by Hillary LaClair, Senior Editor
December 9, 2008
The Poker Players Alliance continues to prove that it is the most progressive advocate group for online poker, announcing that it will advertise in three Washington D.C. publications. The non-profit organization hopes to reach politicians on Capitol Hill and influence positive votes for online poker regulation.
The advertisements will tout the mantra, “It’s Time for Some Straight Talk,” and are to be featured in Roll Call, The Politico and the Hill. The subject, of course, will be a call for the legalization and regulation of internet poker rooms in response to concerns over player protection that were raised in the recent ’60 Minutes’ segment and Washington Post column.
"In a story last week about online poker, The Washington Post debated the merits of Prohibition vs. Regulation. That’s an easy one. Sensible federal regulation is the only way to protect the millions of Americans who play Internet poker every day,” the advertisement reads.
"We can’t guarantee every online company will play by the rules. But we’re certain good laws will deter and punish those that don’t. For too long, the federal government has abdicated this responsibility. It wrongly believes censoring the Internet and prohibition will work. This does nothing to protect consumers. What it does is limit our personal freedoms and drives players underground or overseas. Worse, billions of dollars that could be raised from regulation are lost. And in this economy, every nickel counts.”
In the advert, the PPA draws attention to the ongoing proposal to regulate the industry as a means to control fraudulent activity toward U.S. online poker players who continue to access these websites. It personally urges all members of Congress to support the endeavor to keep poker alive for their supporters. Because the UIGEA has banned U.S. citizens from financing online poker recreation, they are forced into overseas operations where the customer’s interest may not always be top priority. Currently, if an American citizen is cheated out of their earnings on a gambling website, no action will be taken save for that of the website’s management team.
The announcement to run the advertisements is subsequent to industry’s coverage in both news outlets, in which online poker was painted in a dim light, and where the PPA again called for internet poker to be licensed.
In a prior statement, PPA chairman Alphonse D’Amato stated, “The federal government cannot continue to abdicate this basic responsibility to the millions of its citizens who choose to play poker on the internet. The attempt to enforce an outright prohibition of online poker is deeply flawed and unworkable, and it invades upon the personal freedoms of law-abiding adults who wish to engage in a game of skill.”
There has always been an argument from the Poker Players Alliance that poker should be omitted from the UIGEA, due to the amount of skill that it requires, in contrast to online casino gambling or the licensed and regulation online horse racing and national lottery industries in the U.S.
“And as 60 Minutes and the Washington Post stories reported it also exposes American consumers to the rare, unscrupulous bad apple operator who will take advantage of the lack of a U.S. regulated marketplace.”
“"Now more than ever the U.S. Congress needs to step up and enact real public policy as it relates to Internet gaming. We look forward to working with the new Administration and the new Congress to advance sensible regulatory solutions such as those introduced in the 110th Congress by Representatives Barney Frank (H.R. 2046) and Robert Wexler (H.R. 2610) and Senator Robert Menendez (S.3616)."
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