FairPlayUSA Pushes for Online Poker Regulation

The movement for licensing and regulating online poker has gained a new ally. FairPlayUSA is a new non-profit organization that is running a campaign designed to promote federal regulation of online poker.

The group, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is funded by casino companies Caesars and MGM. FairPlayUSA has not been designed as a lobbying group, but will instead seek to promote better understanding of the issues surrounding online poker.

According to FairPlayUSA’s website, the mission of the group is to “educate policymakers and the public on the broad public policy interests raised by the current ambiguous laws in the U.S. that have led to millions of Americans gambling on the Internet.”

The group has lined up an impressive array of legislative and poker talent to represent their interests. The FairPlayUSA advisory board includes names such as former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Greg Raymer.

While the group has shown a commitment to opening the online poker marketplace, one of their stated principles has drawn the ire of some poker players. In fact, it’s the first of the ten principles they list on their website: “strengthen the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 to unambiguously eliminate illegal Internet gambling.” While any legislation supported by FairPlayUSA would certainly carve out a legal space for online poker, the move to strengthen UIGEA is not likely to be a popular one.

Still, FairPlayUSA says that it’s a pragmatic move, designed to gain support from those who would otherwise oppose online poker. Other principles should be more popular among poker players, including strict technological standards and a requirement that player balances be held in escrow accounts to ensure they are always available.

FairPlayUSA is now the second prominent group pushing for online poker legislation at the federal level. They join the Poker Players Alliance, a lobbying group representing player interests in online poker. Both groups appear likely to support similar legislation at the moment – though Raymer admitted that it’s possible that their goals could diverge at some point in the future.

“Down the round if there was a conflict between what is best for these companies and what is best for the players that might be a concern,” Raymer told Card Player Magazine.