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PPA Against Patrick's Bill

Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts is encountering widespread opposition to his latest land casinos gambling bill. Governor Patrick’s bill proposes bringing three land casinos to the area – but that’s only one part of the bill causing problems, the U.S. pressure group the Poker Player’s Alliance is working against a part of Patrick’s bill which criminalizes online casinos gambling. The PPA is nearly a million members strong at this point and has spent nearly $1 million in lobbying funds to exempt internet poker from the U.S.’s current gambling ban. Patrick’s attempts to criminalize online poker gambling have not gone unnoticed by the group and the PPA plans to seek exemptions in the bill for internet poker and other skill games.

The PPA is currently monitoring the situation in Massachusetts and sending periodic updates to PPA members on the status of Governor Patrick’s bill. Randy Castonguay is a PPA representative based in Massachusetts, and he recently announced a synopsis of Patrick’s bill to all PPA members and noted that the PPA will work to have exemptions written into the bill that exclude internet poker from the online casinos state-wide ban.

Castonguay notes, “The PPA is serious about making sure the provision in the legislation that seeks to criminalize online gaming is removed or clarified not to include skill games like poker." This issue in Massachusetts is just one more cause that the online casino poker gambling pressure group will allocate lobbying funds toward. The Executive Director at the PPA, John Pappas commented on the status of Governor Patrick’s bill, "The idea for the [Massachusetts] gaming bill is to raise as much revenue as possible through casinos, so it’s conceivable that Governor Patrick could have viewed online gaming as a threat to revenue that could be raised through land-based casinos. It’s a real concern and we’re hopeful we can act quickly. The bill has already been introduced and referred to committee. There will probably be a hearing sometime in March.”