Online poker is currently permitted only in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware and while there are reports of ten other states contemplating the legalization of online poker, none of them look like making a final decision anytime soon.
Martin Shapiro who lives in Clearwater, Florida has played poker for a number of years and is eagerly waiting for his home state of Florida to legalize online poker. The state government has not really taken any significant steps in legalizing online poker and Shapiro believes that unless online poker loves in Florida get together and campaign hard, will the state government push for the legalization of online poker.
Shapiro decided to form iPoker Florida in June 2015 and recruit like minded online poker players who will put pressure on the Florida government to speed up talks about online poker legalization. While a number of states are interested in legalizing online poker, concerns continue to remain about how well can the industry be regulated. State governments have spent a lot of time reviewing online poker regulations and going back and forth on amendments in order to have robust laws in place.
Shapiro and his iPoker Florida organization have taken these issues into consideration and has also written a complete legislation on how the industry should be regulation in an effort to assist the Florida government to speed up the legalization process.
In a statement, Shapiro said
Ours is a rather unique proposition. Draft legislation is usually written by either an industry vested interest or by the staff of a lawmaker who is looking out for them. In our case, the draft legislation is written by and for poker players – the consumer rather than the industry. It is good for the players, it is good for the State and it is good for the industry, providing for a fair and open marketplace. It would be a great accomplishment to get our bill introduced in the legislature and considered by the Florida Congress
Shapiro stated that even though his organization is just a few months old and made up of mostly volunteers, it is growing at a nice rate and being recognized by a number of popular poker groups. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) recently recognized the efforts of iPoker Florida when it decided to promote the group by sending out an email to over 40,000 poker players in Florida to make them aware of iPoker Florida’s existence and campaign. Shapiro and his iPoker Florida group will continue to put pressure on the state government and remain positive.
