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Poker.co.uk - Poker News Archive
Friday 1st May 2009 PPA Spending Three Million Dollars
In America, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) poker advocacy group is reportedly set to spend three million dollars during the next session of Congress in order to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006.
According to a piece from The Associated Press, the money will come from the Interactive Gaming Council, a Vancouver-based online casino trade association, as well as its poker-playing members.
The report stated that the PPA is facing tough competition from a number of organisations including the National Football League (NFL), which believes online gambling threatens the integrity of its games. The NFL has made preserving UIGEA a priority in Washington and hired a full-time lobbyist last year as well as starting a political action committee (PAC) to make campaign donations.
UIGEA was passed as part of a port security bill by the Bush Administration and prohibits financial institutions from accepting payments from credit cards, checks or electronic fund transfers in order to settle online wagers. However, The Associated Press reported that at least half of the $16 billion wagered every year over the Internet originates from American bettors using overseas sites.
Recently, the Chairman for the House Financial Services Committee, Representative Barney Frank from Massachusetts, announced that he would introduce legislation to repeal UIGEA during this session of Congress.
Former three-term New York Senator Alfonse D’Amato leads the PPA and he stated that he used to organise poker games with staffers and lobbyist during his days in the Capitol Building.
“We'd order pizza or Chinese and we would play until the session was over,” said the 71-year-old Republican.
”Sometimes it would end at 10:30 or eleven and maybe we'd play an hour or two later. It was a lot of fun. And in those days, we were even allowed to smoke cigars in Federal buildings.”
Source: OnlineCasinoNews
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