The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) comprises of online and real world
players primarily based within the United States who have come together to
promote poker as a game and to lobby for the rights of poker players to play
their game of choice no matter what form it takes. The prime objective of the
PPA is to work towards the enactment of legislation which will give players a
secure and regulated environment in which to play poker. The PPA advocates for a
poker playing environment free of government interference and regulation as well
as educating and raising awareness of poker as a game of skill which is also one
of America's oldest recreational pastimes.
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Poker has grown exponentially in the last decade and is popular not only in
the United States but has a burgeoning following around the world which has
developed into a commercial industry promoted through televised pro- and amateur
tournaments as well through other events such as local, state, national and
international conventions embracing all walks of life.
The PPA believes that federal and some state legislators are bent upon
enacting laws which encroach upon the individual's right to play poker in the
real world and particularly online. Online poker playing has been particularly
hard hit by what the PPA considers to be harsh and unfair laws to destroy the
game acting under misguided and preconceived notions.
The PPA lobbies decision makers across the United States and is particularly
active within Washington DC in order to advocate for responsible law making
which will help the game develop free of artificial obstruction and also provide
representation to all players.
The Poker Players Alliance is relatively unique as it is a body for players
and not industry operators; the PPA proffers its membership base from all walks
of life as its most powerful asset and that its policies and arguments represent
an extremely broad base of the population. The PPA has state directors in all
fifty states of the US who are volunteers and who are supported by the
membership base drawn from their own state.
The main thrust of the PPA's argument for maintaining poker as a game that
should be allowed to be played without legal restriction is that it is a game of
skill and not of chance. It should be noted that in the US, poker cannot legally
be played commercially and that many legislators view poker as a game of chance
and therefore it is gambling whereas games of skill are not so classified and
therefore free of such commercial and social restriction. This may be an obscure
point of law but it is the fundamental tenet upon which those in power who are
looking to ban or restrict poker playing are using to justify the highly
restrictive laws and regulations being passed across the United States today.
The PPA is highly active in developing and supporting case initiatives which
seek to clarify that poker is a game of skill and therefore should not be
outlawed in individual states and jurisdictions. The PPA also helps in
researching and educating law makers on the reality of poker and its adherents
in anticipation of enacting laws which are favourable for the poker playing
community. To this end, the Washington DC offices target those US law makers who
will either propose or support legislation the PPA would like to see enacted.
