The Poker Players Alliance—an advocacy group for regulated online gambling in the U.S.—is upping its fight against a proposal in Congress to ban online gambling.
The Alliance wants to engage the public in the debate and encourage them to oppose the ban directly to their elected representatives in Congress.
“We have learned time and time again throughout history that prohibition is not the solution for protecting consumers and actually does more harm than good,” said John Pappas, executive director of the alliance in a press release. “We cannot stand by and allow for misguided legislation to reverse the incredible advancements we have made in consumer and player protections and the ability of the individual states to determine whether to regulate online poker.”
Legislation introduced by Republicans Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Jason Chaffetz would toughen the 1961 federal Wire Act to ban all forms of online gaming in the U.S.
A key component of the alliance’s opposition campaign is a newly launched webpage offering easy to use resources for PPA members and the public to contact members of Congress.
According to the release, the webpage provides players with:
• Tools to reach out to their Member of Congress via an email, call or direct meeting
• Tools to raise the issue directly to Members of the House and Senate
• Judiciary committees and anti-poker policymakers via Twitter
• Talking points and recommendations for raising the issue at a public event
With Congress currently in recess, the alliance hopes Americans will engage directly with their elected officials in their own home offices, the release said.
