The petition organized by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) calling for the legalization of the great American pastime is at nearly 200,000 signatures. Overnight on Sunday, an additional 6,000 players lent their names.
The poker petition has been the talk of the town in Las Vegas, where players from the United States and around the world have turned out in droves for the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), which is emanating from the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. At Sunday night’s Cake Poker gathering at the Palms, Poker Room Manager Lee Jones told Poker News Daily that his site was one of several urging players to sign the PPA’s petition: “We’re very happy to be a part of this. We’re offering weekly $3,500 freerolls and are excited to see that the petition is doing so well.”
On PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, weekly freerolls began on June 27th and run through July 25th. The petition is scheduled to be delivered to U.S. President Barack Obama on July 22nd, the conclusion of the PPA’s National Poker Week. Signing the petition qualifies a person to take part in a $3,500 freeroll on one of several major online poker sites, including Cake Poker and PokerStars. On the latter site, freerolls are capped at 20,000 players each and run at 2:30pm ET every Saturday. The four-figure prize pool events have helped fuel the growth of the petition.
The petition asks for the following: “Please: 1) exempt poker from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and 2) license and regulate internet poker in the US. 3) Respect the rights of law-abiding Americans who love to play this great game of skill.” It also cites the Citizens’ Briefing Book, which was hosted by Change.gov and asked American citizens to identify their top national concerns. When the smoke cleared, the legalization of online poker emerged as the top technology issue after a coordinated effort by the PPA.
As of midday on Monday, 194,795 poker players and other concerned citizens have virtually signed the petition. A person’s first name, last name, e-mail address, mailing address, city, state, and zip code are required. In addition, petitioners are asked to input a special authentication code that consists of a five-digit number. Jones told Poker News Daily that Cake Poker receives a list of new petitioners each week and cross-checks them against account information in order to determine who is eligible to participate in the special $3,500 freerolls.
Last week, 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Raymer, who made the final table of the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP this year, authored an e-mail to PokerStars members urging their involvement. It begins, “President Obama – Poker is Not a Crime. I am a voter and a fellow poker player asking for your support of my right to play games of skill like poker on the Internet.”
The first ever National Poker Week runs from July 19th to 25th and includes a fly-in of the PPA’s 30 State Directors to meet with lawmakers. In addition to its own regional heads, the PPA is also bringing in professional poker players Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, Jan Fisher, Linda Johnson, and 2008 WSOP November Nine member Dennis Phillips. For more information, visit the PPA’s official website of National Poker Week.