July 27, 2009 (CAP Newswire) — It’s hard to determine just yet whether or not last week’s National Poker Week rally sponsored by the PPA (Poker Players Alliance) had any real effect on the political movement in the U.S. to fully legalize and regulate Internet poker. However, it certainly accomplished the goal of gaining more coverage for the movement, which should certainly help the cause.
In summarizing the event, Newsweek’s political coverage featured a nice write-up of the current motivations behind the Internet poker legalization movement; namely, the efforts to get the game classified as one of skill and not chance, therefore separating it from gambling. That’s a position with which many Americans agree, but the fact is that many Americans are simply not aware that poker is considered illegal in many U.S. legal quarters. Coverage in a widely read publication as Newsweek should certainly help to change that.
Of course, ESPN delivered some helpful coverage too, which is of little surprise considering that the sports network has long championed poker as a sport. (Many contend that the network’s attention to poker in the past decade has been a big factor in the exploding popularity of the game.)
But ESPN went beyond simply reporting the event and offered a full analysis of the state of online gambling in the United States, featuring an a analysis of why the UIGEA passed and why that law probably doesn’t reflect the will of many Americans. It's the kind of story rarely seen in the mainstream media and is more often found on online casino advocacy sites.
To read the Newsweek article, click here. To read the ESPN article, click here. And click here to go to the PPA’s website to read more on the topic.