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Actor Ben Affleck talks with Bill Lawson, vice president of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the group that benefited from the charity poker tournament at Coors Field organized by the Poker Players Alliance on Aug. 28, 2008. Affleck will be among A-list stars playing Thursday, July 2, 2009, at the Ante up for Africa charity poker event at the Rio in Las Vegas.
Friday, Aug. 29, 2008 | 2 a.m.
Poker Politics at the DNC
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Poker players, politicians, and celebrities came out in full force to raise money for the Paralyzed Veterans of America organization. The event was hosted by the Poker Players Alliance, an advocacy group that lobbies for internet poker, at Coors field in Denver, Tuesday night. Celebrity players included Ben Affleck, Sarah Silverman, Richard Dreyfus, Seth Meyers, and Montel Williams.
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Not long after Congress passed a ban on Internet gambling, PR man John Pappas knew he had to be here at the Democratic National Convention.
Pappas represented online poker players. Their ragtag Poker Players Alliance had been stunned by Congress’ midnight approval of the ban late in 2006.
Internet gamblers had been powerless to block the bill. They were only loosely affiliated. They often knew one another only by their online nicknames.
But they did have computers and they had passion. Over the following 18 months, they learned quickly about the nexus of politics and influence.
Tuesday night, this once odd lot of online gamblers transformed Coors Field, home of Colorado’s major league baseball team, into a poker palace, and they invited the very targets of their ire — lawmakers who had banned their gambling. In short, they put on a poker face.
As the second night of the convention closed with Sen. Hillary Clinton’s speech, the club room overlooking the ballpark looked like early Vegas. Hundreds of delegates, members of Congress, celebrities and fans of the game showed up.
Pappas and others made sure it was an A-list-ish affair: Ben Affleck settled in for a hand alongside the powerful Democratic chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank.
“What better way to get our message delivered than to be right at the conventions when there’s all this politics and policy?” said Pappas, who has left his day job to run the Poker Players Alliance, which claims 1 million members. It will host a similar event at the Republican National Convention next week.
Religious and family groups despise Internet poker as a modern social ill that wrecks marriages and depletes checkbooks. As online gambling grew into a wildly popular $15 billion industry in just a few years, the religious right batted it back.
Social conservatives had great sway in Congress during the waning days of 2006, as Republicans pushed moral issues in an attempt to retain power. When the online gambling ban went through, it was an exercise in traditional political power.
What happened next was not.
Online gamblers formed a vast network online, nearly overnight, built around a single issue.
Not long ago, that kind of organizing took months, if not years — and a fair amount of seed money. Today, as the poker players demonstrated, a group with modest resources but decent Internet hookups can organize swiftly.
Some say the group’s grass-roots campaign helped oust longtime Republican Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa from office. Leach had authored an anti-online gambling bill.
More recently, poker players swarmed the Republican Party’s platform-writing Web site, protesting a plank opposing Internet gambling.
Pappas knew the online work could take the group only so far. If poker players wanted the attention of political leaders, they needed to do something big, and public.
He had attended political conventions before (he’s a Republican) and was familiar with the wining and dining. But this year, the number of events has exploded. Nevada Democratic Rep. Shelly Berkley, for example, received 1,800 invitations.
So to make sure he drew a crowd, Pappas went big: Coors Field. And he went for star power. When Affleck asked to join, the poker players knew they had an ace. Other celebs included Seth Myers from “Saturday Night Live,” comedian Sarah Silverman, TV personality Montel Williams and actor Richard Dreyfuss.
Five days before the big night, the group’s public relations company (run by a former Bush administration spokesman) got a call for help to handle the flood of media interest. The PR chief boarded a plane to Denver.
Technically, Poker in the Ballpark was a charity tournament. That was essential because under new ethics rules, lawmakers can attend events hosted by organizations or corporations only if a charitable donation is involved.
Players made a suggested $500 donation, a little less if they didn’t play, and the money went to Paralyzed Veterans of America. Pappas expects to raise $100,000 for the group from the events in Denver and St. Paul, Minn.
But let’s get real.
Although the Poker Players Alliance is willing to spend $30,000 for a party to send money to vets, the goal is to get Washington to make it legal to gamble from a laptop.
As Myers cracked: “With everything going on in the world right now, I just think that’s the biggest issue. We solve that, then we can move on to all of these other, smaller things, like the economy, the war.”
The players have a somewhat more serious view.
Marc Schtul, an attorney in Denver who forked over $500 to play, said, “If I want to play online poker, it’s my business. I’m a Republican but I might not be for long.”
The alliance does not want to be partisan, Pappas said, but that’s getting more difficult because of the Republican opposition.
Florida Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler, a friend of online poker who has sponsored legislation that would help legalize the game, said having the group show up in Denver is significant.
“I think the more their story is told, the better off we’ll be in the Congress developing widespread support for the issue,” Wexler said.
Nevada Berkley also breezed through, noting, “They really got their act together.”
Yet, Rep. Jason Altmire, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said he came for the veterans, not the poker players.
As for overturning the online gambling ban? “We’re going to take a look at it.”
About 1 a.m., hours before the tournament would wrap up, Pappas surveyed the scene.
“Success,” he said. “Since we’re at a baseball stadium — we hit a home run.”
Excellent story, Lisa, and well written.
We have to keep saying this...
Playing poker online is NOT illegal!
There is no law against playing online. The UIGEA attempted to make it unlawful for credit card companies and banks to fund accounts, but the regulations have not been put in place. They haven't because the law is vague and poorly written. The financial organizations along with the Dept of Treasury and the Fed can't come up with anything they can regulate. It makes banks cops!
Poker players are just ordinary citizens who enjoy playing a game, period. For those of us who work hard at it, it's a game that requires a high degree of skill. The proof of that is we are consistent winners. If it were all luck, dependent on cards, this could not be the case.
We are skillful players, and now we are proving we are powerful political players. The politicians are paying attention. We are saying that we have a right to do what we want in our own homes with our own money, and nobody has the right to take away our decisions.
Thanks, LV Sun, for reporting on our cause.
CJ
Let me fully understand this Unlawful Internet Gambling Law.
It is so mixed up no one know legal from illegal, except fantasy games.
Here I can go to CBS Sports, join a pretend league, make up a pretend team from real players then bet up to FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS on that team, yet they want to say I cannot play a simple FIVE DOLLAR poker game?
And support for this law is now a part of the GOP Platform? You must be kidding me.
Hummmm, no wonder the GOP is losing, -EV on this position.
There is a lot of support for on-line gambling but you don't hear the supporters making any statements favoring the regulation of it.
Issues like cheating by the players and the web sites, underage players and money laundering comes to mind.
If online gambling gets legal status the large casino's would buy up the present sites and the games would come under control of the corporate bottom line.
We all know how that works.
Why do you think legalized online gaming would be unregulated, pmmart? I believe that most(if not all) would expect regulation. Not to mention safeguards against underage players, money laundering, cheating, and various other issues. There are online gaming bills in congress right now that address these issues. Two that come to mind are H.R. 2610, the Skill Games Protection Act and H.R. 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act.
While the large casino operations may become engaged in online gaming I seriously doubt that they would be able to buy out the large established sites such as PokerStars.
For an example .. let's say that a group of individuals form a group to take advantage of the lack of oversight for on-line texas hold-em ... they enter a table and slo-play until they can get a few of the "cartel" on the same table... they use camera cell phones to communicate their hands to each other and split their winnings ..or dump to their friends who are doing well in a large tourney.
IF.. You can get only 2 or 3 people on the same table at a time you would have a HUGE advantage over the other 7 or 8 players.. more than 2 or 3 would be like taking candy from a baby.
I just want to add something. I am Christian. I have always been part of the Republican Party. I am not a "liberal" Christian or any other type of washed out and faded Christ follower. I'm just a normal, Bible believing Christian.
I'm well read and educated and have advanced degrees in religion and Theology. I consider my faith the most important part of my life.
That said, I am totally against banning internet poker. I am tired of the "right wing" apparently speaking for Christians. I wish Focus on the Family would have stuck to education and service. I preferred them when they tried to change people and not laws. I am appalled by the number of "Christians" who seem more focused on changing policy instead of lives.
This type of behavior is exactly what has led me to follow people like Ron Paul and others like him. I will never be a liberal, democrat or socialist. But I will never equate myself with the neocons, the "conservative right" or any of them either. No more parties for me.
I fear that most people calling themselves Christians have no real idea what that means but simply follow the trends and popular books. I just want some of you who "hate" Christians or think that the Right Wing always speaks for all of us to realize that that is not the case. I hate that virtually every article on this issue lists that Christians and Republicans as the enemy (and generally rightly so). Well, I believe those Christians referred to are wrong and I believe those Republicans referred to are far from the tradition, Republican party of old and represent the party that pushed this Christian to Libertarianism and liberty.
I opened my account at party poker for 250 bucks in 2004. I used to love playing online texas holdem at party poker at the 50 cent-dollar game. I was a low limit player and never made or lost more than 30 bucks a night. BUT I ENJOYED THE HECK OUT OF IT. I played with my original 250 bucks for close to 2 years. We live in a democracy & I should not have my right to play poker online taken away because some group is morally opposed to it.
What if, what if , what if,.......and even knowing ALL the "what if's" a person should STILL be able to CHOOSE whether or not to take the 'gamble' and gamble online. It's all about a persons freedom of choice. I give people enough credit that they are smart enough to realize that not all people in cyber-space are honest - but again I should be able to decide whether or not, and in spite of the potential dishonesty, I want to spend my money this way. As for Christians being against it - fine - be against it and don't do it but don't try to shove your religious or moral values down anothers throat - you should be free to live your life as you see fit as others should also have the same freedom and make their own choices and decisions.