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no offence, i get what the PPA are trying to do, but less shouting and writing letters, more action if you want to actually change something, which you wont.
government > the people.
Same thats true, but it is. Listening to eveyrhting at the CAP talks, and eveyrthing ive read, leaves me in no doubt that anyone including the PPA will change this bill/act, the only chance is at a legal standpoint.
GL
I too joined the PPA many months ago… and for $20.
I have tried to support Michael and the PPA… interviewing him on the webcast and linking to him. At the Poker Expo in Costa Rica I offered to work more closely with him… and he declined to work with APCW. Why?
1) He want’s an exemption for poker and only poker. He does not care about anything casino. Just poker.
2) He told me he cannot work with APCW because the APCW is a “for profit” group… now remember, the PPA claims to have 150,000 members. At $20 a join thats $3,000,000 he’s taken in… or about $2,900,000 more than APCW has made in three years.
I was a believer in the PPA. I wanted to support them. But they refuse to work for the webmaster or the casino player… and now they are trying to do videos and copy the APCW format for education.
APCW has done more for the webmasters and players in a shorter amount of time… and without taking a DIME from either. Many poker forums are filled with poker players who wonder what the PPA has done for them. I wonder, too.
Where’s the $3,000,000 the PPA took in? If the APCW had that sort of money, you would have heard an explosion of educational and public awareness materials hitting the mainstream media.
That will teach me to jump the gun. In fact Toddy, your videos alone have probably done more for the cause.
I wasn’t aware that Michael had refused to work with you, that is sheer stupidity on his behalf.
Thanks, Dean…
I have always been of the mindset that no one can fight this battle alone. I know that I need help from you guys… and I’m not affraid or ashamed to ask for it, because together we have strength and some of the brightest minds I’ve met.
That said, it’s difficult to get people to lead the charge, so to speak. Which is what surprised me when Michael declined to work with me. I wish him the best, but I don’t understand his thought process. Maybe if I had $3,000,000 in the bank… no, not even gonna go there.:tounge2:
This is not a good thing. People need to work together and not at cross purposes.
I contributed to PPA, and never got my tee-shirt, and welcome pack –
My gut feel is that it is not the tightest of organizations. I have heard all the rumors about their offices being staff edwith a secretary, yet no one else is ever seen there. Perhaps Michael has built himself a nice little retirement nest egg ???
Additionally, looking at the big picture, although I can’t say I’m totally in favor of it, I can see why PPA is distancing itself from Casino games. It’s probably better to try and negotiate for exemption on a small piece, rather than the entire pie. I think Poker has a much better chance for exemption on its own, given the skill level differences between that and something like Roulette. But, nonetheless, his efforts will probably fall on deaf ears.
Collectively, we all need to try and fight !! It’s amazing how many people in this country have not a clue on the fact that this is all going down. Unfortunately, until a major mass of citizens is aware of this, and demonstrating against it, things won’t change.
Integrity wrote:Where’s the $3,000,000 the PPA took in? If the APCW had that sort of money, you would have heard an explosion of educational and public awareness materials hitting the mainstream media.I also wondered why we aren’t seeing much from them publicly. J Todd you put yourself right out there for the cause and, I for one, am very appreciative of your efforts on our behalf.
Come on, people, get those videos up and get the word out. It’s not as much as we could do but, considering that the gambling business apparently has a problem with cohesiveness, it’s a step in the right direction. Together we could at least make our traffic aware and that’s a lot of people.
Nothing from casinos or software companies either. It’s like they’re all ignoring the situation and hoping it will go away. Maybe they’ll go away before we get some progress. I’m waiting to see how many of them shut down through lack of funds.
There aren’t many posts in their forums about payment methods or player solutions. Someone said “asleep at the wheel” – I agree. It’s not like this was a surprise – they should have had a Plan B for contingency.
My sites are getting loads of hits and even downloads. It breaks my heart to know that players can’t interact financially.
ntaus
Mason Malmuth from 2+2 had his lawyers do a check on PPA to see if you should tell the 2+2 forum members to support them, he elected not to after the report:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8351829&an=0&page=0#Post8351829Unlike most not for profit organizations that represent a large national interest group, the PPA is unusually difficult to obtain information from.
As a not for profit organization, the PPA is prohibited from allowing any part of the net earnings of the entity to inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual (26 U.S.C. S 501(c)(4)(a). However, PPA members cannot verify the organization’s compliance because it has never published an annual report, or made its budget information available to its donors or members. In fact, we have not seen a disclosure or list of any individuals who were compensated for their services to the PPA.
Our investigation of the PPA’s Washington, D.C. office found a shared rented office space with a receptionist who stated that she rarely saw any PPA representatives physically at the Washington, D.C. location.
The only way for legitimacy to be evident is for basic financial information about the organization to be transparent. It is not. Thus, in summary, we cannot encourage Two Plus Two to actively promote or endorse the PPA.
I am all for Sports, Casino and Poker.
I know the PPA is focusing on poker only and that has upset some people.
From what it looks like, the only shot this industry has is through poker right now.
In my opinion, efforts from PPA, WTO, Neteller lawyers, ect, are just going to slow down the insane efforts by the govt. That is going to benifit the industry as a whole. The govt is starting to see that this industry is not going to go quietly and they might shift some of their attention on other areas of the world that actually need their help. The PPA will – at the very least – put some speed bumps in the gov’t path for a long enough period of time for someone with some sense to come around and go to bat for us.
JMO!!
Dan
J Todd for president 2008/9 or whatever?
If we get PPA’s $3mil and put it into that, well have a better chance of getting online gambling back running.
I have been made painfully aware of how this has affected poeple on a grass roots level. A moderator of mine whose bulk finances were tied up in neteller and now unable to afford vital heart medicine. We got around that one ok.
A couple of members on low incomes with biggish wins at poker rooms having to wait for however long to get their winnings.
Others that are good players that were supplementing very low and part time incomes with poker play are very hard hit…it is comparable to a depression.
But, to put a positive light on things it is when hardest hit people find inner strength and the troops are gathering! Just use any method you can to get the message out, urge players and other webmasters to join the APCW.
ntaus8 wrote:…I for one, am very appreciative of your efforts on our behalf.Thank you… seems too easy to only say “thank you” to all the wonderful people supporting APCW as we fight this thing… I wish there were more I could do to express how much it all means to know you guys are all out there.
I am very appreciative of all the efforts of each and every one of us in this industry. As I told someone just the other day, the old cliche’ is so true for us: We are only as strong as our weakest link… And we must continue to hold together and fight together to have any chance…
Ieejit101 wrote:…J Todd for president 2008/9Flattering… :notify:
…but as I’ve said, I don’t feel I am corrupt enough… :tooconfus
Perhaps given some time? LOL!eejit101 wrote:J Todd for president 2008/9 or whatever?If we get PPA’s $3mil and put it into that, well have a better chance of getting online gambling back running.
the PPA hasn’t raise anywhere near $3mil. Their financial information is posted on their website.
You have to factor in a lot of things when calculating how much they’ve raised. There are processing fees, t-shirts, etc, plus not all members paid…..some were free.
It is also public record that as of July 2006, the PPA had given $480,000 towards lobbying efforts. The use The Federalist Group, one of the best in the business.
When the final 2006 numbers are made public (these are 3rd party verification numbers, not numbers from the PPA), I think we will see the PPA has given probably close to $1mil in lobbying efforts.
The PPA is making an impact in DC, I believe, and their position all along has been to not associate with the casino side of the business.
They do meet with MGM, the american gaming association, etc, but there is no official relationship.
Pokerexec wrote:…their position all along has been to not associate with the casino side of the business.Thanks for confirming that they are doing nothing for the other 70% of this industry.
Sorry, but with the WTO, the EU, the UK, and the hugely powerful groups within America about to step to the front of this battle, I think the PPA’s “politically correct” efforts will soon be passed by as too little, too late.
JMHO
ALSO….
Just noticed the PPA has had a complete redesign… I do not believe there was any financial disclosure prior to this. And the link to the form 990 is broken.
Integrity, your efforts, along with those of many others are certainly greatly appreciated by me, and a vast many others in this industry!
But, let us not loose sight of the fact that the PPA has, from it’s inception, made no bones about the fact that they were ONLY about POKER. PPA stands for Poker PLAYERS Alliance… I’m sure they dont give a darn about affilates, and I’m not sure that they should, given their situation…..
