PPA's New Letter to President Says: Protect the Right to Play Poker

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has posted a new letter on their website to send to U.S. President Obama urging him to protect the right to play poker in the absence of a federal law against playing online poker (click here, or view below). The letter also demands that the seizure of poker player funds by the Department of Justice (DoJ) stop.

The letter takes 'just 60 seconds' to send, and is available on the PPA website now by clicking here.

The PPA also posted additional text in their forum (shown below the letter to the President on this page) which can be used to send to friends and family so they can send letters as well.

The PPA encourages all players and friends of poker to keep the pressure up by continuing to contact the President and their Congressional representatives.

The contents of the PPA letter to send to Obama are shown immediately below:

Dear President Obama;

As a voter and a poker player, I am writing to ask you to oppose seizures of poker players' funds by the Justice Department. I do not believe any federal law restricts my right to play poker online, and I believe poker players are being unfairly and improperly targeted in these actions.

For many years, the Justice Department has attempted to enforce its very broad interpretation of the Wire Act (18 USC 1084), a bill first passed in 1948 and revised in 1961. The Wire Act was passed to control the transmission of sports bets and sports betting information via telephone, not to stop Americans from playing online poker. This was affirmed in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court's landmark 2002 ruling affirming that the Wire Act pertains only to sports betting [see re In MasterCard]. Unfortunately, despite this federal court ruling the Justice Department continues to stand by its own interpretation of the Wire Act.

This issue is not lost on the American public. We made our desire for this liberty known through your Citizen's Briefing Book website. Of the thousands of proposals submitted, support for Internet poker rights was the top technology issue. We have also made our desires known via an online petition addressed to you at www.pokerpetition.com that now has over 375,000 signatures.

This issue is not lost on Capitol Hill, either. In the House, H.R. 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, has been introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank and already has close to 60 cosponsors. In the Senate, S. 1597, the Internet Poker and Games of Skill Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, was recently introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez. These bills mandate rigorous, verifiable safeguards against underage participation while providing consumer protections for the millions of Americans who play online poker every day. They also include dedicated funding to establish and implement programs for prevention and treatment of those with excessive gaming habits. These bills also allow American companies to participate in the world's Internet poker market, bringing needed jobs and revenue to our great nation. An unenforceable, unpopular prohibition provides none of these benefits. All prohibition can do is drive players underground or overseas while limiting my personal freedom.

What's most important to me is your support for my rights. Please respond to this letter and let me know you will support my freedoms. I hope that I, along with my over one million fellow Poker Players Alliance members, can count on your support.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

[your name]

LETTER TO FRIENDS & FAMILY

In their forum, the PPA also posted an email to send friends and family to ask to send the PPA letters as well. Simply cut and paste the following and send it to them:

Dear _________,

Please take a few moments to help me and fellow American poker players fight for our right to play Internet poker. Although it is currently still legal in most of the U.S. for anyone to play poker online, the current policy of our federal government is to interfere with our access to the sites and to attempt to block all related financial transactions.

Please help us lobby our federal and state government leaders and representatives to pass legislation to license and regulate Internet poker so all U.S. citizens will have unhindered access to the sites, as well as needed consumer protections. By using the links below, you can send pre-formatted e-mail letters through the Poker Players Alliance. It should take you only a minute or less for each of the three forms, and only requires that you enter your name, address, e-mail and phone (enter 999-999-9999 if you don't want to use your real one).

To send a letter to your federal Congressional representatives:

http://www.capwiz.com/pokerplayersalliance/issues/alert/?alertid=13690391

To send a letter to your state Governor and legislators:

http://www.capwiz.com/pokerplayersalliance/issues/alert/?alertid=14005591

To send a letter to President Obama:

http://www.capwiz.com/pokerplayersalliance/issues/alert/?alertid=12601836

Thanks so much!

Best,

[your name]

P.S. Please forward this message to anyone else you can think of who might help out.