A Rated Politicians Fare Well for Poker
Written by Matt W | Thursday, November 6th, 2008
Barack Obama was not the only person to win an election on November 4. Half of the seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the seats in the Senate were also up for grabs, what does this mean for poker?
The politicians who will now be occupying these seats who will be affecting the future of Internet poker more than the new man at the White House. In a run up to the elections the Poker Players Alliance had given a rating from A+ to F- for members of the Congress and it is heartening to see that many A+ politicians have fared well. Poker News Daily has provided the analysis.
If a comparative rating were granted to the A+ politicians then Congressman Barney Frank would be A+ among the A+. He introduced the HR 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, and more recently the HR 6870, the Payments System Protection Act. Congressman Frank, a Democrat, defeated his Republican rival by a landslide 68% to 25% margin in Massachusetts.
Prior to HR 6870, Republican Congressman Ron Paul had introduced an earlier version of the Payments System Protection Act, the HR 5767, which was unfortunately defeated in the Committee. However Paul was given an A+ rating by the PPA for his pains and in this election he won unopposed from his district in Texas. Another politician who played an important part in the HR 5767 was the Republican Peter King from New York. This A+ politician defeated his Democrat rival by a margin of 64% to 36%. Democrat Shelley Berkley and Republican Jon Porter introduced HR 2140, an Internet gambling study bill. This bill will have to be reintroduced next year in all probability. Berkley, who had been rated A+, was elected from Nevada by a 67% to 28% margin. Porter, who had been rated only A, was one of the friends of poker who lost, although by a narrow margin of 42% to 47%.
Congressman Robert Wexler is well known in the poker fraternity. He had given the “Shuffle up and deal” command for the Main Event of the WSOP 2008. What is not that well known is that he introduced the HR 2610, the Skill Game Protection Act. Wexler, who hails from Florida, was obviously rated as A+ by the PPA. He defeated his Republican rival by a margin of 66% to 27%. Congressman Pete Sessions, another A+ rated friend of poker, introduced the HR 6663, which aims at restricting the scope of the UIGEA to only online sports books. Pete defeated his Democrat rival by a 57% to 40% margin.
Some of the other A+ politicians who won on November 4 were Democrat Linda Sanchez from California, Democrat John Conyers from Michigan, Democrat Melvin Watt from North Carolina, Democrat Steve Cohen from Tennessee and Democrat Bobby Scott from Virginia. However quite a few “enemies” of poker have also won. These are politicians who have been rated as F- by the PPA. Some of them are Republican Bob Goodlatte from Virginia and Republican Spencer Bachus from Alaska.
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· Written by Matt W · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
