Attorney Patrick Fleming isn’t a high stakes gambler.

But he’s been known to win some cash at local tournaments.

“Not anything that would make me quit my day job,” Fleming said Thursday. “At least not yet.”

Fleming was named the Poker Players Alliance New Hampshire state director on Wednesday. The PPA is a grassroots advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C.

In his newly appointed role, Fleming will be responsible for monitoring poker-related issues and events in New Hampshire, and alerting the national PPA office to emerging trends or issues as well as leading PPA activities in the state, according to a press release.

“Pretty much like everybody, I played poker as a young man,” he said. “I played with my dad as a kid and his buddies, played in college.”

But it wasn’t until the resurgence in poker several years ago that Fleming got back into playing.

Nowadays, it’s all he plays at casinos.

“If you’re going to go to a casino, why not play the only game not against the house and where skill can actually make a difference and make you a winner?” he said.

Fleming says he plays online poker three or four nights a week, visits the Seabrook Greyhound Park once every other month to play in charity poker tournaments, occasionally visits Foxwoods Resort to play and takes a yearly vacation to Las Vegas.

“Poker is extremely popular everywhere,” he said, adding that there are 5,500 PPA members in the state. “It’s America’s game and it’s regaining popularity … (My) basic duty at this point is to grow the organization.”

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A poker advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C., has named a Rochester public relations consultant as its Illinois state director.

The nonprofit Poker Players Alliance, with more than 900,000 members nationwide, is betting on Steve Brubaker to raise its profile in Illinois.

“I’m doing it pro bono because I like poker,” said Brubaker, a contract lobbyist by trade.

“I don’t gamble, but I play free games online,” he said. “I just enjoy the game.”

“They don’t ask us (the state directors) to contact our congressmen,” he said. “I’m sure there will be some letter-writing campaigns, but the idea is to raise awareness.”

Brubaker, a member of PPA since 2006, is one of 50 state directors chosen from a pool of more than 1,000 applicants, the organization said in a news release. His duties will include alerting the PPA on local news stories or legislation and mobilizing local PPA members to attend poker-related events or rallies.

He’ll also serve as recruitment coordinator, media spokesman and is expected to organize members to contact elected officials.

The PPA mission is “to establish favorable laws that provide poker players with a secure, safe and regulated place to play,” according to its Web site.

It also aims to keep poker “free from egregious government intervention and misguided laws.”

One of the goals of the PPA is to overturn, either by political or court action, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 that prohibits financial institutions, credit card companies and the like from processing payments involving Internet gambling, with some exceptions.

It is illegal to gamble under Illinois law if taking anything of value is a result of the activity.

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The Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS), the group formed at Harvard Law School to promote poker as an educational tool, is co-sponsoring a rally Tuesday at the Statehouse with the Massachusetts chapter of the Poker Players Alliance to protest the criminalization of poker in Governor Deval Patrick’s gaming bill.
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There’s trouble brewing in the Massachusetts. Home to Congressman Barney Frank, one of online poker’s leading proponents and author of the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, Massachusetts may have taken a turn for the worse on this critical issue. Luckily, Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society Founder and President Charles Nesson, Congressman Frank, and an army of individuals from the Poker Players Alliance are working to reverse a detrimental course of action the state is embarking upon. A hearing on Tuesday, March 18th will discuss H. 4307, a bill introduced by Governor Deval Patrick (pictured) that establishes the framework for construction of three casinos in Massachusetts, but at the same time makes playing online poker punishable by up to two years in prison and a $25,000 fine. PocketFives.com sat down with PPA Executive Director John Pappas to discuss the background to H. 4307’s introduction.

First and foremost, the bill was introduced not by any member of the legislature in Massachusetts, but rather by its Governor, Deval Patrick. PPA State Director Randy Castonguay sent out an e-mail to his comrades in Massachusetts that summed the PPA’s reservations with the bill up succinctly: “H.4307 is pro-casino gambling legislation, yet it makes Internet gaming a crime. This is an unacceptable double-standard!” Pappas agrees: “The bill is flawed in a number of ways, not the least of which is the provision that criminalizes online gambling. It’s outrageous that someone playing $0.05/$0.10 online poker could be thrown in jail.”

Recent news in Massachusetts regarding overcrowding in the state’s prison system complicates the matter and makes the bill even more ludicrous, according to Pappas: “Now we’re talking about 400,000 registered online poker players in Massachusetts potentially being labeled criminals. The bill has other problems; if it doesn’t pass, this will be just one of the reasons.”

H. 4307 is designed to bring revenue and jobs to Massachusetts. With casinos such as Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun nearby, the state finds itself losing potential sources of revenue. The text of the bill reads, “Revenue generated from resort casinos can be used to find critical needs in the commonwealth, including investments and upgrades to roads and bridges, and other important infrastructure.” Atlantic City is just a 350 mile hop from Boston, making for a range of gambling options for Massachusetts residents right now.

The big mystery weighing on the minds of the PPA and GPSTS has been who is responsible for placing the provision into a pro-gambling bill that criminalizes online gambling. Nesson even went so far as to send a letter to the CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Sheldon Adelson, who had been rumored to be the impetus behind the inclusion of the provision. Adelson responded saying he had no hand in it and so the mystery continues. Pappas offers up an explanation, “It may have been a careless error made by an overeager staffer who thought that, perhaps by doing this, they’d mollify the concerns of the Christian Right who would oppose gambling. If that was their political calculation, it was naïve. People who oppose gambling oppose gambling.”

All the PPA and its Massachusetts members can do now is show up on Tuesday. Pappas explains the PPA’s game plan: “The PPA has been notifying its members regularly, updating them on what’s going on with the bill. There have been a few thousand letters written to state officials in the House, Senate, and Governor’s office with the message that online poker isn’t a crime. We’re organizing a rally on the statehouse steps on Tuesday. We hope to have 75-100 people in attendance. We have red shirts made up with the slogan, ‘Poker is not a Crime.’ We’re going to make our presence felt outside.”

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Almost two years after a poker game was broken up by Mount Pleasant police, some of the more vocal members of the group still haven’t resolved their cases.

One of the players contends the delay is because town officials don’t want the spectacle of a jury trial, in which he plans to defend the game of poker against what he calls South Carolina’s outdated anti-gambling laws.

“Mount Pleasant, they don’t want to be the stepping stone into changing this,” said Bob Chimento, the unofficial spokesman for the group.

Town Attorney Ira Grossman, however, contends the delay is not out of the ordinary. About two-thirds of those ticketed that night have been dealt with in municipal court pleas, he said, adding that prosecutions take time, especially when many of the defendants don’t have lawyers.

Of the cases that have cleared the court docket, some paid gambling ticket fines of as little as $100.

In April 2006, police busted a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament at a Glencoe Street home they’d been watching for some time. Fifteen to 20 vehicles were visiting several days a week before the raid, authorities said.

The game had been advertised via an Internet meet-up site set up specifically to attract poker enthusiasts from around the Lowcountry. Players paid a $20 “buy-in” to join the game, with a percentage of the proceeds going to the house.

Only about eight of the approximately 24 people involved lived in Mount Pleasant. The others hailed from Charleston, James Island, Summerville, Hanahan and North Charleston, police said.

Authorities seized nearly $6,000 and a small quantity of drugs.

Chimento said the five remaining members of his players’ group “are bound and determined to go to trial on this,” no matter how long it takes. They are getting help and advice from lawyers from other parts of the country who are pro-poker advocates, he said.

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If you care about your right to play poker, we need your help!

On Tuesday March 18th the Massachusetts State Legislature will be holding a hearing on the now infamous Mass. Casino Bill. As you know, tucked away in this bill is a sneaky provision that makes playing Internet poker, or any form of internet gambling, a felony punishable by up to TWO YEARS IN PRISON and serious fines.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2008                                                                         
 

Poker is Not a Crime: PPA to Hold Rally and Testify in Massachusetts Legislature

WHAT:
A rally in opposition to H 4307 the Massachusetts Casino Expansion, bill in advance of a hearing on the legislation.
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If you ever find yourself in a friendly game of poker that involves betting at any type of bar or other establishment in Indiana, it might be time to fold. That’s because the Indiana Gaming Commission is taking a tough stance against illegal gambling. And one bar owner in Scott County, Indiana has already been busted. WAVE 3 Investigator Lindsay English has the details.

Outside Boomer’s Bar and Grill, a banner hangs announcing a Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament twice a week. The problem is the tournament is illegal. Wednesday night Indiana State Police, along with Excise Officers and the Indiana Gaming Commission, busted into the bar and broke up the game.

About 60 players inside were stunned. “We came in, just got everybody’s IDs, took everybody’s information and stopped an allegedly illegal card game that was going on,” said Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Jerry Goodin.

Goodin said the raid was prompted after the Indiana Gaming Commission received a complaint against the bar.

Troopers surrounded the building and kept everyone inside until they were cleared — something the owner, Wes Thompson, was not happy about.

“We are playing a Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament — nothing any different than what any other bar around here,” Thompson said. “For whatever reason, I was singled out….”

Before Thompson could finish his thought, he was led away by State Troopers, right in the middle of our interview. We later learned he was arrested and taken to the Scott County Jail for promoting professional gambling.

Other players inside couldn’t believe the game was busted. “It’s good the law enforcement is enforcing the law and things, but nobody’s making any money. We’re just having fun,” said one player.

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For Immediate Release

Washington, D.C. (March 11, 2008) – To further leverage its nationwide reach, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group, today tapped 50 members to serve as PPA directors for their respective states.  The State Directors program is part of the organization’s comprehensive strategy to become a player in both national and state-level policy debates.
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The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) today applauded the decision by Judge Mary L. Cooper, of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, granting iMEGA the standing to pursue a challenge of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). This is a significant victory for iMEGA in the case of iMEGA v. Gonzales, et al.

“Granting iMEGA standing is a major victory any way you look at it,” said Eric M. Bernstein, Esq., attorney for iMEGA. “Judge Cooper’s ruling holds that, even with the passage of UIGEA, online gambling is only illegal in states where a statute specifically says it is.”

“iMEGA is very pleased that the Court recognized our standing and the weaknesses in UIGEA” said Joe Brennan Jr., the chairman of iMEGA. “Judge Cooper found that banks, credit card companies and other payment system instruments are exempt from criminal sanctions under UIGEA, significantly undercutting UIGEA’s enforcement mechanism. Her ruling echoes the growing consensus of opinion that UIGEA is a fundamentally flawed statute.”

“We believe Judge Cooper missed the opportunity to affirm Americans’ online privacy rights and we plan to appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals,” continued Bernstein. “However, her honor’s decision significantly undercuts the federal government’s argument that UIGEA is a well-drafted, effective and enforceable law.”

UIGEA was passed in the waning minutes of the 109th Congress with very little input from most Members of Congress. iMEGA filed suit to challenge UIGEA on June 5, 2007 and oral arguments were heard in the case on September 26, 2007. A decision has been pending since that date. In the interim, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Department of the Treasury have issued proposed regulations to implement UIGEA and iMEGA and numerous other organizations, such as the American Bankers Association, have filed comments objecting to them.

“iMEGA supports the use of effective, existing technologies to protect children and problem gamblers,” continued Brennan. “Although UIGEA is purportedly designed to limit illegal Internet gambling, it falls woefully short of having the ability to accomplish that purpose and fails the American people on a number of fronts. If promulgated, the proposed regulations would stifle online innovation and commerce; inadequately protect children by failing to ensure adequate safeguards; and have a chilling effect on the digital civil rights of all Americans.”

The official name of the case is Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association vs. Alberto Gonzales, et al.

Click here to go to the press release.