The pokersites are getting what they deserve

[Troll_Inc]

I see a thread directed at the PPA, but I think the blame should be place mostly on the online poker sites themselves. It would be like if the government decide to ban football and expect Gene Upshaw and the Players Union to combat the government.

Sure the players in both situations have their own livelihoods to worry about and much to lose, but they only have a fraction of the power that the owners have. The owners of the poker sites have sat idly by and done nothing while there have obviously been problems and issues (really since the beginning).

No lobby
No press machine
They have done zero.

HOWEVER! This is not terribly surprising. Online poker is a very new industry and the leaders were not selected based on business skills. They were in the right place at the right time. Internet saavy, but not business or politically saavy.

So if I were to dole out blame it would be:
Poker industry 90%
PPA/pro players 10%

[Nate tha\\\' Great]

[ QUOTE ]
So if I were to dole out blame it would be:
America's Religious Right, sponsored by Cialis(TM) 90%
Poker industry 9%
PPA/pro players 1%

[/ QUOTE ]

[Josh.]

i hate how people are looking for place to point blame. what's done is done. concentrate on the future and not the past. what good is making a post about whose fault it is? and besides, i don't see how you, Troll_Inc on 2+2, could know for a fact what happened behind the scenes. frist wanted this so badly that it's very possible nothing was going to stop him

[BillytheKidd]

The funny thing is frist got the bill passed but it doesnt really do anything he wanted it to. In the end all he was able to get done was a bill that he can point to and say, "I tried to eliminate online gambling". Meanwhile it will be business as usual.

I also would not be suprised if Party puts up some "weak barriers" to US players and says "We tried to prevent US players from gambling online", meanwhile it will be business as usual.

[PokeReader]

We should not focus on blame, but as I said elsewhere, I hope there is an ongoing warcouncil. If this had happened to a power industry, there would be a meeting with all the sites, the websites, magazines, player groups, TV networks, tournments, and all the internet poker economy in the U.S. that will be nailed by this. They would have the smartest public affairs, political, public relations, grassroots organizers and legal people money can buy. They would develop a plan, devise a budget and everyone's buy-in and responsibilities. I hope we can do something like this before the election while we still have leverage.

[TruePoker CEO]

"I hope there is an ongoing warcouncil'

There likely is, but I must have missed my invitation.

I would think that a critical mass of industry representatives will be gathering in Barcelona in about 7 days ... and there likely will be preliminary discussions ...

[Keres]

A company liked Party certainly had lobbyists working for it in DC - probably some pretty decent firms too. They were just ineffective.

I'd have loved to have heard that phone call from Party's chief lobbying firm calling them right after the bill passed. "Hey Party, you're not going to believe this but that legislation we said had no chance of passing - well, um.... its passed. Sorry!" Imagine being the Party exec who got that initial phone call - the shock, followed by the sickening feeling must make anything any of us have felt at the poker table felt like nothing.

There have got be some very very interesting behind the scenes stories here and probably a lot of yelling. You don't lose a company billions of dollars in market cap without some sort of retribution. Someday I hope an insider - or a great writer like Nolan Dalla - writes a book.

[whodatdare]

[ QUOTE ]
i hate how people are looking for place to point blame. what's done is done. concentrate on the future and not the past. what good is making a post about whose fault it is? and besides, i don't see how you, Troll_Inc on 2+2, could know for a fact what happened behind the scenes. frist wanted this so badly that it's very possible nothing was going to stop him

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, Frist did want this to pass in a big way. You have to give him credit, slimy as he is, he played this hand brilliantly by placing this in a bill guaranteed to pass, and if anyone decided to vote against it they would be crushed in advertisements saying that said person was WEAK on terror. Pure election politics at its finest. Makes me want to puke.

[specultr]

[ QUOTE ]
i hate how people are looking for place to point blame. what's done is done. concentrate on the future and not the past. what good is making a post about whose fault it is? and besides, i don't see how you, Troll_Inc on 2+2, could know for a fact what happened behind the scenes. frist wanted this so badly that it's very possible nothing was going to stop him

[/ QUOTE ]

What's wrong with accountability? Actually it does a lot of good to understand the past because it oftentimes repeats itself. Are we to assume that online poker sites will somehow in the future vigorously defend online poker rights in the US? They didn't in the past. The sites' attitude seems to be to cut their losses and move on to European and Asian markets, which is right in line with their passive reaction to the American congress. You bring up the point that "behind the scenes" they could have been working like gangbusters as far as we know. Apparently, it was very far behind the scenes. Maybe they hired the lobbying firm of Deaf, Dumb and Blind. As far as nothing stopping Frist, that's the kind of attitude we don't need. We CAN fight City Hall, you know. The fight continues in November.

[Impact]

agreed.