The defendant, Kevin Raley, will file a petition in Colorado Supreme Court requesting an appeal of the intermediate court's ruling that poker is gambling under Colorado law. PPA has been involved in similar cases in other states including South Carolina, Kansas and Pennsylvania, where the PPA has brought a series of experts to examine and determine why poker is a game of skill and not simply a game of chance.

"The PPA is going to do everything in its power to support Mr. Raley's efforts in order to protect PPA members and all poker players in the state of Colorado. I am especially alarmed because this ruling ignores the abundance of research that proves poker is a game of skill and confuses rather than clarifies the matter for law enforcement that may use their scarce resources to raid and arrest poker players instead of investigating real unlawful activity in the state." said Gary Reed, PPA's Colorado State Director.

In the original case, the county court allowed the jury to hear expert testimony by Professor Robert Hannum, Professor of Statistics at the University of Denver. In his testimony, Professor Hannum explained the reasons why poker should be considered a game of skill. Based on this testimony and other evidence presented during the trial, the jury found Kevin Raley not guilty of charges of illegal gambling. However, the Weld County District Attorney appealed that ruling, arguing that the testimony given by Professor Hannum should have not been allowed because several courts in the state of Colrado have already concluded that poker is determined by chance and that it should be considerer as gambling, which caused the district court to overrule the trial judge's determination to allow Professor Hannum’s testimony. Even when district court's decision does affect the jury’s verdict, it does put the future of poker in Colorado in danger.

"Given the Weld County District Court judge's ruling that poker is gambling because of the small element of chance in the dealing of cards, one could easily presume that any game that depends even a little on chance – from Monopoly to Yahtzee to Candy Land – is gambling and therefore illegal in the state of Colorado. We clearly think this is the wrong interpretation of the law, especially in regard to poker, and the PPA is committed to helping demonstrate to the Colorado Supreme Court the broad academic research that exists showing that poker is indeed a game of skill." said John Pappas, executive director of the PPA.

"The choice to petition the Colorado Supreme Court is about more than me or my friends, it's about all poker players' opportunity to ensure that current Colorado law recognizes that poker is a game of skill and is based on much more than the luck of the draw. So much has changed regarding poker and how the game is perceived publicly, it is disheartening to see this great game treated as a crime because of a misapplication of the law," said Kevin Raley.