PPA continues to fight against Restore America’s Wire Act

John Pappas, the Executive Director of Poker Players Alliance, worries about the possibility of restoring RAWA to ban igaming.

The Executive Director of Poker Players Alliance John Pappas warns that online gambling could be banned across the country. He says that adherents of igaming should proceed struggling at the state level, but be aware of the existed danger in the Congress, as one signature could bring the end of online gaming across the US.

Inside the Beltway it is said that a federal ban is improbable, but Pappas warns about the danger. He said, “We have already developed our strategy for 2015 and we are ready to meet the Congress in January. But it is necessary to work in the states as well. The progress in the states will make it difficult to ban igaming if more and more states join us.” As the American Gaming Association remains neutral, the Poker Players Alliance is the only supporter of the US online gambling, intending to legalize it on the whole territory of the US. They try to lobby the US Congress understanding that federal law often trumps state laws. Since 2006 the PPA has been trying to void the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA), according to which many online casinos and poker rooms left the US as well as software producers and payment services dealing with igaming.

The PPA had to stand on the defensive at the federal level in April 2014 when US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and US Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) tried to restore America’s Wire Act (RAWA). This act would make all igaming and sports betting illegal in the US as it was done in 1961 Wire Act with sports betting over the telephone.

The PPA director understands the necessity to lobby the Congress. He explains that RAWA would put an end to all online entertainments on the whole territory of the USA. Libertarian members of the Republican Party are against the restoration of the act as well as Grover Norquist from federal taxation. According to the experts opinion the probability of RAWA is only 1% to 7%.