It is believed that winning the battle in the media is an overture to success in Congress to support the argument to license and regulate online poker. Recently two high-profile newspapers have spoken out on the issue, each in favor of poker’s cause, namely; the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.

These articles were written by nationally respected columnists and both showed an understanding of the issue that many people on Capitol Hill still lack.

“It’s fair to say that the American approach to Internet gambling, which is legal in much of the rest of the world, is absurd,” Michael Hilztik wrote in the Times.

In the above context George F Will wrote in the Post stating that “Congress probably should fold its interference with Internet gambling and certainly should get its 10 thumbs off Americans’ freedom to exercise their poker skills online,”

It couldn’t have been said better if poker’s advocates had written the statements themselves and it is great to hear that both papers spoke to the Poker Players Alliance.

“I think we see pockets of interest from the national media on this issue,” said John Pappas, executive director of the PPA. “I wouldn’t say the tide is turning because it’s always seemed the media understood this issue a whole lot better than Congress, that licensing and regulation is far superior to prohibition. Media has been there for a while, and we hope that it’s going lead to changing minds on Capitol Hill.”

The PPA is getting plenty of mileage out of these articles, keeping office-supply stores in business with how many copies it has made of each. Each time a PPA representative meets with a congressman or senator, a packet of articles is left behind.

George F Will is considered a Republican columnist, making his article especially useful in trying to convince Republican congressmen, the key group with which poker advocates need to make progress.

“It obviously helps when you go into government offices and can show articles from major publications,” Pappas said. “But smaller stories in hometown papers are great for congressmen because those are the papers their constituents read. A combination of both, hometown stories and national high-profile stories, works best.”

Mostly media opinions reflect the views of the people, which is why they capture the attention of Congress. Once officials on Capitol Hill realize that the overwhelming will of the people who elect them is to have the right to play online poker, legalization will occur for sure.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles | No Comments » November 5th, 2009

The recent National Poker Week comprised 33 State Directors from the Poker Players Alliance along with some poker seniors at Washington, DC, and held 100 meetings on Capitol Hill. The poker week, besides handling all the poker fun, discovered some surprises aspects this time.

It is said that if poker players take the time to visit their Congressmen, they should be prepared to meet with staff members. Being a Congressman means running around with appointments and meetings. According to Congressman Robert Wexler and former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, staff members are extremely influential. Congressmen regularly defer to aides for insight on both critical issues and those that are sidelined.

Poker is now seen by certain people as a game of skill. A study by Cigital and Poker Stars performed in December studied 103 million cash game hands on the world’s most popular online poker site. The results were that 75% of pots did not go to showdown and betting and bluffing took down hands. Congressmen Lynn Westmoreland told PocketFives.com in an interview, “Poker is a sport of skill. If you don’t believe that, you need to watch some of the tournaments on television and understand that these are very talented people. They can win a hand with a lot worse cards than anybody else. It is a game of skill and not just what cards fall.”

The PPA this time emphasized on sharing personal stories with the congressmen. The reason is breaking the label that poker players are shady individuals, far from being law-abiding citizens. Instead, poker players are students, housewives, firefighters, soldiers, doctors, and teachers.

Further it was noted that Poker players are an extremely generous. Churches, synagogues, and other institutions around the world regularly employ poker tournaments as fundraising vehicles. The turnout at the PPA’s charity event was extremely impressive with top pros were in present, including “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke, who came with $100 bills to re-buy wounded warriors at her table. The league of people at PPA as a part of National Poker Week was truly impressive.

Along with Raymer, Duke, and Lederer, the movement to legalize and regulate online poker also had “The First Lady of Poker” Linda Johnson, Women in Poker Hall of Fame member Jan Fisher, former MIT Blackjack Team member Andy Bloch, online poker star Jordan “iMsoLucky0” Morgan, PokerXFactor instructor Chris “Fox” Wallace, and Team PokerStars Pro member Dennis Phillips attending. Even talk show host and poker veteran Montel Williams turned out, fresh off a trip to Africa.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News | No Comments » July 28th, 2009

The recent Online Casino scandal has created quite a jiff in the gambling world. Rceently it has been discovered that Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey is preparing a bill to bring online casino regulation to the Senate. Acoording to PPA head John Pappas, This is being done parallel to Barney Frank’s legislation which is slowly working its way through the House.

The Players Alliance executive director John Pappas stated during his speech in Washington as a part of the celebration of National Poker Week, that a Senate companion bill to Barney Frank’s measure to regulate online casinos will be forthcoming. According to Pappas the bill will be introduced by Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, but did not commit to a specific time.

Representative Bill Frank has already provided two pieces of legislation which are designed to remove the UIGEA online gambling ban and license and regulate Internet casinos and poker rooms. The PPA on the other haqnd is using the poker celebration to generate solid support for Frank’s efforts.

Frank’s bills were due infront of the committee for discussion after the Fourth of July Congressional recess, however the economic condition delayed the matter of the debate over the online casino proposals till September.

It is said that a new bill by Menendez would help quicken the approval, if the Senate bill can be forwarded more quickly than its House counterpart has. If both bills can reach chamber floors and pass a vote before the winter break, then only reaching compromise on differences in the bills would need to be addressed.

For some reason the anti-gambling groups seem to be taking a delaying strategy, not being sure of the results if a vote were allowed to occur.

The UIGEA ban on payment processing for online gambling is facing severe judicial and political attack as well as the legislative measures. Officials from the European Union have demanded it be dropped, and a court challenge is ongoing before the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News | No Comments » July 22nd, 2009

The Poker Players Alliance petition for the legalization and regulation of online poker has reached 300,000 signatures and its aiming for half-million before the petition is handed to President Barack Obama. The PPA is now just a few days away from the National Poker Week, during which PPA’s State Directors and other seniors will be meeting Congressmen.

This petition is significant because it will be given to the nation’s Commander in Chief. The Executive Director of PPA John Pappas told PocketFives.com, “We are thrilled by the active participation of the poker community. 300,000 voices are hard to ignore, but 500,000 will be even harder. We need every poker player to encourage their friends and family to sign the petition this week so we can get to a half-million signatures to present to President Obama.”

The petition begins with; “I am a voter and a fellow poker player asking for your support of my right to play games of skill like poker on the internet.” The legislation to legalize and regulate the game has been introduced by Congressman Barney Frank and is currently at the House Financial Services Committee. The legislation has 42 co-sponsors and was introduced on May 6th. The bill states that online should not be legalized and this includes online casino games according to Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act although it allows fantasy sports games.

The petition also mentioned that the legalization of online poker was the top technology issue in the Citizen’s Briefing Book. The Book offered concerned citizens to voice their opinion as to what policies they’d like from the new administration. Al large number of poker players went ahead with this book.

Some of the people participating in a special charity tournament are Montel Williams, Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, and Linda Johnson. This tournament is benefiting the USO of Metropolitan Washington. The PPA will also be making a donation. The poker tournament is free to enter and features $100 rebuys. It is invitation-only and will be held at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill.

PocketFives.com will be in Washington DC as an official sponsor, during the fly-in reporting on the latest from the Grand National Poker Week.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News | No Comments » July 19th, 2009

Recently the federal government seized $14 million form a payment processing company which deals with accounts of online poker players. Now the company wants the money back along with a judge to help them through. Therefore Account Services Corp. of San Diego made the request in a filing with a federal judge.

A Poker Players Alliance advocate stated that the money is part of the more than $30 million recently frozen by the federal government from payment processors. The poker group informed The Associated Press that it planned to file a motion with the court to participate in the case on the side of Account Services.

According to John Pappas the Poker Group’s executive Director “Any action contesting the government’s seizure of players’ funds will help protect the rights of U.S. Internet poker players, and we will explore every legal avenue to ensure that our members’ voices are heard and their rights are protected,”.

According to Account Services the federal prosecutors seized $13.3 million from an account at a Wells Fargo Bank in California and $1 million from two accounts at a Union Bank in San Diego. The former was said to be done with a warrant but not the latter. They also found a letter as evidence from a U.S attorney stating that he wanted seizure of accounts at Union Bank while a warrant is being prepared, which was issued later for Union Bank by U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman in New York.

A spokeswoman for the Southern District prosecutors Yusill Scribner, said the office had no comment. The Justice Department has always found Internet gambling as illegal. According to Account Services there was nothing illegal about the online poker transactions and there was no reason to seize the money and this would eventually lead it to and end to the business. Jeff Ifrah, a lawyer representing the Interactive Gaming Council, said that Account Services’ entire business was processing payments for those seized accounts and the funds had been legally for the players on sites such as Pokerstars.

“Poker players have been damaged significantly,” said Ifrah. “Some of the players face civil liability for bounced checks, some have had bank accounts closed.”

A Massachusetts Democrat, Representative Barney Frank, has introduced legislation that would somewhat legalize rather than ban Internet gambling. It is estimated that almost half the $16 billion Internet gambling industry, dominated by overseas sites, is to be fueled by U.S. bettors.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News | No Comments » July 16th, 2009

In the midst of the internet gambling scandal the government has frozen more than $30 million in payouts affecting thousands of players.

The Poker Players Alliance released a statement on Tuesday claiming that the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York instructed four banks to freeze accounts belonging to online payment processors. John Pappas, the group’s executive director, claims the frozen accounts contain funds owed to 27,000 players who used offshore poker Web sites.

According to the Associated Press, in a letter dated Friday and faxed to Alliance Bank of Arizona, the prosecutor alleged that accounts held by payment processor Allied Systems Inc. were subject to apprehension and penalty “because they constitute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses,”. The letter was seemingly signed by Arlo Devlin-Brown, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The New York Times states that Representatives for Citibank and Wells Fargo confirmed to them that the banks have frozen funds at the request of federal prosecutors. Any comment to Post Investigations was declined by a spokesperson for the Southern District Attorney of New York, mentioning a policy “never to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.” The Department of Justice also refused to comment.

The sudden freeze is the latest development in the long-running debate over the legal status of online poker in the United States. In April 2009, the operations of PartyGaming Plc were effectively shut down U.S. by the same U.S. attorney’s office. PartyGaming was one of the largest online poker sites in the U.S. before the President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. The measure forbids online gamblers from using credit cards, checks and electronic fund transfers to place and settle bets.

During the whole battle for gambling online poker advocates have pushed the federal government to license and regulate online gambling, arguing that U.S. players are being lead into unregulated offshore poker sites.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News | No Comments » July 7th, 2009

When you think of online poker, the first thing that comes to your mind is tons of money. However everything seems good from far and you see reality only when you actually jump into things. Here is a similar case which may seem shocking to certain regular online poker pro players.

Last month when a couple of players went to cash checks that had been issued to them from poker Web sites, the check surprisingly bounced. What actually happened was that the Department of Justice had seized more than $30 million in assets related to online poker. So Poker might not be a genuine way of making money in everyone eyes.

The chairman of the Poker Players Alliance believes that playing poker online is not illegal however he does claim that collecting your winnings cannot be done legally. Banks have now started seizing assets for the same reason from well known online gambling communities causing distress to online poker players who raise their voice claiming that it is their rightful money and that there should be some action taken by legal authorities in favor of them.

A couple of years ago, Congress did pass the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which was not as effective as it sounds however. The Justice Department has always stood by its concrete belief that any form of online gambling is illegal, even if it never went after the assets of poker players themselves.

Most Poker players defend their position by saying that poker is a game that requires a great deal of skill and mind. Whereas if you look at the court decisions that have examined this lately, they almost uniformly determine that poker is a game of chance for purposes of gambling, and therefore is considered gambling.

For the poker players this is quite disturbing although action is being taken and hopefully will be effective. Much to their delight Barney Frank (D-MA) has authored a bill that would legalize online poker. Another critic D’Amato supports the bill also. “These kinds of prosecutorial tactics sometimes gain great headlines for who are pushing them, but doesn’t really advance the cause of justice,” D’Amato says. He further goes on to say that the government should not be focusing on such small issues and trying to stop people playing poker on the Internet, should be one of the last considerations of government.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News | No Comments » July 3rd, 2009

The Poker Players Alliance, PPA, condemns the recent actions taken by the Southern District of New York. PPA released a statement where they express their ‘disappointment’ against the Southern District of New York because they seized an estimation of $30 million of online poker players’ money.

According to the PPA chairman and former N.Y. Senator Alfonse D’Amato the funds belong to law abiding poker players, not the operators of poker websites.

The Southern District has ordered three banks: Citibank, Goldwater Bank, and Alliance Bank of Arizona to seize the funds.

Online poker players have had tremendous trouble depositing and withdrawing money from several poker sites – like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker – using the popular eChecks in recent days. These sites are not currently allowing the players to use eCheck at all.

Federal prosecutors recently asked four American banks, including Citibank and Wells Fargo, to freeze the accounts of two companies that “process payouts on behalf of” four poker sites, including PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

The amount of money that was frozen? “At least” $33 million dollars.

According to John Pappas, executive director of the PPA, this situation is currently impacting 27,000 players.

D’amato ensures that the players will get their funds. “We will continue to pursue every legal course available to ensure that in this instance, poker players’ funds are not seized and their right to play online poker is protected.”

“To that end, the PPA is coordinating a legal strategy to appropriately protect PPA members who are impacted by the Southern District’s actions. Further, the PPA has contacted the affected poker websites and has been informed that deposit and payout issues of players are being addressed and will be fully satisfied”, D’amato concludes.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News | No Comments » June 30th, 2009

PokerStars has an innovative way to support National Poker Week (July 19-26), a drive by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) encouraging supporters to send messages to the President and Congress backing Barney Frank’s initiatives to regulate online gambling and to repeal the UIGEA, and to also include support for the right to play games of skill, like online poker; which was the number one issue on technology policy on Obama’s Citizen’s Briefing Book website.

The petition reminds the President of the strong showing by online gambling patrons at Obama’s Citizens’ Briefing, an Internet site for US citizens to voice their concerns. Regulation and legalization of Internet gaming was voted the top issue in the technology category at the site.

The document asks that poker be specifically exempted from the UIGEA online gaming ban, and requests that Obama use his influence to protect the rights and liberties of US residents.

In an email invitation to PokerStars pro players from Greg “FossilMan” Raymer (2004 WSOP World Champion and PPA Board Member), PokerStars announced they will reward anyone who signs the poker petition by making petition signers eligible to participate in a $3,500 freeroll tournament on PokerStars. The petition will be presented to President Obama on July 22.

Prize pools of $3,500 will be awarded to the finishers of the freerolls. Each tournament is limited to 20,000 players. The freerolls take place each Saturday between June 27-July 25 at 14:30 ET.

Registrants will receive a ticket to be eligible to play in one of the special PPA Petition Freerolls at PokerStars.com.

Another piece of good news is that in further support efforts to contact Congress during National Poker Week, PokerStars will send an email during the week of July 12, and anyone who sends a letter to their Senator or Representative will receive a ticket to a special $10,000 freeroll to be held on PokerStars.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News | 1 Comment » June 25th, 2009

An American nonprofit Interest group known as The Poker Players Alliance was formed “to speak with one voice to promote poker, and to protect the players’ rights.”The PPA was fashioned to serve as an encouragement group to Washington to establish rights and protections for U.S. poker players.

The Poker Players Alliance intends to get laws such as the Illicit Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 overturned either through political or judicial means. As public support grows for online poker and interest in the game increases through televised celebrity matches and other events, several states and localities are making alterations to laws that trespass on poker players’ abilities to play online poker, at home, in bars or taverns, and even at charity events across the country.

A print advertising campaign has recently been launched by the Poker Player Alliance featuring its appeal to the US federals regulation of online poker and targets politicians and federal officials in the Washington D.C. area. The Poker Players Alliance’s advertisement materialized in three of the most widely distributed print Medias, The Hill on Tuesday, The Politico Wednesday, and Roll Call yesterday, all of which are eagerly read by policy makers at the federal level.

Positioned as a counter response to the mainstream coverage of online cheating scandals at Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker by “60 Minutes” and The Washington Post over two weeks ago, the Poker Players Alliance’s ad itself mentioned only the series of pieces in the Post. Due to being targeted by the ad the newspapers shared readership was highly affected with the political outlets.

The Poker Players Alliance’s widespread call for “sensible federal regulation” particularly prevailing over online pokers hub of attention are several bills which are likely to be accorded with reconsideration when the new congress defers in 2009. Amid those are HR 2046, the “Internet Gambling and Regulation Act” introduced by Rep.

Barney Frank (D-MA); HR 2610, the “Skill Game Protection Act” introduced by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL); HR 6870, the “Payments System Protection Act” also introduced by Frank whose endeavor is to block or invalidate the implementation of portions of the 2006 UIGEA; and S 3616, the “Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act” introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ).  Although several other bills are pending in relation to internet gambling but are not as heavily supported by the Poker Players Alliance.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News | No Comments » December 18th, 2008