Even though things are looking up for online poker in the US, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) isn’t backing down. If anything, they’re actually charging ahead with a grassroots effort that’ll help keep US (poker playing) voters informed of how their representative in Washington feels about poker.

Despite the timing, moreover, this effort seems to have nothing to do with the upcoming presidential election. Rather, this grassroots drive is aimed at members of the House and Senate.

This week, the PPA launched the PPA Congressional Rating Guide, an online resource for poker players to find out how various Representatives have supported poker rights. Representatives were graded from A+ to F-, with those for whom a position could not be determined receiving a question mark. As the press release explains:

In most cases, grades in the PPA Congressional Ratings Guide are based on co-sponsorship of bills, Congressional letters of support, public statements and private meetings with the PPA and our members versus actual votes on the floor of the House or Senate. [...]

The PPA Congressional Rating Guide will be updated periodically and is searchable by state and by zip code. As an additional benefit, PPA members can automatically send an email to their member of Congress directly from the guide to voice their support for poker and those who protect their right to play this game of skill.

The press release also explains that while “164 members of Congress earned a grade of B, [...] almost half of the members of Congress, 258, scored a D or an F.”

The seemingly overwhelming lack of support for poker rights, however, may not be cause for poker players to fret. For starters, the PPSA that passed in September calls for any regulations beyond sportsbetting to be stopped until an administrative judge can determine just exactly what is legal and illegal online gambling. This means that online poker should be reconsidered as an legitimate area of ecommerce.

Since the PPSS passed through the House Financial Services Committee, however, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) also introduced legislation into the Senate that would legally define poker as a skill game. So even if the PPSA doesn’t get poker excluded from the UIGEA, this latter piece of legislation could place it beyond the reach of the UIGEA.

Of course, this is just a small part of the picture. As Alfonse D’Amato, Chairman of the PPA, said in a letter to PPA members announcing the PPA Congressional Rating Guide:

[...] we have gained significant allies in Congress. I am proud to tell you that during this past legislative session there were nine, let me repeat NINE, pro Internet gaming bills introduced! This is a remarkable change from the days when poker players were fighting off legislative efforts to ban this national pastime.

Having nine of any bill introduced during a single legislative session is quite a feat. It’s indicative of some serious efforts being made (and pressure being applied) so that opposing online poker in Congress might cost you more votes than its worth.

After all, I suspect that the majority of US voters are indifferent to online poker. When it comes to those who are actively interested in online poker, I suspect that those pushing for its regulation vastly outnumber those working for its prohibition. The nearly half of Representatives who received a failing grade, then, may likely choose to “pick their battles more carefully” the next time online poker is focus on some of the other fish they have to fry.

A number of recent developments in the US are making it seem more and more likely that online poker will soon be legalized and regulated in the United States. These developments, moreover, come as a surprise after, just over a month ago, the industry got excited when the GOP drew up its platform without any mention of online gambling, and then disappointed by subsequently re-inserting prohibitionist language.

But now, two things have swung the tide: (1) the Payment Service Protection Act (PSPA), and (2) legislation introduced this week that will reclassify poker as a skill game.

The PSPA

In September, Barney Frank Barney Frank (D-Mass) and Peter King (R- NY) succeeded in passing PSPA 6870, a revised version of HR 5767. What does this mean for poker players? Well, as Online Casino Reports explains:

At its core, the PSPA calls for greater clarity on which online gambling activities should be outlawed. [...] The PSPA is a call to regulate the online gambling industry in the USA. This means that there will be checks and balances on what online gambling will be permissible; how it will operate and to whom it will be accountable.
[...]
The PSPA requires that [...] any regulations beyond sports betting will be stopped, until an administrative law judge determines exactly what is legal and illegal Internet gambling. This means that online poker for example, will have its day in court.

There’s a bit more too it than that, and Online Casino Reports gives a great overview of the PSPA, but the point is that online poker will be reconsidered as a legitimate area of ecommerce.

New Poker Legislation

Since the PSPA made it’s way through the House Financial Services Committee, however, the plot has thickened (in an exciting way) for online poker enthusiasts. Specifically, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has introduced legislation that could speed up the regulation of online poker. As the GPWA reports, this legislation:

[...] would legally define poker as a skill game and create a regulatory environment for the game to be offered over the Internet in the United States. The bill is the first piece of legislation concerning online gambling that has been introduced to the Senate since the passage of the UIGEA.
[...]
Menendez’s “Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act” calls on the U.S. Treasury Department to set up a licensing framework for games that use “simulated cards, dice, or tiles in which success is predominantly determined by the skill of the players.”

So by the time that opponents of online poker get a chance to argue their plight before an administrative law judge (under teh PSPA), online poker may already be fully regulated and institutionalized. And if there’s anything for certain about an already regulated and institutionalized activity, it’s that if it generates profits (and taxes), that activity is usually here to stay.