Adelson needs to take a 6 foot dirt nap already. Harmful to children? God I hate political spew.

As far as harm goes, birth is harmful to children.

They come into a world where they have to deal with people like Adelson.

gotta love these politicians - online pokaz evil! scientology prison camps, forced child labor etc fine.

http://www.palottery.state.pa.us/Abo...s-for-Pow.aspx

If people play games of skill like poker for money on the internet, they'll have less money to spend on games of chance like the Pennsylvania state lottery, which makes use of the internet as a "convenience" to players. That's right.

Your post implies that PA has online sales of tickets and that is NOT what the link shows. It shows that people can download a form that makes it more convenient to form a pool.

If you fight this day in and day out it's crazy that you haven't won the fight one single day yet. Do you take a salary for fighting this losing effort? If so, do you feel guilty?

I don't know if the explanation, that you don't realize how much help the PPA has been, is you have your head in the sand or up your ass.

The PPA is well positioned to fight this in PA. We have been working this issue for more than a year in the state and we have many champions for gaming generally and for regulated Internet poker/gaming specifically. Anyone who has followed the history of gaming expansion in PA knows that there are a select few members of the House and Senate (about 25) who are anti-gaming zealots. Even though they make noise, they ultimately get rolled. That is why PA is the second largest gaming economy in the US.

All that said, we need to make sure that anytime one of these anti-gaming lawmakers pops up their head, we take our swings back. The first step is to contact your local elected officials in the state and tell them to oppose criminalization, and support regulation of online poker. The PPA already emailed all of our members who live in this specific lawmakers district and have given them a sample email, talking points and a phone number. Next step is to have our State Director and other interested poker players to go and actually meet with PA lawmakers either at the state Capitol or in their hometowns. I know I will be going there (again) soon and our lobbyists have been talking to lawmakers all along.

KillTheCheaters, your comments are not an honest assessment of the impact the poker community (with the help of the PPA) is having on the legislative process throughout the country. I am sorry you seem to have a tainted view, but I think it might be because you are uninformed. Are you a member of the PPA? Do you receive our weekly newsletter that highlights our efforts, successes (and disappointments) on a weekly basis? Do you follow us on Twitter and Facebook? Do you participate in the Daily Action Plan? Have you done anything yourself to advance your passion to play online poker? Just wondering, because you have the attitude and outlook of a detractor, not a doer.

Regards,

John A. Pappas
Executive Director, PPA

this sentence is indecipherable. i don't think you know how commas work. just being blunt.

Says the guy who parades himself around as a hero while taking a salary for a 0 production job. The PPA has not made a positive MATERIAL impact in the fight for legislation. We are not in any better shape than we were in April '11, and by the time the government brings back any form of online poker in the US (which will be entirely their own doing, on their own time) the poker economy will be effectively crippled. You guys will have your years of salaries though, so I guess there's that. You're probably right, I should start my own advocacy group, it's a hell of a racket.

The sentence is very decipherable. You just don't want to acknowledge the truth.

What truth is that, that the PPA has been a tremendous help? Can we play online poker in the US, nearly 3 years later? We're not even close. They've had no material impact. If you want to buy in to all the newsletters and whatever propaganda that they put out, go ahead, but I'm acknowledging the truth. The truth that we aren't close to being able to play online in the USA, and the PPA isn't going to do anything to change that.

But without the PPA perhaps it could be worse? As in, instead of 2 years before widespread regulation it's 8 years.

Perhaps you've missed since 2011 that 3 states have regulated Internet poker and that 10 more are considering legislation to do so. So, poker in the US is without question in a better place than it was in April 2011. Do you think this just happened organically? That the activism of players and PPA played no role in making this a real issue for lawmakers to think about? That our countless visits and contacts to lawmakers and regulators in New Jersey did nothing to get a bill into law? If you think that, then you are alone. There isn't a single person, organization, gaming company or lawmaker who has been involved in this issue who believes what you believe. Grassroots activism helps a lot to get things done in politics, and without it, the poker community would be in a much worse place than today. With that, I am done with your insults.

John A. Pappas
PPA, Executive Director

I guess the NAACP was a failure because civil rights didn't happen overnight. I guess the Allies were a failure because the Nazis weren't beat overnight. I guess women's suffrage movement was a failure because they didn't get women the right to vote immediately after their founding.

The point is that some struggles take time and people shouldn't give up if results aren't immediate.

some of the complaints I've briefly seen in this thread, like the time it's taking to get online poker regulated in the USA, need to be taken up with the government and people who vote in this country. So many people just vote red or blue because. I end at "because", because there is no basis other than political party. I am experiencing this in Texas right now.

The real reason for my post, however, is that Texans better wake up because after Greg Abbott is elected, this will be the fate of Texas next. If you want to speak up, go to his facebook page. Seach greg abbott. pretty simple.

Please speak up.

NAACP--not a failure, because they DID help improve civil rights over time

Allies--not a failure, because they DID beat the Nazis in due time.

Women's suffrage--no comment lol

My point is not that I don't support the PPA because they haven't gotten the job done fast enough. I don't support the PPA because I don't think they'll ever actually have anything to do with getting the job done at all.

When I read this, all i see is someone who presumably takes a salary from donations and credit for things he may or may not have had anything to do with.

Obviously I disagree with criminalizing online poker and am 100% in support of finding a solution to make it legal NATIONWIDE and not in just a few states. However, for all who keep posting "LOL" at the assertion that online poker is a threat to "children" and other issues raised by the opposition, you need to stop and recognize that there is a validity to the opposition's argument, and by just denying it we won't solve any problems. We need to address it and try to find a real solution. Fifteen year old kids playing online poker is NOT good for any of us.

You just reaffirmed my belief you have your head either in the sand or up your ass.

I don't think you understand the idiom "to have one's head in the sand." I would love to be able to believe that the PPA is having a meaningful impact on legislative efforts.

speaking strictly as someone who just misses playing online poker in the United States, I fail to see how the PPA has had any impact whatsoever on the industry.

What do you have to say about the 3 states that have legalized and regulated internet poker now?

Hopefully 'Natural Causes' occurs soon, he's old and it will be nice when the world moves on without him

Hey Mods, can we get a PPA Effectiveness Containment Thread FFS?

Then all these idiots can have the same debate over and over and over and OVER and OVER AND OVER AND OVER in the privacy of their own little corner of the Interwebz.

Just a thought.