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Weekly Update from Rich Muny, VP of Player Relations
I have very good news to share this week. A new coalition – the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection – has been formed to help fight the proposed federal ban on Internet poker and other online wagering. This new Washington, D.C.-based coalition, backed by MGM Resorts International and the American Gaming Association with the support of various commercial casinos, equipment manufacturers, Indian tribes and technology companies, is not seeking a specific agenda. Rather, these diverse gaming interests have come together, united around a common goal – defeating Congressional attempts to expand the scope of the Wire Act.
A few years ago, Internet betting opponents tended to focus on online casino-style gaming. Unfortunately, our current opposition is focusing directly on the great game of poker. In this environment, it really makes sense for all stakeholders, especially the poker community, to band together to defeat all efforts to expand the Wire Act.
I encourage you to take a moment to read more about this here, here, and here.
PPA will, of course, focus solely on poker advocacy and remain neutral on all non-poker wagering. Additionally, we will continue to differentiate poker as a game of skill, as always. What do you think? Please let us know on the PPA Facebook page.
Poker Wins the Attorneys General Letter Fight!
As I shared with you a couple of weeks ago, Las Vegas Sands Corp. / Venetian Casino and its CEO, Sheldon Adelson, asked all fifty state attorneys general to sign a letter that, while cleverly worded to sound as if it merely seeks clarification of the scope of the Wire Act, is actually in support of a bill to ban online poker nationwide. AG letters have been used effectively against us in the past, when 49 signed an anti-online poker prior to UIGEA passing in 2006 and 43 a couple of years later.
I have good news. Just fifteen attorneys general (sixteen including Guam) signed onto this letter, falling far short of the requirement to be adopted as National Association of Attorneys General policy, and even well below that to use NAAG letterhead. While these are sixteen more than we wanted, it represents strong improvement. And, as all fifty were lobbied hard to sign on, it means 35 attorneys general rejected it.
I thank everyone for taking the time to tell their attorney general that we do not want a poker prohibition. We were certainly heard!
Full Tilt Poker Remission Update
Full Tilt Poker Claims Administrator Garden City Group recently started emailing poker players tagged as affiliates the net balances they would be eligible to claim. The net balance was to be their site balance minus their affiliate income. However, the amount these players were provided also deducted all their rakeback. And, there was no formal appeal process.
Once this situation came to light, PPA Executive Director John Pappas immediately gathered up information from member Aaron “WiltOnTilt” Wilt to take to the Justice Department as an example to demonstrate the problem. Aaron had already supplied Garden City Group with information detailing the problem, while also detailing it on OnlinePokerReport.com and Two Plus Two, so it was ready to go. John explained the situation to DoJ. The DoJ agreed and adjusted the procedure to address this issue.
Earlier this week, GCG confirmed this on their website with the following announcement:
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INFORMATION REGARDING AFFILIATE BALANCES
Affiliate balances shown upon logging into the online filing site were determined by deducting from the account balance all payments labeled as Affiliate payments in the data provided by Full Tilt Poker. The Department of Justice does not consider rakeback an Affiliate payment and will include rakeback payments in approved remission amounts. However, if rakeback was labeled by Full Tilt Poker as an Affiliate payment on a particular account and was therefore deducted from the balance, it is the player’s responsibility to dispute the account balance and provide an explanation differentiating rakeback from Affiliate revenue.
Updated: 2/4/14 |
Maryland Update
PPA Executive Director John Pappas testified at the Maryland State Senate earlier this week on S.B. 428, a bill that would make it expressly legal to play in and host home poker games in the state. There will be further hearings, for a great step toward fixing this antiquated law.
John Pappas and PPA member Akintunde Akinola
New National Survey Finds Strong Support for Online Poker
A new national survey found that many Americans strongly oppose a nationwide ban on online poker and online casino-style gaming. PPA will, of course, be sharing these results with lawmakers and media. Read all of the findings here.
Join PPA
Annual PPA Membership is the smartest bet for the future of our game. Join or renew today for only $15 to receive the great benefits of membership and to help us continue the fight for our rights as poker players!
Webcast: Poker Advocacy with Rich Muny
The Poker Advocacy with Rich Muny webcast airs live Monday at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT on OnTilt Radio. This week, the show features an interview with PPA Executive Director John Pappas.
If you missed the webcast, I hope you will listen to or download the free podcast and check it out. It is available as a directly downloadable MP3 file (right click to save, left click to listen) or as a free iTunes download.
Each show features great guests and the best discussion on poker legislation. Please be sure to tune in each Monday evening for the live webcast!
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