People seriously overestimate how much time it would take to put in some effort. I've started doing the tweets in the Daily Action Plan and it takes less than two minutes a day. Literally open them all at once in tabs, go through and click post on each one and close all the windows.

It's time to start some discussion on generating more phone calls and/or letters. Maybe we could get a team together to write and distribute a form letter, which people could print out, sign and mail?

Or encourage everyone to take 5 minutes right before they leave the office for lunch or right after they get back to make one phone call and put a different number in the plan each day and a couple bullet points on what to say.

This is probably the wrong place for this, but I'll also post it in the Action Plan thread.

I put the PPA member prewritten letters together and I frequently ask everyone to send it out via the weekly PPA member update. I put mention in the action plan to write once every six weeks or so and to call once a month. We can't each write a letter every day, unfortunately. That's actually another reason the social media has been so effective -- we can do that every day.

I'm about ready to have us send out some letters and make some calls, so I'll put it in today's alert. I hope everyone will send them out.

It was in there a few weeks ago and I sent mine to my elected leaders.

Need to start tweeting Bono Mack to get the Barton Bill moved forwarded for a vote.

Any comment from those in the know on Calvin Ayre's sources' comment that part of the reason this wasnt included was opposition from state lotteries and Native American interests? Fact or fiction?

Lottery opposition continues to be particularly troubling given they will have one of the most prominent seats at the table in any opt-in/opt-out discussions.

If this is the case then we might as well put a whole kabosh on regulated poker in America from ever happening

No, you just have other stakeholders that need to be addressed. When there's piles of money to be shared, there are creative solutions to be found.

Agreed w bold.
1) It was a must past.
2) Needed revenues.
3) It was in the form of a conference committee
4) Reid/Ds had significant leverage over Rs b/c of what happened in December

Next vehicle like this is probably in a lame duck at end of the year when all of these things expire again, plus other annual tax items expire, plus overall tax rate changes, plus sequestration from debt limit fight.....

Oh boy...since you have been declared the most reliably "connected" guy by Karak and a few others, this is some pretty horrible news.

I'm officially depressed.

Basically our Best chance of anything happening in the foreseeable future and Im in the minority with this opinion. I see a significantly smaller turnout as far as player pools with this years WSOP. Once the casinos realize their was a real correlation with internet poker boom and the WSOP turnouts. Then Casinos will start lobbying washington real hard for something to be done.

they already are

Casinos know very well to what extent the online industry contributes to attendance at the WSOP

Do you really think that management at the major resorts and casinos in LV is completely blind and doesn't notice how much younger the player pools have gotten, how much of an impact FTP, Stars etc...have had in sponsoring players over the last decade?

This isn't going to make the slightest difference, so let's hope it isn't our best chance...(and by "this" I mean the casinos realizing that online poker had something to do with attendance at the WSOP, lol)

I'm depressed too. I think it will be state run before the lame duck. Federal door is closing IMO.

I said I was in the minority with this opinion so take it for fwiw. We havent had accurate numbers to reflect wsop participation yet. Last year doesnt count.
I feel alot of casionos in power are smug to the idea of online poker actually helping them. I kind of compare it with the banks and the financial crisis.

I'm surprised Kyl would leave UIGEA-II dormant for a year now that states can start offering online roulette etc. Maybe there is no imminent chance of states doing this?

Why do I feel like getting excited in these sweat threads is like getting excited that the Washington Generals are only trailing the Globetrotters by 4 points with 3 minutes left and they just might have a chance to win?

That being said, I am still hopeful that something will be done by the end of the year. We do seem to be in a better place thanks to the hard work of the PPA and people in this forum participating in the Daily Action Thread.

i mean a 50/50, 60/40 or 70/30 is just that... no guarantee. keep lobbying, pushing and calling. this year is still looking like a much better chance than i ever imagined possible.

+1

Been watching the hearing for The Cybersecurity Act of 2012. General sentiment is that this bill is bipartisan and Harry Reid wants it on the floor ASAP. All have been in agreement so far, and after glancing through the statements, only Tom Ridge is not fully in favor of the bill. (McCain is unhappy and says the bill is being rushed / not done in a transparent manner) One guys statement says that this bill does not appear similar to SOPA in any way, which is good for us if true.

A cybersecurity bill looks like a way more acceptable vehicle for poker...

if Schrödinger is right we'll never truly know the difference between a 50/50 and 1/10,000

Yeah, and it's going to happen eventually but we probably missed the opportunity to get something at the federal level before a lot of states pass their own legislation and after that, forget competition, large player pools and playing for a living...Not to mention forget about travelling and playing, etc...

federal government is going to stand by and let states make all the decisions and get all the money

Am I detecting sarcasm or are u being serious Karak?

You don't need to tell me, I'm as surprised as anyone that they let it slip but at this point the field is completely open for states to go ahead with it and the federal government can't do anything to stop them and if the next opportunity for a federal bill is really at the end of the year, then we're pretty much ****ed.

Are you serious? Obv he's being sarcastic, I'm just not sure why since it's pretty much exactly what the fed just did.