Why Haley Hintze is wrong about the PPA and the GOP

In a recent article on PokerFuse.com, Haley Hintze took up her figurative opinion/editorial pen, and took the Republican Party, and to a lesser extent the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), to task. In the article Hintze paints the GOP as a party made up of anti-poker legislators, and the PPA’s efforts to court GOP legislators akin to flushing money down a toilet.

Now, I should point out that before the recent ruling calling poker a game of skill, followed by a chat with PPA VP of Player Relations Rich Muny, I would have agreed that the PPA has been wasting time nibbling around the edges. However, their victory in court does far more than simply win a moral victory for poker players who have to explain to their parents that, as Mike McDermott would say, “It’s a skill game Joe!”

There were a lot of good points made in the article, especially the potential impact that the pro-poker voting bloc could have on close elections, but there were also a number of generalities that were made that do not paint the true picture of the current Republican Party. Political wonks like myself know that the Republican Party is actually made up of four main groups: Social Conservatives, Neocons, Moderates, and Libertarians (fiscal conservatives).

The PPA is right to reach out to the last two groups of Republicans (Moderates and Libertarians) even if they are underrepresented as a whole in the Republican Party. The reason being is that gambling bills (for or against) are never going to be passed by a single party, but you also don’t need a huge swath of Republicans to break ranks. A coalition of 20-25 Republicans in the House of Representatives, and just a handful in the Senate could be enough to get an online poker bill passed, or potentially even more important, could keep an anti-gaming bill from becoming law.

True Libertarians will always be on board with allowing US residents to play online poker, and Moderate Republicans can easily be swayed to vote for an online poker bill so long as the right carrots are dangled in front of them. The new push to carve out poker from gambling (and at the same time strengthen laws against other forms of gambling) could be just the right carrot some members of Congress need to sign on to a Federal Online Poker Bill.

Additionally, the inevitability that more states than just Nevada are going to start passing their own online poker bills, and with the DOJ’s interpretation of the Wire Act only applying to sports-betting, states will be able to team up (much like they do with Powerball) and basically create a nationwide network for online poker. Federal legislators are not going to want the Federal Government left out, and if they wait too long their bill will be at the mercy of the states who will want exceptions and all manner of special treatment. Instead of crafting the law the Federal Government will be forced to simply adopt the predominant laws already in place at the state level.

Let me get back to the recent ruling calling poker a game of skill. What this ruling allows has done is carve out poker from the online slots, roulette, and other forms of wagering done against the “house”. Legislators now have to separate poker from any anti gambling bills they pass or face court appeals. The ruling also gives politicians who may have been on the fence (not wanting to upset their constituents) cover, as they can vote in favor of online poker bills, so long as other forms of gaming are not allowed. The ruling makes once dangerous votes, safe votes, for all but the most socially conservative politicians.

While I agree with Haley Hintze that you are never going to win over the Louie Gohmert’s, Spenser Bacchus’, and Michele Bachmann’s of the right, there are plenty of men and women like Scott Brown, Bill Hanna, and other more moderate republicans willing to listen to reason, and many others willing to make the politically expedient switch to supporting online poker (or at least not standing in its way). Basically, Haley Hintze’s argument is dead wrong as the PPA has cracked two of the toughest nuts in very conservative Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) and one of the authors of UIGEA Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ).