Raymer Speaks to Republicans on Behalf of Poker

Last week Greg Raymer and the Poker Players Alliance attended the 36th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington DC, rubbing elbows with some of Republican party’s most staunch conservatives.  Raymer and the PPA wanted to make sure their message was clear and to try to get the rights of poker players back on the attendee’s agendas.

Raymer, the 2004 World Series of Poker main event champion said, “I think a true conservative is someone who wants little or no government in his life. He doesn’t want the government to tell him what to do.”

Though support for online poker hasn’t fallen down party lines, there is no denying the fact that some of poker’s harshest critics have been Republican activists who have argued that gambling of any kind tears at the moral fabric of the country and is a hazard to children.  In fact, two top Republicans – former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and the current Senate Majority Whip Jon Kyl – were some of the leading forces behind the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, which severely hampered the poker industry by making it illegal for US banks to transfer funds to gaming sites.