The Poker Players Alliance, the one million member strong grassroots group in the United States that is actively pushing for a legalized and regulated industry in the country, has proven that pressure in numbers can do wonders.
The group recently discovered that a proposed Massachusetts gambling bill, HR 3954, would have made it a criminal offence to play online poker, with ‘transgressors’ facing up to two years in prison and/or a $25,000 fine.
The Poker Players Alliance got into action by contacting the authors of the legislation, Representatives Brian Wallace and Martin Walsh, asking them to drop the clause and go ahead with the proposal without it. The politicians agreed and the clause was subsequently removed from the draft. It was said that when drafting the bill, the Representatives did not “realize the ramifications”, which were brought to their attention by the PPA.