Harvard Student Group To Rally at State House To Protest Possible Jail Terms for Poker Players

Law Professor Seeks Answers From Deval Patrick

Cambridge, MA (March 17) — The Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS), the group formed at Harvard Law School to promote poker as an educational tool, is co-sponsoring a rally Tuesday at the Statehouse with the Massachusetts chapter of the Poker Players Alliance to protest the criminalization of poker in Governor Deval Patrick's gaming bill.

The group plans to demand that Governor Deval Patrick explain who wrote the provision of the casino bill outlawing poker, which a Harvard Law Professor called "crazy and non-sensical."

"I don't think filling our expensive jail cells with poker players is what Massachusetts voters had in mind when they elected Deval Patrick," said Charles Nesson, the Harvard professor who founded the GPSTS.

Governor Patrick "owes the people of Massachusetts an explanation" as to how the anti-poker provision found its way into the bill, Nesson said.

"We intend to keep pushing this until we get answers from the governor," Nesson added.

A public hearing on the legislation, the Massachusetts Casino Expansion bill (H. 4307), is scheduled for Tuesday after the 9:15 a.m. rally in front of the Statehouse. Nesson plans to speak at the rally.

If the bill passes, residents of Massachusetts who play online poker would face jail terms of up to two years and a maximum fine of $25,000. The law would even apply to players in online poker games where no money was at stake.
"There is another downside to the anti-poker legislation. Outlawing online poker also advertises to the world that Massachusetts is a state that discriminates against the Internet and new technologies, which is exactly the opposite of what the state needs for its economic development," Nesson added.

John Pappas, the executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, said that Massachusetts had become a bellwether state in terms of its policy toward online gaming.

"People around the world are watching to see how the Massachusetts legislature deals with this issue because its significance goes far beyond gaming," said Pappas, whose organization has about 900,000 members.

"We believe taking the extreme step of criminalizing online poker would be a strike against personal freedom, would tarnish the reputation of Massachusetts as a progressive state, and be opposed by millions of poker players around the country and world," he added.

Nesson has had a series of written and verbal exchanges with casino owners and government officials trying to determine the author of the anti-poker provision. Nesson said a spokesman for Governor Patrick informed him that the governor was unaware of the provision, while inquiries to the Governor's press secretary have gone unanswered.

Said Nesson, "On top of the issue of creating bad law there is a good government question concerning how legislation actually gets written in this state. It should be a matter of concern to all Massachusetts citizens, regardless of their views about online games, how this narrow industry-backed provision found its way into the Governor's casino bill."
The rally will be held on the steps of the State House. Following the rally, there will be a public hearing on the bill before the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies in Gardner Auditorium.

About GPSTS

Founded by Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson, the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society views pokers as a game of skill that can be used as a teaching tool at all levels of academia and in secondary education. The concept is to use poker to teach basic life skills, strategic thinking, geopolitical analysis, risk assessment, and money management. The goal is to create an open online curriculum centered on poker that will draw the brightest minds together, both within and outside of the conventional university setting, to promote open education and Internet democracy.

About Charles Nesson

Charles Nesson is the William F. Weld Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and Founder and Co-Director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. He is joined on the GPSTS board by Stanford Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, who is the author of Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace and a previous Berkman Professor of Law.

Contact

Andrew Woods (310-254-5218)
globalpoker@gmail.com