By all measures, National Poker Week was a resounding success. Over 50 representatives from the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), including 33 of the organization’s State Directors, descended upon Washington, DC this week for the festivities. Among them was Dan Cypra from PocketFives.com, who landed in Baltimore on Monday afternoon and boarded a MARC commuter train headed for Union Station in Washington, DC. Throughout two days and 100 meetings with Congressmen and their staff members on Capitol Hill, PPA representatives sent a clear message to lawmakers: Regulate and legalize online poker in the United States. Let’s recap National Poker Week.

Last Monday, Howard Stern (pictured at left) – yes, that Howard Stern – became a card-carrying member of the PPA. Now up to 1.2 million constituents after boasting a scant 50,000 three years ago, the PPA can claim one of radio’s most controversial figures as one of its own. PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato kicked off National Poker Week bright and early Monday morning by appearing on Stern’s Sirius Satellite Radio show for a 50 minute segment. At a working dinner on Monday at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, the conversation began with D'Amato touting Stern’s membership. The news nugget was met with a hearty round of applause.
Also on Monday, Executive Director of Wired Safety Parry Aftab, Vice President of Cigital Stuart Dross, and former International Game Technology executive Paul Mathews served as panelists in a presentation to lawmakers and their staffs. The goal was simple: convince 70 decision-makers in attendance that online poker can be regulated effectively in the United States. Citigal is one of the leaders in age verification and claims former PPA Executive Director Michael Bolcerek as a staff member. International Game Technology is one of the largest slot machine manufacturers in the world and based in Reno, Nevada.

Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL, pictured at right) gave opening remarks at the working dinner on Monday night. Wexler spoke about putting a face to the online poker player: “To put a face on this issue is very important.” The PPA launched a new advertising campaign in Capitol Hill publications and online that focuses on breaking the stigma that poker is played in backroom establishments by shady individuals. “Celebrity Apprentice” winner Joan Rivers, for example, told Annie Duke in one episode of the hit reality series, “Your people give money with blood on it.” It is that stereotype that the PPA sought to break.

Players and lawmakers alike gathered on Tuesday night for a charity poker tournament benefiting the USO of Metropolitan Washington. Over 30 wounded warriors turned out from nearby Walter Reed Army Medical Center, joining poker players Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Greg Raymer, Dennis Phillips, Chris Fox Wallace, Jordan iMsoLucky0 Morgan, Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, and Montel Williams. Congressmen in attendance included Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Peter King (R-NY), Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Tom Perriello (D-VA), Steve Cohen (D-TN), and Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA).

The 1.2 million members of the PPA represent only a handful of the 70 million poker players in the United States. In each meeting with Congressmen, PPA representatives were encouraged to share their personal stories and call for support of Congressman Barney Frank’s (D-MA, pictured at left) HR 2267, which establishes a licensing and regulatory framework for the internet gambling industry in the United States. The bill was introduced on May 6th and is up to nearly 50 co-sponsors.

PocketFives.com took part in a meeting with staff members from newly-minted Senator Al Franken’s (D-MN) office. In it, Wallace and a lobbyist from the PPA touted a bill expected to be introduced next week by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) that seeks to legalize internet games of skill like poker. It will likely be similar to S 3616, the Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act, which was introduced last September in the waning moments of the 2008 Congressional session. Menendez defined skill games to mean those that use “simulated cards, dice, or tiles in which success is predominantly determined by the skill of the players, including poker, bridge, and mahjong.” The PPA has a draft of the bill in hand.

The online poker petition, which was delivered to U.S. President Barack Obama (pictured at right) on Wednesday, attracted 375,000 signatures. In addition, concerned poker players have sent nearly 200,000 letters and e-mails to lawmakers since Monday. The timing of National Poker Week could not have been better, as health care reform legislation on Capitol Hill may require a significant boost to government revenue in order to become a reality. Conservative estimates place the potential revenue derived from online poker at $3.3 billion per year, or over $30 billion per decade.

A special thank you from all of us here at PocketFives.com to the PPA for being overly cordial during National Poker Week. Our media access was outstanding. Thank you also to Michael Waxman from the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative (SSIGI) and Joe Brennan from the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) for meeting with us. So long from Washington, DC!

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