PPA Fighting For Poker Legalization This Week
I had ran over to my moms house to pick up some ranch dressing for these hotwings I was cooking (having mom live closeby = +EV) and something on the front page of our local newspaper caught my attention. There was a section about how the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) was in Washington D.C. this week, as part of National Poker Week, lobbying for the legalization and regulation of online poker.
I’m sure most of you have heard of this group before. I regularly get emails from the major poker rooms letting me know about special freerolls the PPA is hosting. The PPA is the main organization that is pushing for the complete legalization of online poker. There has been a lot of talk within the industry about how this group is only in it to make money and about how they have been very ineffective but from what I’m reading it sounds like they are working overtime this week.
The president of the PPA is Senator Alfonse D’Amato from New York. He has always been one of the industries most powerful allies. This week they have set-up 100 meetings with Congress members and they will be presenting President Barack Obama with a petition signed by over 300,000 Americans who support the regulation of online poker.
Some of the biggest names in poker will be talking to our representives in DC about how online poker can be regulated. The legalization and regulation of online poker would:
- Be safer
- Generate revenue for cash starved states and the federal government
- Be Constitutional!
The positives would be many and the negatives would be few. The only real downside would be the fact that online poker rooms would report your winnings to the IRS. Most players I know already claim their winnings, as they should, so this isn’t even a big deal.
I typically don’t link to other sites but I will make an exception for these guys. Please signup with them and sign their petition. I love Full Tilt and Pokerstars but I miss the soft action at some of the “non-US” rooms!