Governor to oppose the state gambling bill language which would criminalize residents for playing Internet poker. With the hard work and leadership of Randy C (our PPA MA state rep) more than 1700 letters have been sent to State Reps, State Senators and the Governor in less than a week. This voice has been heard and recognized by these legislators, and they understand that this voice will not go away until the onerous provision is removed. Randy C will continue to update you on the progress of this campaign.
The PPA can also claim success in the defeat of Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher, whose staunch anti-gambling position, as well as a host of other issues lead to his crushing double-digit defeat. The PPA’s efforts were highlighted in a Louisville Courier Journal column on the day before the election (Nov 5th) and the Governors staff acknowledged that they has received several calls, letters and emails from PPA members expressing their displeasure. Special thanks to TheEngineer for being instrumental in the organization of our effort.
On the regulation front, the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE), an independent organization that regularly offers Congress objective analysis of proposed governmental agency regulations, released a report this week that noted significant problems with the UIGEA regulations recently submitted by the Treasury Department. They are extremely influential in Washington regulatory circles and the PPA is pleased with their enlightened view of the onerous regulation. Their filing can be found
here
On the media front, the WTO issue is beginning to crystallize on Capitol Hill. This week two articles of note appeared, one in The Bureau of National Affairs
here and the other in Roll Call
here. Both articles specifically call for the Barney Frank Bill as a fix to one of the most daunting cases the WTO has ever faced … a case which could have far reaching and unintended consequences for the U.S. These articles were especially important as lead EU trade officials were here in DC this week to discuss this very issue! We are doing our very best to make sure members of Congress are aware of what is going on, and just how important this case could become.
On Tuesday night this week, Horton's Kid's a local DC charity that helps inner city kids, threw a Charity poker tournament at the National Building Museum, and it was a rousing success. With the PPA as its largest supporting donor for the event, Horton's Holiday Hold ‘Em event raised $300,000 all of which goes directly to the charity. More than 220 Congressional staff, members of Congress, lobbyists and poker enthusiasts had a great time playing poker with PPA Board Member Greg Raymer and Chairman Alfonse D’Amato. It was a great event which once again highlighted the unique power of poker. As an added bonus, a PPA member from DC won the event and received a $10,000 2008 WSOP ME seat for his efforts.
This has been another exciting week for poker, with hopefully many more to come. Like previous posters have said, getting a piece of legislation overturned is always an uphill battle. Getting perceived gambling legislation passed will always have a myriad of competent opponents. But our position is strong and only getting stronger, and this is a fight we will not give up on.
Bryan Spadaro
Membership Relations, Manager
Poker Players Alliance