- “Players Speak! The Online Poker Community’s Perspective,” a panel at the iGBA in Las Vegas this afternoon, will be hosted by Marco Valerio.
- Valerio hopes an open dialog will correct an animosity” he sees between the industry and its players.
As online poker creeps back into the US, through legislation and reform, the players’ voice must be heard—that’s the idea behind a discussion later Thursday afternoon at the 2013 iGaming North America conference (iGNA) in Las Vegas.
The discussion is being moderated at Planet Hollywood by Marco Valerio, US promotional manager of Global Poker Index, who used his former QuadJacks podcast as a megaphone for the voice of players in the immediate days after Black Friday.
“There has historically been a huge communication gap between the American casino industry and the online poker community, because US casinos have been burning the books of online gaming for years,” Valerio wrote on 2+2 in a thread requesting player input ahead of the conference.
“Now they suddenly find themselves with the task of not only having to bring it 'back’ to the States post-Black Friday, but also having to live up to the standards of a sophisticated community that matured despite its neglect,” he added.
Valerio will be joined by Matt Kaufman, editor of PokerStrategy, Collin Moshman, leader of Team Moshman Staking and Coaching, and Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu.
“The gamer’s perspective is perennially missing, completely absent,” Valerio told Mark Gahagan on the CardRunners Rabbit Hunt podcast. “This animosity there’s been between these gaming interests and the poker playing community has made it so that we are really under-represented. I think that’s awful. I think that’s dangerous and I think that’s just stupid—not to seize this chance as the industry is reforming itself here in America before our eyes.”
As Nevada casino companies tweak online gaming software in order to go live, Delaware has set a September 30 deadline to launch. Meanwhile, legalizing of Internet gambling appears imminent in New Jersey.
Lawmakers are also working toward interstate compacts that would combine the player pools of various states where online poker is legal, even perhaps allowing European players to join the field.
“Numerous segments of the online poker playing community are exceptionally educated and outspoken about the game they love, and are eager to communicate with the industry about their wants and needs as gamers,” the iGNA schedule reads. “This session aims to bridge the communication gap between the players and the industry by providing a forum to some of the most eloquent representatives of the coveted poker player pool.”
The iGNA conference attracts gaming industry executives, lawyers, legislators and members of the gaming media.
In the segment titled “Players Speak!The Online Poker Community’s Perspective,” Valerio said he hopes the panel will address a range of issues from rake and takes to cheating and software.
“We benefit when the industry takes our side, when the industry does things we want to see them do,” Valerio said. “So it’s got to start happening. I really hope that iGaming North America will be a little success in that respect.”