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Rift Between Online Casinos and Poker Intensify

Posted on August 30th, 2010

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The battle between online casino gamers and actual physical casino gamers is building more as each camp has already started doing actions to forward their cause. Last week the Poker Players Alliance asked to reverse the stand of Commerce Casino against legislation legitimizing internet gambling in the United States. Days later however, more casinos have supported the move by Commerce Casino to combat any bill that would push online gambling forward. A letter issued to the press at the end of the weekday was authored by Tom Malkasian and Haig Papaian, board members of Commerce Casinos divulged that three other casino companies also oppose online gaming legislation. Hawaiian Gardens, Hollywood Park and Bicycle Casino are against a bill submitted by Congressman Barney Frank (D-Ma). The HR 2267 is supposed to advance the cause of legitimizing online gambling. However, not one of the three casinos was in any way quoted.

Malkasian and Papaian, in the letter, called lobbying groups that are for online casinos like the PPA as “special interest groups receiving funds from illegal offshore gaming operators.” Moreover, they reassert that they have always been in support of online poker, but they would like to ensure that operators of poker sites and other online gaming implements are Americans. They claim that the legislation by Congressman Frank will only allow for jobs, taxes and income to be shipped overseas, where the offshore online poker operators are based. In the letter, they expressed the need to protect the locals and make sure that money stays in the country and not be shipped abroad. In their letter, Malkasian and Papaian cited the example of the state of California, which has been suffering from a budget deficit and has 20,000 of its residents employed by Commerce Casinos. They also cite a study by the California Public Policy Institute that states that $13.4 billion is spent every year in California for online wagering, which makes the state the world’s largest market in online gambling. They say that bills like the one presented by Congressman Frank will only benefit offshore internet gambling operators, while these billions in wagers can be benefited by the state government.

On the other side, John Pappas, the executive director of the PPA informed Pokers News Daily that they have accumulated 6,000 pledges of support through their online petition which calls for Commerce Casino to reverse its stance. The pro-online gaming group is aiming for a total of at least 10,000 signatures to support their cause. Another internet gambling advocate, professional player Annie Duke, corrected the letter of Malkasian and Papaian via Twitter, saying that they should be opposed to HR 2267, not HR 4976 as stated in the letter. HR 4976 is the bill authored by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-Wa) that serves as the tax companion guide to Congressman Frank’s bill. However, a testimony that Malkasian made last July in front of the House Financial Services Committee already made it clear that his opposition was toward Congressman Frank’s HR 2267 bill. Pappas also took the time to comment on the letter by the Commerce Casino executives, stating that HR 2267 also proposes that all online poker sites should set up half of their operations in the country. With regard to illegal operators, he claims that the bill prohibits any illegal entity to get a license. Pappas claimed that the only reason why Malkasian and Papaian do not want Congressman Frank’s bill to prosper is because they do not want any competition, as HR 2267 already includes more than 12 amendments that have been added to the bill since May just to cater to the demands of Commerce Casinos and other entities against it.

There have been calls by poker pros to boycott Commerce. Commerce and Bike Casinos both sponsor events in the World Poker Tour, which may experience a decline in participation as poker pros like Anne Duke are actually sponsored by gaming operators operating outside the US, companies that have been termed by the Commerce Casino letter as illegal.