Early indications are that the player "Phone March To Capitol
Hill" protest organized by the Poker Player's Association yesterday
(Tuesday) has had a significant impact on U.S. politicians.
The PPA, aided by prominent poker portals widely publicized the protest
initiative against current political attempts to ban online gambling.
US players were urged to telephone 800 numbers where they were routed
to their political representatives to express opposition to anti-online
gambling legislative activity. The project ran for much of the day
and it seems that support was strong.
Writing on the Eye On Gambling (EOG) site, veteran portalmaster and
online gambling expert Ken Weitzner reported that he spent several
hours during the day tracking the volume of phone calls to different
Senators' offices around the United States, with some startling and
detailed results.
In summary it appears that most Senators experienced high volumes
of calls protesting against the contentious Bill HR 4411 which proposes
to ban online gambling (with of course the usual carve-outs for state
lotteries and horse racing) Hundreds of calls were reported, some
volumes overwhelming the systems which left messages requesting callers
to try again later.
One aide told Weitzner that he doubted that the Internet Gambling
Bill would come to the Senate floor this year, and said his Senator
hadn't taken a position on it and it was considered "low priority."
A Texas aide reported up to 200 calls by midday at his principal's
office.
Following his cursory but widespread sampling, Weitzner concluded:
"Overall, it appears to me from scouting different areas
of the country today that apparently at least five thousand calls
were made collectively to one hundred Senators.
"Could it make a difference? Judging from the offices I spoke
to on the phone today, they all believed it can.
"It's really anyone's guess as to whether or not this bill is
brought up before the Senate adjourns for the year which at the earliest
is October 6, but may be extended.
"For those who enjoy Internet Gambling, I sincerely believe that
the "phone march" today was a great success but I wouldn't
stop now. I strongly advocate repeating this process once per week
until the Senate recesses for good this year.
"What about next Tuesday?"