The latest free to play poker site to pop up in the United States is SouthPointPoker.com, a site run by the South Point Casino in Las Vegas. While this site does not offer any real money gambling, players still have the chance to compete for seats to the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Like the Indian tribes in California, South Point Casino is hoping to gain loyalty from consumers in preparation for poker legalization in the future. If they build a player base now, they will be ahead of their competition if and when legalization occurs. Tom Mikovits, a spokesman for the casino, explained that they are trying to get players “comfortable with an aesthetically pleasing, good-looking site that’s easy to play on.”
The site has been online since early October, but it only recently became available to people outside of their casino’s player club. South Point Casino is the first Las Vegas casino to create an online poker free to play site, but you can be sure that several more will follow in the weeks and months to come.
Online Poker Hearing in Congress
A special hearing will be held on October 25th in the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee for Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade. This topic of this hearing will be online gambling in the United States.
Congressman Joe Barton’s Online Poker Act of 2011 (HR 2366) will be discussed at this hearing. Barton is on the subcommittee and will be present.
The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has been putting the word out about the upcoming hearing. They believe that it has the potential to be very important since Barton’s bill is being examined. The PPA is asking its members and other poker players to contact their U.S. Representatives if they are members of the Subcommittee for Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade.