8/12/2019 [MO] PPA State Director Letter to Missouri Governor

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Governor Jeremiah Nixon

Capitol Building, Room 216

P.O. Box 720

Jefferson City, MO 65102

May 24, 2014

Dear Governor Jeremiah Nixon,

As the Missouri director of the Poker Players Alliance, grassroots advocacy group with more than one

million members nationwide and over two thousand members in Missouri, I urge you to give serious

consideration to licensing and regulating online poker in our great state.

Over the past several months, this issue has received significant attention in the media and with state

and federal policy makers. I firmly believe that a state-licensed and regulated online poker is the right

approach for Missouri and would serve three purposes: protect consumers, stimulate our economy and

create revenue, and preserve individual and states’ rights.

The status quo is not acceptable. Today, citizens of this state have access to online poker, online casino

games and online sports betting. At this very moment, people in our state are wagering on a variety of

online gaming sites, none of which are properly licensed or regulated by this government. Regulation of

Internet poker should not be considered an expansion of gaming. It is about corralling the current

unregulated marketplace and turning it into a system that is safe for consumers and accountable to

regulators and our government.

I urge you to work with our state legislature to establish a regulatory system that will license responsible

Internet poker operators and mandate technologies to protect consumers from fraud, eliminate

underage access, mitigate compulsive gambling behaviors and establish funding for the treatment and

prevention of problem gambling. The system should provide for an open and competitive market that

will foster innovation and ensures that all existing gaming interests in the state have the same rights to

apply for a license as other entities. It is also vitally important for Missouri to establish a system that

allows for us to share players with other regulated jurisdictions.

Now is the time for Missouri to act. Within the past year three states  –  Nevada, Delaware and New

Jersey -- have authorized and are regulating Internet poker and Internet gaming. Nearly a dozen more

states are currently considering legislation.

8/12/2019 [MO] PPA State Director Letter to Missouri Governor

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