PokerWorldNow

Card Player reported recently that the Frank bill will not go to committee this month — apparently the House of Representatives is working on a few other issues at the moment. The PPA is now focusing on their secondary strategy of pushing the that was introduced a while back that will delay the enforcement of the UIGEA from December 2009 until December 2010. Well, December is right around the corner, and seeing how easily the House can become gridlocked, there is no time to waste.

Come on House, Chop Chop

John Pappas stated in the Card Player article that he hopes that if there were some small changes to the bill to appease the opposition that it could get passed without going to committee. I am skeptical. The opposition to the bill is coming from Republicans and I think (as the current trend is proving) that they have no interest in passing any sort of legislation that smells liberal. In that sense, online poker is pretty stinky. The Republican party is in a struggle to regain their identity and they see the best way of doing that is putting a stake in the ground for the issues that they believe in. However, I believe that this opposition will expose more cracks in the Republican position because it is what has gotten them in trouble in the first place: too much pandering and appeasing to the religious right. Fortunately, the democrats have majority, but nearly every one will have to vote in favor for it to pass.

We are running out of time. The bill first has to pass the House cleanly with no major revisions or concessions, then has to pass the Senate and finally put in front of the President. This all has to be done in the next 2.5 months. Banks are already implementing policies that will make online poker transactions even more difficult. The  cat and mouse game between the banks and the poker rooms will intensify. The banks have billions of transactions per day that need to be monitored and have no financial incentive. The poker rooms have plenty financial incentive in that they will be out of business. My money is on the poker rooms.

Senator Menendez is Our Hero?

As reported by CardPlayer.com Senator Robert Menendez (NJ-D) introduced a bill in the senate to regulate and tax online poker, or more accurately Internet games of skill. The major difference between this bill and Barney Frank’s bill is that this bill focuses on online poker specifically while Frank’s bill is more general to different forms of online gaming. Both bills oppose sports betting.

The Menendez bill (full-text, yawn) aims to:

• Regulate and license Internet games of skill
• Define poker as a game of skill
• Define who is and isn’t suitable for licensing, and make it illegal to operate without a license. The bill outlines the specific qualifications an applicant must posses and discusses. Under the “unsuitable for licensing” it does not list current operators of online poker in the U.S., but does list any business that has taken sports wagers. Good for Full Tilt and PokerStars and others who have operated in the U.S., not so good for Bodog. <Update: upon further reading and research, I discovered  there is a protectionist clause that states that companies who have failed to pay taxes in jurisdictions in which those companies have operated will be rejected. Sorry Full Tilt, PokerStars, PartyPoker, 888, Titan, and so on.>
• Protect against underage gambling
• Define tax code and collect tax revenue
• Further define the wire act (a throw in for the NFL lobby?)

As far as how much a license will cost: it will be based on the cost of setup and administration of each licensee. Seems fair.

While I share the Poker Players Alliance optimism in the fact that it appears that regulation of online poker is picking up some serious momentum, there are some inherent problems with the Menendez Bill:

• Focus on poker. Since the Menendez bill focuses on poker there isn’t too much room for politicking. It seems like a take-it-or-leave-it affair. While the Frank bill has a lot of room for concessions, such as taking out some of the generic online gambling proposals and leaving it for another discussion.
• Defining poker as a game of skill. Of course I agree with this statement, but it is one that has two diametrically opposed sides. Typically the people that play poker understand that it is a game of skill, but people that don’t (or tend to lean to the righter shade of red) see it has having about as much skill as a slot machine. Menedez should not open this debate. It will drag down the bill in an unresolvable argument.

All this being said, I can’t claim that I am and expert in the legislative process, so someone who is might argue that this is a strategy to build momentum for the movement regardless of the bill that gets passed. Since Frank’s bill is a house bill and this is a senate bill, perhaps they will coalesce into some form of consensus.

The PPA is making strides in it’s lobbying effort to legalize and regulate online poker. This week was

Barney Frank is our friend

“National Poker Week” where the group set up over 100 meetings with members of congress. Here is the AP article that goes into more detail, no need to regurgitate.

The top three things that the PPA has gotten right:

1. Maintained a consistent message. They want government out of poker.
2. Gotten the word out. They have established relationships with the top online sites and have effectively communicated to the most important people in this struggle: the online poker players.
3. Assembled a powerful team. The addition of D’Amato in 2007 could prove to be a watershed event.

That being said, I think there are a few things they need to work on as well. The PPA has managed to organize and give a voice to poker players, a feat in itself, however, they have not yet figured out how to get beyond the lobbying effort and really mobilize its millions of supporters. What they need is a little Obama-esque grassroots organization and get their members to take action, such as:

1. Enable your members to do more on the PPA site. Currently, all that members can really do on the site is write a lawmaker. While this is necessary, it is really just the beginning. Let your members interact with each other and reach out. They are your strongest asset.
2. Organize on the local level. Many of the legal issues with poker start on the state level as we have seen in Washington, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota, etc. I admit, I have little knowledge with how the lobbying process works, but to me it seems if you have momentum on the state level it will carry over in the lobbying effort.
3. Fund-raise. Any heretic can come up with progressive ideas that would help the PPA achieve their goals, but what it really takes is money. I don’t know what their current financial situation is, but the fact that they sell a $20 premium membership that gives completely random benefits, probably means that they aren’t too rich with cash. Again, the members are your strongest asset and can collect money for you.

Overall, the PPA has done a good job with creating a movement, but they can’t get complacent. They have to keep pushing and try to make the small swell they have created into a tsunami. They have the added challenge of trying to motivate poker players to do something other than play poker. What may have to happen, unfortunately, is a legal precedent that further restricts poker, in order to really get people motivated. Hopefully Barney Frank’s bill passes and this discussion will be moot.

Also, read Card Player’s interview with Barney Frank

I have decided to start this blog off in the simplest way possible and each morning provide a list to the top stories in the industry. I may even add my thoughts. Considering I have no visitors to my blog, this post will live in the deepest caverns of the archives, but ultimately this will be a good exercise in finding and thinking about news relevant to the poker industry.

• The first story I came across was that Howard Stern (I assume the radio host and not Anna Nicole Smith’s widower) has joined the Poker Players Alliance. I think this is a good supporter to have. He will invariably discuss the PPA and its plight on his show that airs on Sirius, but won’t this mostly be preaching to the choir?

• FullTilt shoots for PokerStars record. FullTilt needs  to work on their international expansion before they can really dethrone PokerStars. As a side note, it is impressive that the two sites combined attracted over 100,000 players in a single evening. Granted they had to do it with large cash overlays, but still.

• ESPN publishes a lengthy article discussing the online poker legal environment. Although there is nothing new presented in the article, it is significant that ESPN has written about it.

• Shulman and Xanax. Poker News Daily has updated their profile on Jeff Shulman, but unfortunately misquoted him. I was present at the final 9 of the WSOP for the interview. When asked how he maintained his patience and composure during the grind of the main even, he responded “I am on Xanax while everyone else is on Adderall.” The way PND has quoted him doesn’t make much sense.

Check back daily for industry briefings.