PPA Director Outlines Political Poker Efforts
Written by RogerCP | Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
The Director of the Poker Players Alliance, John Pappas, told Card Player in an interview this week that every effort is being made to change the current legislation governing poker in the United States. Pappas was asked what has been done since a special House Financial Services Committee meeting on December 3rd last year which ended without a vote.
Pappas replied that a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes with the PPA and others in order to solidify support in the committee for the proposal.
“We’re also seeking compromises where necessary; maybe we’ll earn some more votes from committee members who oppose the bill in its current form, but might support it with some changes to it. Those often center around enforcement, like you see in the Menendez bill, some additional measures to protect minors from accessing websites, things along those lines,” said Pappas.
Pappas said that while Barney Frank has several issues to iron out on his proposed bill to change the UIGEA, he may very well manage to mark up the bill by the spring.
The Director was asked how important the House Financial Services Committee vote is.
“Well, it’s a huge committee, with over 70 people on it,” said Pappas. “I think the vote in the committee is kind of the bellwether. Based on that vote in the committee, if it’s overwhelmingly in favor of the bill or if it’s a narrowly passed bill, it’ll kind of chart our course. We all must be aware that the Senate could act independently on this, as well. We’d certainly work with Senate offices if they choose to do so.”
John Pappas was also asked what the PPA has been doing on a federal level to push for changes, to which he replied that much of the work that has been done has been at grassroots level, such as educating audiences, running outreach programs and targeting specific members of the committee to influence their positions to support Frank’s bill.
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· Written by RogerCP · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
