Until recently, it appeared Steve Wynn had abandoned politics.
Wynn spent three years as the de facto voice of the gaming industry’s unofficial anti-Obama coalition, a high-profile membership of two than included Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson.
Wynn provided the rhetoric. Adelson provided the money.
The chairman and chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts Ltd., never missed an opportunity to appear on Fox News or other conservative media outlets to bash President Barack Obama’s administration for what he considers its failings in handling the economy.
Wynn often peppered his remarks with bombastic comments.
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. More…
The PPA has learned that the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee for Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade will hold a hearing on Internet gaming on Tuesday, October 25, 2011. The subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will bring forward a variety of witnesses to discuss regulation of Internet gaming and gather information for a future hearing to examine the merits of Rep. Joe Barton’s Online Poker Act of 2011 (H.R. 2366).
At the time of this email the witnesses for the hearing are still unknown. The PPA and its lobbying team will continue to meet with members of the subcommittee and their staffs leading up to next week’s hearing. We will be asking PPA members whose U.S. Representative is a member of this committee to contact their member directly before the hearing. Please check the PPA website and your inbox for future announcements about this very important hearing.
We have a nice opportunity to make ourselves heard today, so I encourage everyone to participate. CNN is airing this evening’s GOP presidential debate live from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET from the Venetian in Las Vegas. CNN is seeking questions for candidates via the CNN Politics fan page on Facebook, Twitter (using the #CNNDebate hashtag), and their website. So, let’s all submit some pro-poker questions. As this debate is being held in Las Vegas, our issue will be seen as topical.
“… we write to inform you that we will not agree to invoke closure on the motion to proceed to any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers. With little time left in this Congressional session, legislative scheduling should be focused on these critical priorities. While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate’s attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike.”
According to an article on the filibuster published in The Hill, “McConnell and other congressional leaders met with President Obama at the White House Tuesday to try to reach a deal on the tax cuts.” In Reid’s video, he states that Kyl has been chosen by the Republican party to represent them in these negotitations. Reid has selected Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to represent the Dems.
A number of measures, in addition to COICA and the completely dead HR 2267, that have been hoping for motion during the last session of the 111th Congress, are the DREAM Act (immigration reform bill), extensions on the nation’s unemployment benefits, a repeal of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell”, and the long-stalled nuclear arms START treaty.
The Right Network, scheduled for launch this summer, has announced some of the programs that will air on TV, the Internet and mobile devices. One of these programs combines politics and poker in a show called “Politics and Poker”, natch.
Some of the personalities featured in the clip include Tom Wilson (Biff of the Back to the Future trilogy), blogger Andrew Breitbart , and Kristy Swanson (the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer). From the trailer, it appears they’re playing draw poker so maybe holdem is a game for the radical left.
Here’s an updated article from the non-poker world about this Republican platform plank. I take much interest in what the non-poker commenters have to say — seems they are starting to understand our single-issue/special interest even though they are just starting to see the tip of the online poker iceberg.
And take a look at how the comments are running within their own party about the issue. (Not sure this link will take you directly to the page I am looking at, but do a search for “gambling” and you will see that our point of view has about 99 people in favor, and 1 against,)
The Republican Party has made its intention very clear. They want to render internet gambling illegal, and whether we like it or not, their definition of gambling includes poker.
Earlier this week, when the Republican Party’s national platform was released, internet gambling was notably absent from it, which immediately garnered much praise from the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and poker media. But within hours, it was back in with harsh language:
Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families. We support legislation prohibiting gambling over the Internet or in student athletics by student athletes who are participating in competitive sports.
Nice flip-flop. With McCain hoping to head up the Republican Party and presumably pursuing the goals of the party, internet gambling – and thus, internet poker – will be on the hit list in the name of family values. It brings to mind one of my favorite quotes from the Democratic National Convention in Denver last week from Gov. Bill Richardson: “McCain may pay hundreds of dollars for his shoes, but it will be us who pays for his flip-flops.”
Think what you want about McCain v. Obama and Republicans v. Democrats. That is each person’s individual prerogative. But the Republican Party has made its goals quite clear. Not only did it remove the language and quietly replace it later in a seemingly planned intention to deceive, but the party sincerely plans to tell the American people what we can or cannot do in the privacy of our own homes. Poker is on the line here.
Until recently, it appeared Steve Wynn had abandoned politics.
