May 19, 2009 (CAP Newswire) — Last week’s exciting news that the full legalization of online poker was high on the list of “action items” that American voters submitted to President Barack Obama is being welcomed by the Pokers Players Alliance (PPA).
An advocacy group that specializes in lobbying for the full legal rights of Internet poker and the repeal of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006, the PPA has some close political ties to Washington. The group’s executive director, John Pappas, commented that the Citizen's Briefing Book that emphasized Americans’ desire to legally play online poker couldn’t have come at a better time, following as it did the introduction into the U.S. Congress of two new bills designed to regulate the sport. (Read about the Citizen's Briefing Book here.)
Poker players “saw a great opportunity to get our issue in front of the new president, who is a self-proclaimed poker player,” Pappas told the Las Vegas Sun. “Clearly, the citizens are talking and Congress needs to start listening.”
That’s not an overstatement. In the Citizen's Briefing Book, the goal of legalizing online poker ranked higher than suggestions for increasing automotive fuel efficiency standards — another issue that's very much on the minds of today’s Americans.
“In some ways Obama’s briefing book reads like a to-do list he has already started — closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, developing clean energy sources, supporting investment in high-speed rail,” writes Lisa Mascaro in the Las Vegas Sun.
Mascaro goes on to examine the new Barney Frank bill. “…casino giant Harrah’s Entertainment became the first major bricks-and-mortar operation to back the legislation,” she writes. “Nevada Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley signed on as a co-sponsor.”