Update: PPA Reaches Petition Threshold

5 000 signatures collected After a somewhat slow period, a report arrived this week that 5 000 signatures necessary for a presidential petition for the legalization of online poker in the USA, have been collected. The petition represents a response to a White House initiative that called on Americans to submit their concerns in petition form. The signatures have been collected much faster than at the beginning, thanks to the awareness raising activities of action groups like the Poker Players Alliance. According to the Alliance's Director of External Affairs, Drew Lesofski, the petition has reached the 6 500 threshold well before the 30 days expired. In addition, Rich Muny, PPA Vice President of Player Relations stated: "What we really want is to show the [Obama] administration that a lot of people care about this liberty. "We want it to always be in their heads that poker is in the top-tier of Americans' interests. To me, that is more important than what response we get from the administration." So far, the White House initiative, which runs until Oct. 22, triggered 86 petitions on a variety of concerns, with the one on legalized online poker being around the 21st based on the number of signatories. "It's very important for everyone in the community to participate," Muny added. "We want to stay above any bar they choose. It's very gratifying that the White House thought a good proposal would take 30 days to get 5,000 votes and we did it in three days. That shows the strength of our community. More votes will increase our priority in getting an answer. Every additional signature is an important one."