PPA Lays Out Expectations for 2017

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Saturday, January 21st, 2017 | Written by Shane Larson

Many people view 2016 as having been a bad year for online poker, as despite many people entertaining high hopes of the game being expanded into Pennsylvania or California, no new legislation passed last year. Added to this, the U.S. Congress continued to toy with The Restoration Of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), which seeks to ban online poker throughout the country, despite three states having already embraced iGaming markets of their own.

On the plus side, New Jersey reported an online poker boom after welcoming PokerStars back into its market, and Delaware and Nevada’s both noted moderate growth in their respective online poker markets. Nonetheless, most online poker fans still felt defeated when it came to progress made in 2016.

In the meantime, it turns out that the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) sees last year in an altogether more positive light. Furthermore, the association’s leaders are now looking forward to 2017 as a time of opportunity, and feel that this year may prove much better for online poker than the last. Here are some of the takeaways from recent interviews held with Poker Players Alliance leaders.

PPA Continuing the Fight

The Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance, John Pappas, has assured online poker players, as well as would-be players, that his group is not giving up the fight to spread legalization across the USA. In fact, he has stated that hundreds of state lawmakers were willing to discuss potential legislation in 2016, and that the alliance intends to continue courting these officials in the year ahead.

Targeted Approach

As part of its approach, the PPA is planning a targeted strategy that varies from state to state. In Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan, for instance, Pappas said that its focus would be on motivating legislatures that are already seriously considering legalization to get deals done. In other states like Massachusetts, on the other hand, the PPA intends to focus on building desire among lawmakers eager to balance state budgets with new sources of revenue, while at the federal level, the alliance will defend online poker from lawmakers that want to roll back regulation with legislation like RAWA.

Pennsylvania Likely to Get a Deal Done

The Poker Players Alliance State Director for Pennsylvania, Judah Rosenstein, feels that 2017 will be the Keystone State’s year to finally join the ranks of Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey as online gambling states. He reports that great progress was made in 2016 and thinks that lawmakers in Harrisburg are poised to push through legislation, saying that it is completely realistic to predict that Governor Tom Wolfe will have signed a deal before the close of 2017.

One Pennsylvania lawmaker who seems equally sure that the state will pass regulation in 2017 is Mario Scavello, chairman of the Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee, who recently went on record expressing his optimism on the issue. As he explained:

“Sometime in March, we’ll have something done and passed in the House and Senate. It looks like online gaming has the support to pass. We can look at other expansions.”

Two new bills are expected to be presented to the legislature soon, by Senator Kim Ward (R-Hempfield) and Senator Jay Costa (D-Forest Hills). As the latter explained to Trib Live this week:

“I think it’s a natural progression of gaming in Pennsylvania, the next logical step. To some degree, both [online gaming and DFS] are already present, particularly fantasy sports. What we’re doing is regulating it. I think the people of Pennsylvania believe this is something that’s appropriate right now.”

California Difficult But Not a Lost Cause

PPA State Director for California, Steve Miller, expressed frustration at the inability of tribal leaders to come to an agreement that will allow online gambling legislation to proceed in Sacramento. Still, he assures Californians and the rest of the country that the Poker Players Alliance is not going to stop pushing for legalization. Elaborating further, Miller said that while he thinks that a law may not be passed until 2018, he does believe that 2017 could bring both sides to the table, and that he intends to do his part in making that happen.

“The PPA will continue its effort to bring licensed and regulated online poker to California in 2017. In my role as PPA California State Director, I urge California players to join the PPA — it’s the most important action players can take. The more players in the state represented by the PPA, the louder will be our collective voice in Sacramento,” explained Miller.