Concerned Poker Players Urged To Make Difference

Anytime from June to July, the United States House of Representatives will be voting on a bill that if passed shall be the Federal government's first substantial effort at banning Internet gambling and online poker.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (Richmond, Va.) is the sponsor behind the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. In the bill, Goodlatte states reasons why Internet gambling and online poker should be banned. According to him, Internet gambling is used to launder money, drains billions of dollars from the economy, destroys families and is used to aids terrorists. Goodlatte has called Internet gambling a "scourge" and has repeatedly conjured disgraced and convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's name when explaining why his bill didn't go anywhere in the past.

The fear of many online poker players: this time around the bill might actually approved in the House.

"Online poker players need to know that their ability to play is seriously threatened," says Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance or PPA.

Concerned poker players can do two things according to Bolcerek, players should write or call their representatives expressing their concern, and become a member of the PPA. Present numbers indicate that by the end of June, the PPA will have more than 30,000 members. Their goal is to have a 100,000-strong number by the end of 2006. The more poker players that the PPA has under its wing, the more weight it will have when lobbying lawmakers.

From the beginning of 2006, the PPA has been recruiting poker players extensively and the group has had some help from online poker rooms. One poker website, PartyPoker.com recently offered deposit bonus to players who joined the PPA through its site. Similarly, just this June, FullTiltPoker.com dispersed a letter to all its players informing them of the political problem surrounding the game. It also encouraged its members to join the PPA.

Bolcerek is optimistic about the setup. "We had incredible response through that," he says.

Bolcerek believes that poker players right to play online is being threatened by lawmakers who really don't know much about online poker.

Bolcerek has this to say about their members: "They love the game. They love playing online poker and the government is trying to take that ability to play. It's a passion of poker that I think drives our members to get active and get behind the cause,"

"I receive emails from members every day asking how they could help, what they could do."

August 30, 2006
John Tucker