Small victory. However, we the poker community must keep vigilant and continue to make our voices heard.

#Ron Paul u the Man

So their trying to destroy Net Neutrality and Ban online poker. How the hell do they have so much time to focus on limiting freedom?

well its not like they write the laws themselves, the lobbying interests do that for them, they just fundraise

1st, if this
is true then PRAISE BE TO POKER JAH!

you need new empty rhetoric. you say "the PPA isn't the only avenue to fight for poker" then in the next breath disparage ppl who don't work through the PPA as do-nothings. you do that w/o knowing whether or not those ppl have supported the PPA in the past, and w/o any way of knowing what they have done to support poker.

dropping "entitlement" is pretty old too, consider you do it when no1 has said they're entitled to anything.

i dont think im entitled to the PPA, or any pro-poker lobbying organization. however, since the PPA has been a pro-poker lobbying organization for about 10 years, they pay 100's of thousands of dollars in salaries to professional poker lobbyists, and their track record has been one of large scale failure sprinkled with marginal successes, i think its fair to say "i wish they would do better."

you said "the more $$ and members we have, the for effective we can be." there's a way to test that to some extent, post a link to the PPA's publicly available financials from 2005-2010. you guys didn't do so great in that period, was it b/ of a lack of resources?

The NRA is quite effective with 3-4 million members. But firearm owners rally to oust anti firearm politicians, keeping the numbers low. Poker players just bitch at each other.

It's hard to say. I think we all are doing a very good job targeting the lame duck attempts. Last week, the likelihood of that attempt succeeding was probably somewhere aroud PX's prediction of 20%. That sounds low, implying that Adelson failed to get set up for the lame duck. However, as it's hard to move much of anything through Congress these days, that's pretty much where one would expect. Adelson was able to get his chess pieces into position for a lame duck push.

We all did a great job keeping the light of day on this attempt through traditional and social media, as well as through grassroots activism. Lawmakers heard from us -- many of whom were not aware of the lame duck push until then. This disinfecting light of the truth pulled RAWA from the lame duck shadows, from where Adelson had hoped to be able to push it through.

For Adelson's successes at getting set up on Capitol Hill, we clearly won the media battle. His placed op-eds and columns were greeted largely with ridicule, helped along by the comment sections (which were owned by the poker community). The anti-RAWA op-eds and columns, OTOH, were far more persuasive IMO. We also won the social media battle. Adelson would have been better not even trying, it was so lopsided.

With the news that the House Judiciary Committee won't hold a lame duck hearing on this, our odds have clearly improved, but we are not out of the woods for a lame duck ban. This could still be tacked onto must-pass legislation. However, as passing this in that manner, with no hearings or freestanding votes would be such a clear political payback, the likelihood is lower.

Next year, Adelson will have plenty of $upporter$ (see what I did there ), but it will be a tougher road. Full debates, states pushing back harder once this becomes more "real" to them, lottery opposition, politicians who are reluctant to cross Adelson now expressing opposition as this becomes more "real" to them, etc. And, time is not on Adelson's side. More states will move to authorize this, and it really takes one or two big states to make this moot. He may be able to stop expansion at that point, but a federal shutdown may not be in the cards at that point.

So, we're in a real fight. It's very winnable, but everyone needs to be on board. I'm surprised that there's not a huge sense of urgency ITT, especially as some are wondering why Congress doesn't seem to understand how many poker players want the right to play. The answer to that is simple. We have to tell them that we want our right to play.

No. I clearly said we all have to fight for poker, either through PPA or through other avenues.

I know I've not seen you encouraging activism here. To the contrary, you're talking people out of it at a time when we're under a very real attack.

You seem to feel entitled to a strong PPA, rather than seeing an obligation to help build up a strong advocacy effort. I guess this a lot and you're the example that proves the rule. If you want a stronger PPA, ask what you can do to help it be stronger. That's what I did.

PPA has had a very strong track record and it's bizarre that you'd suggest otherwise, unless you think this should be a simple fight. It's troubling that many never saw the nature of the poker fight.

We've released all of our financials and they are available online. We never had a huge influx of player donations. That's just how it is, and that's why we all have to do our part.

For me personally, for that time frame I was a full-time volunteer and board member from 2007 on. I made $0.

It is true. I think we all did a lot to put this in front of lawmakers and media, keeping it out of the shadows.

link to the financials? and no i don't think im entitled for you do to the work finding them for me. i looked and if they're available online they're not exactly out in the open.

I've been using my time for the actual fight. You know, against those who'd ban the game. However, if you can take the time to do today's daily action plan, I can take some time to post the links.

TUESDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell Rep. Chaffetz & 11 other lawmakers to back poker

Adelson still busy churning out new anti-gambling videos. x-post from PL.

I went to the YouTube site to down vote the videos and on each one, the down vote will not register, but if you click the up vote it will register. So sleazy.

Internet Gambling Ban: A Winner for Sheldon Adelson, A Losing Bet for the Rest of Us


http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/arch...he-rest-of-us/

Those ****ty videos have collectively like 1000 views lol, in over a week, so dont worry too much the only people who have clicked on them probably did so accidentally.

Major conservative groups including Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty, and Competitive Enterprise Institute (where Michelle Minton serves as fellow) have come out against RAWA! http://theppa.org/ppa/2014/11/20/rawa-opposition-letter

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wynn-r...194400825.html

And these are the guys that worry about online poker.

would PPA support this RAWA bill if it included a federal licensing framework for online poker? (while still banning everything else)

is negotiating a carveout like that a possibility this year do you think? (if there is a real push against full prohibition of course.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...ab6_story.html

I love Ron Paul but I am not sure if him having our back is a good thing or not. Other lawmakers in Washington pretty much hate him.

The hypocrisy of the elite knows no bounds.The NFL a multi billion dollar industry built on illegal gambling.The Rooney's and the Mara's two of the oldest and most prominent NFL owners started their empires from the profits provided by gambling.NFL lawyers help write the UIGEA bill.Sands casinos use any sleazy tactic including getting gamblers as drunk as possible to separate them from their bankrolls.You think Shelly uses women to lure gamblers at his Asian casino's? Sands lawyers are helping to draft the RAWA.Are there any disease ridden animals U.S. politicians won't sleep with for money?

A serious post from ScreaminAsian.

In all seriousness, a concern I have here is that they give poker a mere carveout, where they say RAWA doesn't apply to poker and RAWA doesn't change the legal status of poker for or against (like the UIGEA horse racing carveout). We'd just be where we are today but with fewer allies. Then, Adelson (who'd likely not be party to such a deal) would be free to continue via divide-and-conquer, "closing the Internet gambling poker loophole."

I think a carveout like the one above could be possible just to grease the skids for a RAWA lame duck passage, but I don't think that would satisfy Adelson. To the contrary, I think it would embolden him.

wait so is RAWA going to be passed through the back door by attaching it to some random bill thats has nothing to do with internet gambling? IMO it will be attached to some animal rights bill and those things always pass.

http://www.pocketfives.com/articles/...s-rawa-590234/

Sent Harry an e-mail.

Are you kidding me? The total incompetency of our Washington politicians raises its ugly head again!

While channel surfing just saw "an unknown to me" female senator on the Huckabee Show talking about "going back to how it was before". Supporting RAWA, before, UIEGEA. Back to the Wire Act.

Talked about 22 Senators supporting the bill were re-elected. Mentioned NJ and how geo-location can not prevent kids from out of the state or in state playing. She is most concerned about children running up their parents credit cards. How it hurts the economy. Had no clue how the internet works. So frustrating to see an uninformed individual commanding a TV audience even if it is small.

Totally clueless. But has airtime and Huckabee, who has a conservative following, endorses the "senator", and for every other Senator that doesn't get behind it is doing a disservice to their constituencies. Just kissing up to the senator for coming on his show.

No debate. Just a statement. Somebody has to get equal time from Huckabee to discuss the real picture. And.... keep an eye on this senator. Does any one know who she is?

The children argument has really got to stop…….It is 10x easier to "gamble" on a legal Daily Fantasy website without ID then it is to get verified on NJ……. I made a deposit on a couple of DFS sites only 1 required ID the rest just ask for an email address and you click a box saying you are over 18… If i am under 18 I could easily just buy a visa gift card and use that to deposit online for DFS. In New Jersey you need 2 forms of ID plus i do not think they even take Visa Gift cards….. These Politicians never base their Arguments non facts.. If that female senator is going to make that argument why does she not show us a video of a under age kid getting verified and depositing money online