Earlier this month, members of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and pros like Andy Bloch, Linda Johnson, and Jan Fisher met with nearly 50 Washington State legislators. The objective: convince lawmakers to overturn a 2006 statute that makes playing online poker a Class C felony.
Also in the house in the northwest state was PPA Executive Director John Pappas, who told Poker News Daily that the one-day lobbying effort in Olympia was a rousing success: “We accomplished a lot and the feedback we got from lawmakers was encouraging. There was not a lot of appetite to keep the criminalization in the law. However, it’s probably not feasible until next year to get a bill through to get the criminalization out.”
One of the original proponents of the bill was Margarita Prentice, who later went on record as saying she supports internet keno in the Evergreen State. “We did not meet with her nor did we seek to meet with her,” Pappas revealed. “She no longer serves on the relevant committees and she’s not much of a factor for us moving forward. She’s been on the record as to where she stands on this issue.”
Prentice famously told affected online poker players in search of work to “go pump gas.”
What has been the reaction from Washington lawmakers? Pappas told Poker News Daily that their audience was largely in shock: “Their jaws dropped. They didn’t realize there was such a law on the books. It’s never been enforced, but that’s no excuse to have a stupid law on the books. The idea that you’re making criminals of players on their computers is illogical especially since the state has regulated card rooms and tribal casinos.”
As Pappas alluded to, no move to eliminate the criminalization of online poker players is in the works this year. On the prospects for 2012, Pappas projected, “They have a very unique legislative schedule in Washington State. The reality is that a bill could not be introduced now if it’s not revenue-generating. If we had this feedback from lawmakers earlier in the session, we could have gotten a bill introduced, but we wanted to have this fly-in and meet directly with lawmakers. We’re still happy we did it.”
What about intrastate licensing and regulation in Washington? Could we see the online poker industry take on that format? “The advice we got from a number of members was to separate the criminalization from the licensing and regulation,” the PPA Executive Director explained. “The criminalization part is a no-brainer. The licensing and regulation will be a much harder sell. No one knows exactly where the tribes would come down on that and the PPA still has broader concerns in pursuing state-by-state models.”
On the Federal level, Pappas let Poker News Daily know that the bill introduced by Congressmen John Campbell (R-CA) and Barney Frank (D-MA) could be discussed in the House Financial Services Committee within the next few months.
“John Campbell has had some conversations with the Chairman and the Chairman is willing to hold a hearing,” Pappas explained in reference to Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL). “A hearing probably won’t be held until later this summer. I don’t hold a lot of hope that this bill, as it’s currently drafted, will be something that the Committee will vote on. We continue to believe that a poker-only approach could be the right approach. We also believe a different committee could vote on this.”
The House Energy and Commerce Committee could be another target for a bill like HR 1174. The major obstacle in the Financial Services Committee is Bachus, whose staunch opposition to legalizing internet gambling has engulfed previous hearings. Pappas cautioned, “A hearing is one thing; having a bill voted on is another. We remain cautious and, at the same time, are certainly very grateful for Campbell for taking the lead on it. This vehicle and this committee might not be ideal.”
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest legislative headlines.
