Lobby group the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) spent more than a quarter of a million dollars in the second quarter of 2008 to lobby on behalf of online poker, according to a disclosure report the PPA filed.

Specifically, the PPA spent $283,000 from April 1-June 30, 2008, to lobby the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives in favor of licensed and regulated Internet poker in the USA, the report stated.

The report was filed with the House Clerk’s Office.

The PPA was founded in San Francisco, California, USA, and recently relocated to Washington, D.C., USA.

The group lobbied legislators to exempt online poker from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which the U.S. Congress passed in 2006. UIGEA made it illegal for American banks and credit card companies to allow the transfer of monies to and from online gambling sites.

A quarter of a million bucks may be but a drop in the bucket when compared to what the PPA is spending in the third quarter of this year (July 1-September 30, 2008).

The disclosure report for that time period hasn’t been filed yet, because the quarter hasn’t ended, but it will likely reveal that the PPA spent a bundle.

During the third quarter, the PPA threw expensive and gaudy poker tournaments at both the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, USA, and the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)