The Poker Players Alliance

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) is an American nonprofit Interest group formed to “to speak with one voice to promote poker, ensure its integrity, and, most importantly, to protect the players’ rights.” The PPA formed to serve as an advocacy group to Washington to establish rights and protections for U.S. poker players. Within the first year of its existence, the PPA garnered over 600,000 members. By December 15, 2007, the PPA had over 840,000 members.

This organization gained further support after President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 which prohibited financial institutions from making payments to internet gambling sites. Many online poker sites suspended U.S. operations. Other sites have continued to serve U.S. customers, citing legal opinions that UIGEA does not apply to poker.

Advocacy

The PPA aims to get laws such as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 overturned either through political or judicial means. For example, the PPA in conjunction with online poker sites, dedicated June 15, 2006 as “Write Your Congressmen Day.” Another example is the “PPA Fly-In”, where around 100 members and many professional poker players, including Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, and Chris Ferguson, flew to Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress for poker rights.

The PPA supports several bills currently in Congress that amend UIGEA. The Skill Game Protection Act (HR 2610), proposed by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), provides an exemption to UIGEA for games of skill, including poker, mah jong, bridge, and other games. As of December 15, 2007, HR 2610 has 20 cosponsors. The Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007 (H.R. 2046), proposed by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), provides for federal licensing and regulation of online gaming sites. As of December 15, this bill has 45 cosponsors. The Internet Gambling Study Act (H.R. 2140), proposed by Rep. Shelly Berkley (D-NV), provides for a study by the National Academy of Sciences to identify the proper response of the United States to the growth of Internet gambling. As of December 15, this bill has 68 cosponsors.

The PPA hired former New York Sen. Alfonse D’Amato as its chairman. In an interview with Cardplayer Magazine, he said “What really needs to happen is to have a legitimate house, a fair game, and a fair operator, and not take away from 20-plus-million citizens who play poker the opportunity to play poker on the Internet.” D’Amato went on to point out that under the current legislation, that the companies “with good business practices” could potentially be replaced by “those who do not care” because the U.S. is driving “the industry offshore, where we have no regulation and no controls.”

Michael Bolcerek, the former president of the PPA, says that the PPA has been able to mount a counteroffensive to the anti-gaming bills on Capitol Hill. He says the opponents of online-gambling

“Opponents of online gambling fail to realize that sweeping it under the rug will only serve to exacerbate any issues with problem gambling. Turning the wildly popular Internet poker from a common pastime to an illegal activity, banned by Congress, will ultimately ensure that problem gamblers do not confront their issues with gambling and drive them further underground. Regulation and taxation, however, would provide billions in revenue for federal and state governments. These funds could be used to treat problem gamblers and to educate adults and youths alike on the dangers of gambling addictions.”

Bolcerek has appeared on over 60 local stations, CNN, CNBC, and Fox to get get his message out.

In April 2007, Rep Barney Frank (D-Mass) introduced a bill (the aforementioned HR 2046) that wouldn’t simply repeal the 2006 bill, but would open up a U.S. based market for online gambling. The Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007 “would establish a regulatory and enforcement framework to license companies to accept bets and wagers online from individuals in the U.S.” The act would address underage and compulsive gambling, while providing safeguards for Americans. Legalizing these transactions would enable the government to tax and monitor fund transfers. This would allow transactions to be checked “against a number of anti-fraud, money laundering and terrorism databases”.

On August 22, 2007 Poker Players Alliance announced President Michael Bolcerek has stepped down from that post. John Pappas filled the role vacated by Bolcerek.

On October 22, 2007 Poker Players Alliance announced that membership surpassed 800,000 members.

Letter to PPA members

In October 2006, the PPA sent out the following letter to all members:

“Our freedom to play America’s game online has been taken away by Washington, D.C. The time is now for us to make a stand and protect the game we love.

“The Poker Players Alliance is our voice on Capitol Hill fighting to protect our right to play the game. We fully endorse the Poker Players Alliance and urge you to become a member right now. Go to www.pokerplayersalliance.org and help defend poker.

“When our united voice is millions of members strong, Washington, D.C. will listen to us. The Poker Players Alliance is that voice.

“Join this great organization and help save the game we love to play.”

The letter was signed by many of Poker’s biggest names: Doyle Brunson, Mike Caro, David Chiu, T.J. Cloutier, Hoyt Corkins, Paul Darden, Freddy Deeb, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Chris Ferguson, Layne Flack, Jack Fox, Chau Giang, Phil Gordon, Clonie Gowen, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Kenna James, Linda Johnson, John Juanda, Phil Laak, Scotty Nguyen, Chip Reese, Vanessa Rousso, Matt Savage, Eric Seidel, Mike Sexton, Dewey Tomko, Cyndy Violette, Lee Watkinson, and Robert Williamson III

Criticism

Mason Malmuth is owner of two plus two (2+2) publishing and a prolific poker writer. He regularly participates on the 2+2 forums where he has challenged the legitimacy of the Poker Player Alliance. 2+2 had a legal firm investigate the Poker Player Alliance to see if 2+2 could endorse the company. 2+2 released the law firms finding on their forum in December 2006. According to the law firm Greenberg Traurig:

• “Based upon our investigation, we do not believe Two Plus Two can actively encourage the financial support of the PPA because of the organization’s lack of transparency.”
• “Unlike most not for profit organizations that represent a large national interest group, the PPA is unusually difficult to obtain information from.”
• “Moreover, all not for profit organizations achieve their tax exempted status through receiving an Internal Revenue Service “exemption letter.” Those letters are typically made available to donors and members. The PPA has not made such a determination letter publicly available.”
• “According to corporate records on file with the Secretary of State, one individual serves as the PPA’s president, secretary and treasurer.”
• The PPA “fails to identify any specific political activity or lobbying efforts commissioned by the organization.”
• “No other information such as membership information, tax exempt status letter, employee rosters, designated lobbyists or the like was available for inspection.”

2+2 Publishing thus refused to endorse the PPA and took a vocal role against the PPA.

However, in May 2007, 2+2 removed the post from its website. Mason Malmuth explained, “We took the post down because we felt the PPA was making some progress in the areas where we had concern. Our position is now neutral.”