by Rich Muny / Poker Players Alliance, Aug 29, 2012 | 11:19 am

Due to the terrific efforts of the entire poker community, we have seen some nice victories, including the Department of Justice’s revised interpretation of the scope of the Wire Act as not applicable to poker and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruling in the U.S. v DiCristina case that poker is a game of skill and is not illegal gambling under the Illegal Gambling Businesses Act. We clearly have the momentum in this fight.

Unfortunately, as the saying goes, for every two steps forward, we do have the occasional step back. The step back to which I am referring was delivered by the 2012 Republican Party Platform Committee. The just-released GOP platform contains a plank calling for a ban on online poker. Here’s the text, from page 32 in the section entitled Making the Internet Family-Friendly (view here):

“Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families. We support the prohibition of gambling over the Internet and call for reversal of the Justice Department’s decision distorting the formerly accepted meaning of the Wire Act that could open the door to Internet betting.”

As we all know, the DoJ decision the plank calls for reversing is the very one that determined that the scope of the Wire Act does not include poker. Also, as we all know, our opponents are including poker in “gambling” activities they seek to ban. Some have even taken to calling the activity “poker gambling.”

It is unfortunate that the authors of the plank are at odds with many House Republicans who are leading the charge for licensed and regulated online poker, but it is even worse that they are so out of touch with the actual voters. Let’s all be sure to do our part through Election Day to ensure that all lawmakers understand where the people are on this important issue.

Let’s all do our part today to speak up for our rights and ensure lawmakers see our enthusiasm and activism:

1. Let’s recruit new activists by retweeting & favoriting today’s #Fight4Poker action plan HERE andHERE, sharing it on our Facebook walls HERE, and sharing it via Google+ HERE.
2. Let’s all go to the GOP Platform 2012 website and upvote both submissions seeking rejection of anti-poker planks HERE and HERE.
3. Let’s send prefilled, editable pro-poker tweets telling GOP nominees Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan to oppose this plank and to support sensible legislation to license and regulate online poker: HEREand HERE.