Poker enthusiasts who trekked to Capitol Hill on Wednesday made it clear that they are not ready to fold in their fight over the legality of online gambling.

At a policy forum hosted by the Poker Players Alliance, a panel including a professional poker player and legal and policy experts took shots at the federal government’s recent attempts to target the Internet gambling industry.

Several lawmakers already have floated proposals to fix perceived problems created by a new law that prohibits the financial industry from processing payments to online gambling sites. The alliance is among those lobbying aggressively to repeal the law — or amend it to allow poker and other games of skill to be played online.

John Pappas, executive director of the alliance, charged that the proposed rules for enforcing the e-gambling ban would unfairly deputize the U.S. financial firms responsible for implementing the rules. The proposed rules, which were released earlier this fall by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board, would make people at financial firms with direct customer relationships responsible for ensuring that unlawful transactions do not occur.

Professional poker player Howard Lederer said it is particularly problematic that payment processors would bear that responsibility when the federal government has not yet adequately defined unlawful activity. The result, he said, will be that banks will “over-block” transactions to avoid potential violations.

Kenneth Adams, a partner in the Washington office of Dickstein Shapiro, predicted that the over-blocking issue would spark litigation.

The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association already has sued to keep regulators from enforcing the new law. Oral arguments in the case were heard earlier this fall. Adams said that court efforts to overturn the act are unlikely to succeed and that there are more useful ways for the law’s critics to attack right now.

“The odds are worse than drawing an inside straight,” he said.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass, has introduced a bill to permit and regulate online gambling rather than ban it. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., also has authored a measure to classify poker, the Chinese game mahjong, bridge, chess and other pastimes as “games of skill” that could be played online.

The panel has acknowledged, however, that generating the political will for Congress to rethink the issue will be difficult.

The House passed the anti-gambling measure last year by a strong margin, and the Senate attached language to an unrelated port security bill that became law.

Harvard University law professor Charles Nesson, founder of the school’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said he heard from an industry official who visited this week with Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., one of his former students. Nesson said she reportedly is unwilling to fight the e-gambling ban because so many of her constituents morally oppose gambling.

Pappas said part of the challenge will involve convincing people that it is a “pro-good-government” issue, not a “pro-gambling issue.”

He said the alliance is planning to conduct a voter-registration drive next year so poker enthusiasts and other supporters of online gambling can better flex their collective political muscle.

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Author Contact Info: Michael Martinez, National Journal’s Technology Da