Info for all, but residents of Louisiana and Pennsylvania especially
Weekly Update from Rich Muny, VP of Player Relations of the Poker Players Alliance
Last week, I discussed how one can sense the desperation in Venetian / Las Vegas Sands and CEO Sheldon Adelson's Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling's all-out approach, as their efforts to date have clearly not produced the groundswell of opposition to online poker that they had hoped. In fact, their efforts have actually aided the push for licensed US poker by giving us a platform. I also mentioned that Adelson will fight harder, reaching out to individual anti-poker lawmakers in an attempt to create an appearance of growing opposition, while simultaneously making state-by-state advocacy more challenging.
We saw some of this a few days ago, when Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal unfortunately chose to come out against online poker across America. He even suggested that licensed online poker in other states would result in people in his state playing on those sites, this despite the success of geo-located licensed US sites keeping out out-of-state players, thus justifying (in his mind, anyway) Congress shutting down state-licensed sites. Jindal doesn't mention poker by name, but it is clear from the article that he means poker too. I encourage you to please take a moment to post your thoughts to his anti-poker op-ed here.
Additionally, it is clear that Sheldon Adelson is continuing to seek Congressional supporters for his Internet poker ban bill. Rumors abound that he has found a sponsor in the Senate and is seeking a bipartisan cosponsorship.
What does all this mean? Well, as PPA Executive Director John Pappas and I said last week, it just means PPA and the poker community will continue fighting harder too! Every attack presents incredible opportunities to push our message and to advocate for our cause. All we players and enthusiasts have to do it seize them for maximum gain.
PA Update
Last week, I mentioned that PA State Rep. Mario Scavello had outlined a plan to criminalize online poker in Pennsylvania, calling for jail time for poker players. PA State Rep. Mike Tobash proudly announced his support in his newsletter and Adelson's coalition immediately released a statement characterizing criminalization of online poker playing as "a step in the right direction."
Since then, the poker community inundated Rep. Scavello and Rep. Tobash's Facebook pages with their thoughts on why this is a bad idea. Rep. Scavello, to his credit, apparently gave this serious thought and replied with the following statement:
Good morning all! I believe I have given everyone an equal opportunity to vent...Some have polite some have been down right nasty. I have made my notes. The Pa Senate is in the process of doing a complete study of all types of gaming which includes online gaming.
I will hold off pushing my legislation until the study is complete. If anyone of you would like to stay in touch and communicate in a rational way about this issue send me an e-mail at [email protected]. I will leave these posts on for another day....."
