Michael Bolcerek, the President of the Poker Player's Alliance, has visited the living rooms of hundreds of thousands of people in October, thanks to a media blitz by the PPA that was necessited by the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in September.
The PPA sent releases to media outlets everywhere that Bolcerek, Mike Sexton, Annie Duke and Greg Raymer were making themselves available for interviews to talk about online poker and the Act, and many organizations took the PPA up on it. Bolcerek's disgust was on display in the interviews.
"We're obviously dismayed and angered that the bill went through," Bolcerek told Card Player. "This is an egregious increase in the Federal government's involvement in your life."
Bolcerek has appeared on Fox, CNN, CNBC, as well as more than 60 local stations around the country, to get these messages out: Poker is a game of skill, the government is unfairly impeding in its residents' lives, the best public policy is to tax and regulate poker, and poker players should continue to fight.
The hypocrisy of the whole thing seems to be what the main stream media have constantly mentioned.
"They're starting to pick up on the fact that it exempts certain online wagering like lottery and horseracing," Bolcerek. "I think what you see is a trickle effect throughout the general media saying, 'What's going on in Congress?'"
The media blitz was a response to the passing – and eventually signing into law – of the UIGE Act, and it's still going on. Each day Bolcerek fulfills a few interview requests, ranging from magazines focusing on the poker industry, like Card Player, to papers like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which ran a feature story on the UIGE Act today.
Grassroots
The nonprofit PPA considers itself a grassroots organization, and like other organizations in the past, it has used guerrilla-like tactics to share information. For example, the PPA's marketing director came up with the idea to use the popular video sharing site YouTube.com as a resource.
The PPA has posted 22 videos of interviews and commentary concerning the UIGE Act, videos that would most likely be missed in this day and age of media saturation. For example, the PPA posted Congresswoman Shelley Berkley's (D-NV) fiery speech criticizing the attempts of conservatives to attach the UIGE Act to a vital defense bill. (Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist succeeded in attaching the UIGE Act to an unrelated act to strengthen port safety later in the week.)
The short video has been viewed more than 800 times since being posted three weeks ago. Berkley gave her speech in front of a nearly empty House chambers. The video was originally broadcast by C-SPAN.
Those interested in seeing the interviews Sexton, Bolcerek, and Duke did during the last few weeks, go to YouTube.com and type "pokerplayersalliance" into the search box. It's also interesting to see what the mainstream cable news guys like Wolf Blitzer said about the passing of the act.
The media blitz also helped bring in about 5,000 new members to the PPA in October. In less than a year, the PPA has grown to more than 120,000 members. Bolcerek looks at the Sierra Club and notes that with half a million members, it's an organization that is able to influence policy.
Bolcerek of course encourages all poker players to join the PPA, but to also become politically active. He wants players to visit the PPA's website and see which Congress members from the House voted to send what became the UIGE Act to the Senate. And then vote against them.
To visit CardPlayer.com's online archive of legislative stories, click here.
