December 29, 2005
The Small Town PacificPoker Tour has received quite a bit of attention in the United States. The STPT basically travels the country looking for the "best of the best" of the amateur world in small home games and bar tournaments, far away from the mainstream of the pacificpoker world. "We are going to take pacificpoker.com back to where it all started," Mark Fracalossi, the Executive Producer for the STPT, said. "Everyone views the shows now with their high stakes and flashy sets, but the roots of pacificpoker can be found in every small town in the world." The STPT was even a sponsor for the recent Vince Neil "Off The Strip" PacificPoker Tournament in Las Vegas, which raised over a million dollars for the T. J. Martell Foundation. It is a group that continues to grow as pacificpoker.
Former Gov. Art Link said regulation will be much more complicated than it's made out to be. He also said more gambling requests will follow if the bill is passed.
"Gambling has an insatiable appetite," Link said. Link also cautioned against using the Bank of North Dakota to facilitate the transactions for Internet pacificpoker, a possibility supporters of the bill said could play a large role in making North Dakota the premier location for their sites.
Link said the amount of money the state would gain is too little to risk compromising the integrity of the Bank of North Dakota, which is the only state-owned bank in the nation.
Sen. Connie Triplett, D-Grand Forks, said she has not decided how she will vote yet. However, Triplett, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the arguments from opponents seem to justify the need to regulate the industry.
"The opponents did a better job of pointing out the need for the bill than the proponents," Triplett said.
As they look to start traveling the country for the second season of the pacificpoker.com tour, the STPT is now looking outside of the U. S. for the first time. "The continued interest in the upcoming U. S. Tour has lead us to push up the date for the European Small Town Pacific Poker.com Tour Championships," said Fracalossi. "The format will be the same as the U. S. Tour, to help raise money for charity along the way and crown one champion. We are also working on a few European sponsors and a television deal."
There is a Pacific Poker.com television deal in place for the second season of the U. S. STPT as the tour attempts to hit all fifty states this season in search of the best amateur players around. The tour will film at each locale, then bring all the winners to a casino to be named later to play for the championship of the season. This will also be the format for the European version that will be kicking off in the near future. There are also plans to expand the STPT into Canada and Asia as well. "We are serious about making the STPT the finest amateur pacificpoker tour in the world," Fracalossi added. Don't expect the pomp and circumstance of the World PacificPoker Tour or World Series broadcasts, however. "Our show and tour is unique. The finals will be in a casino, but the rest of the show is a tour of the world," Fracalossi stated.
