Poker players and online gambling enthusiasts have established a home base inside the Beltway.

The Poker Players Alliance, a nonprofit that defends the rights of poker players, moved from San Francisco to Washington last month in order to increase its visibility and effectiveness on Capitol Hill. The group has been a vocal opponent of federal efforts to restrict online gambling.

Last year, President Bush signed into law a measure banning financial firms from processing payments to e-gambling sites. The Justice Department also has pursued several high-profile cases against offshore gambling businesses in recent years.

The poker alliance was among the groups that actively lobbied against the e-gambling ban. In a telephone interview, Executive Director John Pappas said he hopes an international trade dispute over e-gambling and recent research about the effects of online wagering will encourage lawmakers to rethink the statute.

The tiny island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, which depends economically on e-gambling, has successfully challenged the United States before the World Trade Organization and is seeking billions of dollars in sanctions. Earlier this week, the British Gambling Commission released a study refuting some of the claims used by supporters of the U.S. ban about the addictiveness and health risks associated with online gambling.

Legislation already has been introduced to repeal the U.S. ban on Internet gambling. A bill introduced by Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., instead would legalize and regulate the online gambling industry.

Poker players are trying to rally support for Frank’s proposal, which has a few dozen co-sponsors. The alliance has loaded more than 100 videos about various gambling issues to YouTube and is planning to hold a policy conference in Washington next month to spotlight its agenda. Lawmakers, lobbyists and professional poker players have been invited.

The group also is planning a voter-registration drive for the 2008 election.

Pappas acknowledged that it will be difficult to move the measure through Congress this session. But he said the WTO case may help sway some lawmakers. He added that the alliance got a boost earlier this year when former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, R-N.Y., became chairman.

“Congress works in mysterious ways,” Pappas said. “What we’re trying to do is generate a critical mass where Congress would have to act.”

Pappas hinted that the alliance may establish a political action committee to further enhance its influence. He said the organization is currently focusing on educating members on who its “champions” on Capitol Hill are.

“If we had a dollar from each of our members we’d have one of the strongest PACs in Washington,” he said. “It’s something we’re strongly considering.”

A month ago, the Poker Players Alliance moved its headquarters to Washington, D.C. The goal was to be as close as possible to lawmakers, who have the fate of the online gambling industry in the United States in their hands. The main lobbying group for the online poker industry just announced a Policy Conference, which will occur October 22-24. This three-day event marks the most aggressive campaign yet by the PPA, whose membership is quickly approaching the 800,000 mark on its way to one million strong. With such an important event in the works, the time to become involved is right now.

An e-mail sent to PPA members stressed the importance of coming to Washington next month to make a stand for online gambling: “You will have a chance to meet with Members of Congress who will vote on this important issue, and mingle with many of the best poker players and pros from across the United States. In addition to a great conference, we will schedule a meeting with your Member of Congress and work with you to make sure they get the message that poker is a game of skill and that reasonable regulation is the best policy approach to Internet gaming. Members of Congress need to hear from their constituents. Without you, the poker prohibitionists will continue to make the rules. With you, we can protect games of skill from unfair government interference.”

The Policy Conference’s hub will be the Omni Shoreham Hotel and transportation will be provided to Capitol Hill. The event kicks off with a Welcome Reception at 6:00pm on Monday, October 22nd and participants are encourage to plan flights home the night of the 23rd or the morning of the 24th. If you plan to attend this historic event, send an e-mail to wash-fly-in@pokerplayersalliance.org in order to get a registration form. Discount hotel rates are available as well. You don’t even have to be a member of the PPA to participate. Just e-mail wash-fly-in@pokerplayersalliance.org and you can be a part of poker history.

With the new session of Congress convening after the Labor Day holiday, eyes will turn towards the discussion of internet gambling. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act calls for banks to halt transactions to offshore gambling sites. Congress will now have four major online gambling bills to examine. They include the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, proposed by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA). The bill calls for a framework for the United States to license offshore online gambling companies to do business within its borders. In addition, the Skill Game Protection Act, proposed by Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL), would provide an exemption from all existing legislation for poker, bridge, and other games of skill. Also, the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Government to declare the UIGEA unconstitutional. A hearing is scheduled for next week.

Brownsville is the second Linn County town this summer to pass a social gaming ordinance that allows business owners to host Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournaments.

Natalie Ward, owner of the Brownsville Saloon, requested the ordinance and plans to start hosting tournaments next month, after the new law takes effect Oct. 17.

“We’re the only bar in town,” Ward said. “People asked us about it.”

Most Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments take place in bars and taverns.

In Sweet Home, Chewy’s Sports Pub and Grub and The Waterhole Tavern have received permits to host events since the city council approved, 6-1, a similar social gaming ordinance in July, after five months of controversy.

The city of Halsey approved a gaming ordinance two years ago. It allows Texas Hold ‘Em at the town’s only bar, Julie’s Halsey Tavern.

Oregon law allows social gambling — games in which there are no house odds and the house gains no income from the gambling itself — in private homes and by charitable or nonprofit organizations.

It also allows cities and counties to authorize social games in private businesses such as taverns.

Brownsville City Manager Scott McDowell said the city council will evaluate the ordinance in a year. Sweet Home city officials plan to revisit their new law in two years.

McDowell said there was no opposition to the ordinance before it was unanimously approved during a meeting Monday night.

Because Ward’s tavern closes hours after neighboring businesses do, she said tournaments shouldn’t impact anyone except patrons and contestants.

Finding a game of poker in southern New Hampshire just got a little easier as two commercial poker halls prepare to open in the coming months.

Jim Rafferty, president of New Hampshire Charitable Gaming, received permission from the Milford Planning Board Tuesday night to convert a vacant storefront in the Granite Town Plaza into a poker hall.

Rafferty, who is a licensed primary game operator through the New Hampshire Pari-Mutuel Commission, according to commission spokesman Paul Kelley, plans to convert the former Violette’s IGA grocery store into a charitable gaming facility called the River Card Room.

Kelley said that Rafferty has undergone a thorough background check and review, including a 13-page application that delves into every conceivable aspect of the applicant’s personal and financial life.

“We’re trying to keep scoundrels out of New Hampshire,” Kelley said.

Under the state’s gambling laws, poker and bingo halls can be licensed as long as at least 35 percent of the take goes to charity and a representative of the charity is present throughout the game night. Each charity is entitled to 10 gaming days each year. In order to keep the cards shuffling at a place like the proposed River Card Room, the organizer must line up a series of charities that will accept the proceeds from the card games.

The River Card Room, according to planner Sarah Marchant of the Milford Community Development department, would have 25 10-seat tables for Texas Hold’em poker games, and would offer light food, beer and wine.

The planning board approved a change of use permit to convert the space, which has been vacant for more than a decade, into the poker facility. Rafferty still must receive approval for the facility from the Pari-Mutuel Commission, and must seek approval for a liquor license from the state liquor commission.

Meanwhile, Rafferty has already received permission to establish regular Texas Hold’em poker games at the Big Bear Lodge in Brookline. Big Bear Lodge owner Paul Andre was given approval from the Brookline Planning Board to start cutting the cards earlier this month.

Charitable gambling isn’t new to Big Bear Lodge, where regular bingo games have been held for years, but Police Chief Thomas Goulden said he has some concerns about the move toward poker.

“You have a different clientele with poker than you do with bingo,” Goulden said.

With poker, it’s more likely that people, especially those in their late teens and early 20s will be sitting down to games with adults who are consuming alcohol, and Goulden said that underage drinking is a concern.

The chief said he’s also wary of the sheer numbers of people who may turn out for poker nights at the Big Bear, and told the planning board that he’d like to monitor parking and traffic issues at the facility on Route 13.

“There are things I want to watch,” he said, “and it may turn out that police details will be needed.”

Fourteen people have been charged with illegal betting after deputies received a tip that there were poker games taking place on Wade Hampton Boulevard, authorities said late Wednesday.

For about an hour, investigators say they watched as several people went into 5102 Wade Hampton Blvd. before the men were charged, according to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies said they saw about 20 cars parked in the parking lot. A woman was answering the door, according to the incident report.

Deputies said they looked and “in plain view saw two card tables with several persons at each table actively engaged in card playing,” the incident report said.

Deputies said they seized money used in what they called a poker game.

Investigators said the tipster told them that poker games were usually held on Tuesdays and Saturday nights.

The men — from Greer, Greenville and Simpsonville — were given an appearance ticket in reference to “violation of illegal betting,” the incident report said.

The date they were to go to court or respond to the alleged violation wasn’t included on the incident report.

Visitors from all around come to Southern Arizona to visit Tombstone: “The Town Too Tough to Die.”

And pretty soon some of those visitors could include poker players.  Poker could be making a comeback.

“Tombstone was a Las Vegas before there was a Las Vegas,” says Harold Lee with the Arizona Card League. “Tombstone, as far as I can tell, is the home of poker in this country in a way.”

Despite their poker faces, a group of poker lovers are passionate the game should come back to Tombstone.

“We think that not only does poker belong there, but that poker can do a lot to help that community revive itself,” Lee says.

“It’s huge on TV right now. Turn it on and there’s 3 games on,” says poker dealer John Pearson.

The Arizona Card League wants to put on weekend poker excursions in town.

Some of the money will go towards fixing up the old city hall.

It’s another way to draw visitors to town.

“They could sit around, play cards like Doc Holliday and stuff,” says Tombstone resident Stephanie Hamblin.

The city says it can’t find any law on its books saying poker ever became illegal.

“I think it’s the Old West and they need to have stuff like that,” Hamblin says.

You can find more information at www.arizonacardroom.com.

A report released by the Gambling Commission today reveals that problem gambling has not increased over the last eight years, despite widespread speculation to the contrary. The British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007 provides data on gambling participation by the British public.

It shows that there has been little change to the number of problem gamblers in Britain with around 0.6% of the adult population being affected – the same percentage as in the last gambling participation survey in 1999.

This latest survey was carried out by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen). Its aim is to measure participation in gambling, estimate the level of problem gambling and the factors associated with it and to explore the public’s attitude towards gambling.

Since the 1999 survey the nature of gambling in Britain has changed with an increase in the number of gambling products available. Coinciding with the survey’s publication, the new Gambling Act came into force on 1 September. This survey provides a benchmark against which to measure the impact of the new Act.

“The key message is that overall there has been surprisingly little change either in the number of gambling participants or to the number of problem gamblers since 1999,” said Peter Dean, the Gambling Commission’s Chairman.

“We remain concerned that there are still over a quarter of a million adults who are problem gamblers. The challenge, for us and for the industry, is to tackle this through the new licensing regime that has been put in place from 1 September. British-based gambling operators must now comply with strict and detailed social responsibility obligations, and we will monitor how these requirements are met.

“This survey gives us a benchmark for the future. It also provides a mass of useful data which we and the authors will be analysing further.”

“The survey will be repeated in 2009/2010 and we shall then be able to assess the effect of the changes brought about by the new Gambling Act and the measures we have put in place.”

The full survey is available on the Commission’s website: http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/.

Links to for British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007:

• Full report (182 pages)
  
• Executive summary
• Comparisons with other countries
• Summary of key methodological issues

A majority of voters want the chance to decide whether casinos should be allowed in the state, according to a new poll.

The Lexington Herald-Leader/Action News 36 Election Poll found that 82 percent of Kentuckians want to vote on the issue.

“Kentuckians want this resolved and they want their voice heard,” said Patrick Neely, executive director of the pro-casino Kentucky Equine Education Project.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher has tried to paint this fall’s gubernatorial election as a “referendum” on casinos, but the message isn’t working, said Del Ali, the pollster who conducted the phone survey of 600 likely voters.

Issues such as job creation, health care and education are affecting the votes of about as many people, the survey found.

“Casino gambling is not the issue driving the gubernatorial election,” Ali said.

After saying for years that he wouldn’t block state lawmakers from putting the issue on the ballot, Fletcher changed his position this summer and said he will fight against allowing voters to consider a constitutional amendment on the subject.

“As Kentuckians are becoming more educated on the issue and the experiences of other states, they’re recognizing that the state should not welcome a predatory peddler of an addictive product,” said John-Mark Hack, chairman of the Say No to Casinos Campaign.

Only 11 percent of respondents said they opposed a vote on casinos. Seven percent said they were not sure.

The poll was conducted Sept. 10-13 by Olney, Md.-based Research 2000 and has a margin of error of four percentage points.

The Herald-Leader/Action News 36 poll found that 48 percent of likely voters oppose casinos, compared with 42 percent who support them. Ten percent were not sure.

Fletcher has argued that casinos will increase crime, bankruptcy, suicide and divorce in Kentucky. His Democratic opponent, Steve Beshear, contends that allowing a limited number of casinos would create hundreds of millions of new tax dollars for education and health care.

If you go:
Milford Planning Board meeting
When: Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Milford Town Hall.

Poker players play for the pleasure of the game, not because they want to be do-gooders, says the president of a company that wants to establish a Texas hold’em poker operation in the former Violette’s IGA at the Granite Town Plaza.

But if the planning board approves a change of use request made by James Rafferty, president of the New Hampshire Charitable Gambling, 35 percent of the profits from the games played in the former supermarket will go to charity.

“The charities in the state, in Nashua, want to get this going,” Rafferty said on Thursday. “It’s a great way to raise money, a whole new group of people, men from the region who want to play a good game of poker.”

Rafferty is hoping for a second nod when he goes before the planning board on Tuesday during a public hearing where changing the designated use for the 12,000-square-foot space in the 20,000-square-foot former supermarket will be discussed.

Violette’s was the last independent grocery in Milford, and has been empty since that store closed in 1995. Various plans have been put forward for the space over the years, including a bar and a bowling alley, but none have gone forward.

Rafferty said 50 employees would work at peak hours, 82 in total, and he plans to set up 25 poker tables with 10 seats at each table.

Traffic and parking issues are expected to be discussed as part of the planning board process. The gaming company president must provide one parking space for every two seats in the establishment and one space for every two employees, according to Planning Board regulations.

Not everyone in town supports the change in use.

Chuck Worcester of Hometown Insurance, a business located on the Oval, has filed a statement with the planning department opposing the request.

He said he believes the change would have an “adverse impact to the community,” according to the statement.

Worcester was speaking as president of the Heritage Commission, a town group concerned with historic preservation.

The application to the town’s planning board follows requests by Rafferty to set up charitable gaming in Nashua and Brookline.

In two applications to the city of Nashua, the company sought approval to set up charitable gaming in the former St. Stanislaus Hall on Pine Hill Road and in the former ArcLight store on West Pearl Street.

The city zoning board quashed the request with 2-2 vote. Rafferty said he withdrew his application after the tie vote.

Rafferty, who runs the company backed by eight investors, plans to open his first charitable gaming operation in Brookline later this year, following a vote last week by that town’s planning board to allow Big Bear Lodge to lease space to Rafferty’s New Hampshire Charitable Gambling.

The board also approved a request to extend the Big Bear Lodge hours to 11 a.m.-1 a.m.

Currently, bingo games are held at the lodge on Sunday afternoons to raise money for local charities.

Gambling that dedicates a percentage to charity has been legal in the state for about a decade. Last year, the law was changed to allow charities to hire a professional company to run the games, under the watch of the New Hampshire Pari-Mutuel Commission.

The Telegraph (09/17/07)

For Immediate Release
Contact: Rich Muny, PPA KY State Director
September 17, 2007
KY@pokerplayersalliance.org