PPA Weighs in on Intrastate Poker EffortsSeveral States Consider Online Poker Regulation |
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California. Florida. Massachusetts. New Jersey. Iowa.
Those may not have been the battlegrounds that the Poker Players Alliance expected itself to be fighting on, but they are where the battles have been fought, as several state governments are considering regulating the online poker industry within their borders.
Hungry for additional revenue in these difficult financial times, a number of state legislatures have held preliminary hearings on the financial benefits that a regulated online-poker market would bring to their states.
California alone is facing a $20 billion deficit and has been forced to cut numerous state programs in the past year. Along with other states that are struggling to piece together their annual budgets, the potential revenue that online-poker regulation offers is increasingly enticing to elected officials who don’t want to have to cut additional programs.
Since its founding in 2005, the PPA — which now has 1.2 million members in the U.S. — has devoted much of its resources at the federal level. But while efforts in Washington, D.C., have progressed slowly, the financial situations of the aforementioned states have put intrastate online poker at the forefront of the debate.
Intrastate online poker is a regulated market authorized by an individual U.S. state. No U.S. state has yet to enact such a system, but the tides appear to be turning.
“The idea is not something that the PPA opposes,” PPA Executive Director John Pappas said. “However, we are very concerned what intrastate poker means for the online poker player and the online poker market today.”
The PPA wants to make sure that players will still be able to compete on current online poker sites, like PokerStars and Full Tilt, and that they will still be able to compete against players not within their state.
Pappas believes that states would be able to make more money through licensing fees if they allow an open market, and he says that individual states would have a tough time reaching critical mass if they did not allow their constituents to play against players in other areas.
According to Pappas, federal online poker licensing still would provide tax revenue to the states.
Pappas discusses intrastate poker a recent PPA video here:
In February alone, state legislatures in California, Florida, Iowa, New Jersey, and Massachusetts all discussed the topic of online poker. The PPA testified before several of these hearings, saying that states could indeed make a good amount of money through regulation, but cautioned them in how they might offer online poker.
“Let me be clear: We support licensing and regulation. We think it’s achievable,” said Pappas in a February hearing in Florida. “Our preference is to do it at the federal level, but if we are going to go down to the state level like you guys are contemplating here (in Florida), and like they’re contemplating in California, competition has to be key.”
Pappas says Florida, which is facing a budged shortfall of more than $5 billion, has between 600,000 and 900,000 online poker players.
His testimony in Florida can be viewed here:
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