Weekend of April 21st, 2012
Six years ago, the Dec. DoJ interpretation of the scope of the Wire Act as not applying to poker would have resulted in a mad dash on Capitol Hill to see who could be first to introduce legislation expanding the Wire Act to include (i.e., ban) online poker. Black Friday would have resulted in the same rush to pass anti-poker legislation. After all, in that era who'd not wish to be part of the effort to stop the "scourge on online gambling"? If you doubt that, check
here and
here for how things were.
So, what's different now? Why aren't anti-gaming forces lining up against us? Why are B&M casinos now willing to take a chance at advocating for online poker legislation, rather than going for a ban on all online gaming. Why did three more lawmakers just sign onto HR 2366, the Online Poker Act? It's because the poker community stood up, organized, and fought back, that's why! I'm proud we're fighting together and am looking forward to our ultimate victory.
So, why am I so optimistic? Well, with the DoJ determination of the Wire Act's limited scope, it's very likely that either the federal government or individual states will move to authorize online poker in the near future. If we all keep pushing for our rights, we'll help our case here both in getting legislation and in getting player-friendly provisions added to it.
So, let's all keep up the pressure on the Hill.
Don't be one of those spineless posters who won't take a stand or -- worse -- tries to talk others out of fighting back. Instead, let's keep telling lawmakers that they cannot stop us and that they need to move on legislation. Let's also let them know that they have to listen to the poker community while they formulate the bills!
- Let's send members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee NEW tweets requesting addition of online poker licensing to the Cybersecurity Act: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
- Let's send House Subcommittee for Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Chair Mary Bono Mack and the rest of the subcommittee NEW tweets requesting a markup for HR 2366: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
- Let's email the House Energy & Commerce Committee again to ask for a markup of HR 2366, the Online Poker Act, HERE. For some text for a starting point, simply copy-and-paste the text from the PPA prewritten letter to Congress here.
- Let's post and like pro-poker comments to the Facebook walls of Rep. Cynthia Lummis HERE, Rep. Connie Mack HERE, Rep. Doris O. Matsui HERE, Rep. Jim McDermott HERE, Rep. Jim McGovern HERE, and Rep. Jeff Miller HERE.
- Let's send a prefilled tweet promoting today's action plan HERE, and let's share today's action on our own Facebook walls HERE.
Please reply in this thread with "tweeted", "done", etc. to encourage others to participate. The past 207 actions have generated triple-digit participation, so let's keep it growing. Thanks!