The Winning Poker Network´s CEO – Phil Nagy – has reacted to criticism that Million Dollar Sundays do “more harm than good” in the fight for regulation.
There are plenty of good reasons for visiting Americas Cardroom but, as a rule, its blog is not one of them. ACR´s blog is often out of date or factually incorrect, and definitely fails as the most engaging poker content experience online
.
However, yesterday an interesting post was published by the CEO of the Winning Poker Network – Phil Nagy – who was responding to an article published hours earlier on a US affiliate website that criticized the network for hosting Million Dollar Sundays.
The author of the offending
article claimed that Million Dollar Sundays may be doing more harm than good
because it distracts players from joining the fight for regulation. The author goes on to say that support for regulated online poker in the US cannot reach its full potential while players continue to patronize the Winning Poker Network and other unregulated poker rooms.
Nagy Accuses Author of Flawed Logic
In Phil Nagy´s response to the article, he accuses the author of flawed logic. Nagy says that the failure to regulate online poker in the US amounts to prohibition; and that historically, not only has prohibition failed to prevent citizens drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana, the demands of the general public for these two products has forced lawmakers to re-evaluate their stance.
Nagy argues that that if the general public had stopped drinking alcohol or smoking pot, there would have been little reason to regulate it. He uses the same logic to support the service his network is supplying to online poker players in the US – i.e. by playing online poker at unregulated sites, players are supporting regulation by showing that there is still a demand for the product.
Nagy´s arguments give the impression that events such as the Million Dollar Sundays have a role to play in accelerating online poker regulation. He comments that originally many states looked at regulation as an income generator; but, due to the underperformance of the regulated states, the enthusiasm to introduce online poker regulation has cooled. Such high profile events as the Million Dollar Sundays could re-ignite lawmaker´s enthusiasm to move ahead with regulation.
You Cannot Blame the Players for Any Lack of Effort
It is not difficult to appreciate where the author of the original article is coming from. Attempts to raise grass-roots support for online poker legislation have had disappointing results. In California, Mike Gatto pulled his proposed legislation after only receiving “four or five” emails in support of online poker, while a PPA-organized “We the People” online petition failed by 96% to attract the support it needed for further consideration.
Possibly, if players withdrew their patronage from unregulated sites and used their time to press for further regulation, the battle for regulation may gain a little momentum. However, in states such as California – where there has been a huge campaign for regulated online poker and you cannot blame the players for any lack of effort – it is not the lawmakers that are holding up the legal process, but the stakeholders.
Consequently, the argument that Million Dollar Sundays do more harm than good
does not hold water. Phil Nagy is spot on when he says that Million Dollar Sundays demonstrate that there is a demand for online poker in the United States, and the more attention the events receive, the more likely it is that politicians will look again at regulation.
The next Million Dollar Sunday will be played at Americas Cardroom on Sunday 13th September. Further information about the event and how to satellite into it at a fraction of the buy-in can be found in our detailed review of Americas Cardroom. Show your support for online poker regulation in the US by playing in the next Million Dollar Sunday!
