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As the Republican Convention looms in the near future, the Republican Platform Committee has been busy trying to hammer out the details for the 2008 campaign platform.

Initially it looked like the party may have decided to drop their opposition to online gambling from the official line, but CQ Politics reported on Tuesday, the language has once again been added.

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One of those interesting online gambler political initiatives took place over the last few days when the Poker Players Alliance suggested to US fans that the Republican Party Platform Committee might be a good place to make their views known (see previous Online-Casinos.com/InfoPowa report). The Platform Committee is responsible for presenting the party’s platform or manifesto, and runs a website where suggestions and comments on what should or should not be on the platform can be posted.

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Putting his own G-rated spin on a classic George Carlin riff, longtime Las Vegas sports gambler Kelso Sturgeon likes to say he makes sure to avoid the polls each Election Day.

Instead, he goes to a local casino to play video poker.

That way, Sturgeon figures, at least his activity on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November stands a chance of generating some kind of a positive outcome.

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Republican Platform Committee stripped a prohibition of Internet gambling from its draft platform, as part of an effort to appeal to the broadest possible constituency.

The passage had been a part of the last two platforms, and was opposed by virtual poker players. Contentious provisions could still be added by amendment to the platform.

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Washington — Slipped into the 92-page Republican Party platform are two sentences that drive poker players nuts.

In those slim lines, approved in 2004, the party spells out its opposition to Internet gambling — that $15 billion industry that in just a few short years has turned half the guys (and a number of women) you know into poker-playing geniuses.

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The Republicans’ last two national party platforms opposed Internet gambling. Online poker players want a new deal at this year’s convention next month.

The Poker Players Alliance, which spent $1.2 million lobbying during the first half of 2008, aims to legalize virtual versions of the game now played under the table. Dozens of people listing poker as their profession have contributed $353,802 to federal candidates this election cycle. And the group will sponsor events at both conventions.

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Several months after being granted standing to sue by a judge in New Jersey, the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association has indicated that the deadline for the organization to file its brief in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is at the end of September. iMEGA President Ed Leyden told PokerNewsDaily.com, “We’re diligently working on preparing our case and we will file by the end of next month.” iMEGA is suing to declare the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act unconstitutional on the grounds that it violates privacy rights in the United States. iMEGA was formed in 2007 “with the goal of working constructively and cooperatively with government at all levels, and other concerned citizens and corporations, to continue the remarkable growth of the Internet, and to promote innovation, openness and freedom as the path to even greater benefit of this medium for all,” according to its website, iMEGA.org.

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A major player in the online gambling world has decided to endorse the recent bill that congress passed attempting to clarify the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

The bill, which is titled H.R. 6663 or the Unlawful Internet Enforcement Clarification and Implementation Act UIGEACIA, was introduced to congress by Pete Sessions last week and will attempt to define what falls under the scope unlawful internet gambling.

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WASHINGTON — A new bill that would limit the Internet gambling ban to sports betting while exempting poker and other online wagering is splitting poker advocates.

The Poker Players Alliance, a group that lobbies Congress against the ban, is opposed to the bill. Former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, R-N.Y., who is the alliance chairman, said it does nothing to clear up confusion about the definition of unlawful Internet gambling.

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