Petition for Obama Administration Input on Federal Online Gaming Regulation off To Slow Start

While the battle over regulation of online gaming and poker – or its outright banishment – rages through the halls of Congress and statehouses across the United States, poker players led by the Poker Players Alliance are attempting to get input on the issue from the highest office in the land.

During his first term in office, President Barack Obama and his administration created We the People, a section of the White House’s overall website efforts. Through this website, anyone could posit a question to the Obama Administration and, if the question were to garner the support of enough visitors, the administration would issue an official reply as to the stance of President Obama on the matter.

On We the People, a petition has emerged that would request an official stance from the Obama Administration regarding the issue of online gaming and poker. “Protect internet freedom,” the petition begins, “Oppose efforts in Congress to force states to shut down state-authorized poker and gaming.” The body of the petition encourages the Obama Administration to oppose the “Restoration of America’s Wire Act” (RAWA), or HR 707, and any Senate bills that would look to ban online gaming and poker on the federal level.

“Some in Congress seek a federal shutdown of state-authorized online poker and other betting websites and a ban on future sites,” the body of the petition states. “This would set a dangerous precedent where Congress could block states from authorizing online intrastate commerce. Regardless of personal opinion on wagering, the Tenth Amendment directs that state decide such matters, not Congress.” The petition goes on to state that RAWA “benefits only certain large donors” while the current state-by-state system allows for consumer, underage and problem player protection.

From an examination of the document, the PPA seems to be an active participant in the petition drive. The petition was created by “R. M.” from Kentucky and PPA Vice President of Player Relations Rich Muny is from that state. The petition drive has also been given a great deal of support not only on the PPA’s website but also on its Facebook and Twitter feeds. The petition was filed on We the People on April 2.

Over the past ten days, the petition has been able to crack one threshold of the We the People system. A petition only becomes visible to searchers if it is able to reach 150 signatures in its 30-day lifespan and, within days of its introduction to the website, the petition rocketed past that mark. Recently, however, the drive for signatures on the petition has reached a slow point.

When it was originally created, a petition had to reach 5000 signatures to get a response from the Obama Administration. That level, which was pitifully low in today’s Internet Age, was quickly raised up to 25,000 in October 2011. Following the successful drive by petitioners for comment from the government on building a Star Wars-type “Death Star” (and a predictable tongue-in-cheek reply that said the government wasn’t pursuing such a device), actions were taken to raise the threshold again. In January of 2013, the level required for Obama Administration input on the subject was raised to 100,000.

As of today, the petition has reached only 3769 of the 100,000 needed for commentary from the Obama Administration. Extrapolated out over a 30-day period, the petition would currently fall far short of the 100,000 plateau in earning only slightly more than 11,000 signatures. There is a drive not only by the PPA but by other supporters to increase those numbers prior to the expiration of the 30-day time frame.

While the We the People has been hailed as an excellent outreach by the Obama Administration to answer pertinent questions of the day, it also has its detractors who note that not every petition that reaches the required numbers gets a response. Such petitions as those to pardon Edward Snowden, charge the 47 Senators who signed the letter to Iran regarding nuclear negotiations with federal crimes (reached 100K in less than 24 hours), allow for the automotive company Tesla to sell directly to customers and others have gone unanswered by the Obama Administration. There is even a petition to demand the Obama Administration to answer the We the People petitions that have reached their required numbers (which has reached the 100K mark), not surprisingly which has yet to be answered.

Although the We the People petition at this time looks as though it will fall short of the goal of 100,000 signatures, it is another method of promoting the positive message of many in the poker community. If those persons are able to garner a response from the Obama Administration on the subject of online gaming and poker, it would potentially go to great lengths to support the eventual goal of regulation of the industry, either on the federal or state-by-state basis.