Mon, 07/25/2011 – 12:00 – PokerPages Staff

A strongly-worded letter to the Attorney General from two senior Senators expressing ostensibly hostile views about online poker hardly sounds like good news for poker players. But it’s the message between the lines which might be the most important one to consider on this occasion.

Senators John Kyl and Harry Reid posted their letter to Attorney General Eric Holder July 14th – and they didn’t mince any words. They vigorously condemned the Department of Justice’s apparent laxity over allowing internet poker sites to operate in the US without repercussion for too long and trenchantly urge it to pursue illegal internet gambling consistently and aggressively. Reid and Kyl also asked that Holder re-state the DOJ’s “longstanding position” that internet gambling is prohibited by Federal law in the US. Not much comfort there for the poker community, huh?

Well, think again. It’s the fact of the letter (and who drafted it) that matters more than the content (which we agree is hardly designed to bring much cheer to poker devotees). Reid is widely known for his support for the legalization, licensing and regulation of online poker, while Kyl is known for his dogged desire to strengthen the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Strange bedfellows they may appear to be, but their collaboration may actually be a sign that properly licensed and regulated online poker is getting closer, not further away.

The letter’s existence suggests that these two politicians, who appear to have diametrically opposed inclinations, may actually try working together toward more balanced and rational legislation for online poker. Kyl, for all his anti-gambling commitments, nonetheless signalled on his website earlier this year that he was willing to consider plans to legalize online poker as many believed it to be a game of skill. However, he also made it clear that he wanted to keep wider prohibitions on online gambling firmly on the statute book.

Commenting on the letter, the Executive Director of the Poker Player’s Alliance, John Pappas, said he believed it to be a “trust-building exercise” between Kyl and Reid. “Them working together on this letter means there is some opportunity for cooperation down the road. I think it’s clear that Reid would like to have regulated internet poker, and it’s clear that Kyl would like to strengthen the UIGEA. From a player’s perspective the letter may be viewed as hostile, but I think it may be the start of a very beneficial relationship between Kyl and Reid on this issue,” he added.

He went on to accept that some parts of the letter were “highly objectionable,” saying, “To be clear, the PPA does not agree with everything in the letter. Some of the assumptions that internet poker is illegal are something that the PPA does not agree with. We’ve made those positions clear and continue to stand by that.”

Pappas conceded that online poker in the US would remain in a “very precarious position” until either state or preferably federal law unambiguously permits it.

But here’s the rub: if Kyl and Reid – two of the most powerful politicians in the Senate – were to collaborate further in drafting legislation that would license and regulate online poker but strengthen the UIGEA against other types of online gambling, legal internet poker in the US suddenly gets much, much closer. Pappas cautions against jumping too quickly to optimistic conclusions – he sees the letter as a first step, but one which could yet take us in the right direction.