By
Dan
There’s trouble brewing in the Massachusetts. Home to Congressman Barney Frank, one of online poker’s leading proponents and author of the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, Massachusetts may have taken a turn for the worse on this critical issue. Luckily, Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society Founder and President Charles Nesson, Congressman Frank, and an army of individuals from the Poker Players Alliance are working to reverse a detrimental course of action the state is embarking upon.
A hearing on Tuesday, March 18th will discuss H. 4307, a bill introduced by Governor Deval Patrick (pictured) that establishes the framework for construction of three casinos in Massachusetts, but at the same time makes playing online poker punishable by up to two years in prison and a $25,000 fine. PocketFives.com sat down with PPA Executive Director John Pappas to discuss the background to H. 4307’s introduction.
First and foremost, the bill was introduced not by any member of the legislature in Massachusetts, but rather by its Governor, Deval Patrick. PPA State Director Randy Castonguay sent out an e-mail to his comrades in Massachusetts that summed the PPA’s reservations with the bill up succinctly: “H.4307 is pro-casino gambling legislation, yet it makes Internet gaming a crime. This is an unacceptable double-standard!” Pappas agrees: “The bill is flawed in a number of ways, not the least of which is the provision that criminalizes online gambling. It’s outrageous that someone playing $0.05/$0.10 online poker could be thrown in jail.”
Recent news in Massachusetts regarding overcrowding in the state’s prison system complicates the matter and makes the bill even more ludicrous, according to Pappas: “Now we’re talking about 400,000 registered online poker players in Massachusetts potentially being labeled criminals. The bill has other problems; if it doesn’t pass, this will be just one of the reasons.”
H. 4307 is designed to bring revenue and jobs to Massachusetts. With casinos such as Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun nearby, the state finds itself losing potential sources of revenue. The text of the bill reads, “Revenue generated from resort casinos can be used to find critical needs in the commonwealth, including investments and upgrades to roads and bridges, and other important infrastructure.” Atlantic City is just a 350 mile hop from Boston, making for a range of gambling options for Massachusetts residents right now.
The big mystery weighing on the minds of the PPA and GPSTS has been who is responsible for placing the provision into a pro-gambling bill that criminalizes online gambling. Nesson even went so far as to send a letter to the CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Sheldon Adelson, who had been rumored to be the impetus behind the inclusion of the provision. Adelson responded saying he had no hand in it and so the mystery continues. Pappas offers up an explanation, “It may have been a careless error made by an overeager staffer who thought that, perhaps by doing this, they’d mollify the concerns of the Christian Right who would oppose gambling. If that was their political calculation, it was naïve. People who oppose gambling oppose gambling.”
All the PPA and its Massachusetts members can do now is show up on Tuesday. Pappas explains the PPA’s game plan: “The PPA has been notifying its members regularly, updating them on what’s going on with the bill. There have been a few thousand letters written to state officials in the House, Senate, and Governor’s office with the message that online poker isn’t a crime. We’re organizing a rally on the statehouse steps on Tuesday. We hope to have 75-100 people in attendance. We have red shirts made up with the slogan, ‘Poker is not a Crime.’ We’re going to make our presence felt outside.”
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts lacks casino gambling and H. 4307 is an attempt at establishing a framework for gambling within state borders. The PPA has no issue with the notion that Massachusetts could have legalized gambling; its only concern surrounds making playing online poker a crime: “People haven’t taken the bill, in its entirety, with that much seriousness yet. The Governor thrust it upon the legislature and didn’t even work with the legislature to craft it. Our goal is to get this provision removed so when it’s redrafted and reintroduced, it won’t be in there.” After the hearing on Tuesday, the bill will be rewritten and then sent back to Committee.
GPSTS Executive Director Andrew Woods commented to PocketFives.com, “The provision about online poker is hypocritical, so we’d like to see it pulled from the bill. If it doesn’t get pulled, we’d like to see the bill killed.” Remember that the GPSTS has no real stake in online poker. Its goal is to emphasize the educational aspects of poker, providing more of a social function. However, based at Harvard, the GPSTS has found itself in the middle of the battle over H. 4307. Woods comments on the future of the bill: “We’ve started to make noise on this provision. People have attacked our assertions that it’s been put in by casinos. Our worry is that once something is written into legislation, it’s hard to get it out.” Woods and company will also be present at Tuesday’s hearing.
Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest on Massachusetts’ H. 4307 and the fallout from the hearing. Visit the PPA’s informational page on the issue by clicking here. Thanks to John Pappas and Andrew Woods for their insightful comments.
Gov. Patrick image courtesy of Mass.gov.