Poker Update – The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has had its hands full lately in combating Sheldon Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling as well as assisting players in the Full Tilt remission process. However, the grassroots organization working on behalf of poker players has found the time to take on a new cause – namely, the payment processing deficiencies of Lock Poker. The PPA yesterday sent a letter to Lock Poker representatives demanding answers regarding the room’s payment processing procedures and the glacial speed in which many cashouts are processed. Directed to “The Owners, Officers and Managers of Lock…

Card Player – The Poker Players Alliance, a grassroots poker advocacy group in Washington, released an update on its efforts to help fight a pair of proposals that are attempting to ban online gaming, including web poker, across the United States. The video from PPA Executive Director John Pappas also highlighted some ways that the poker community itself can help amass opposition to the measures. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz are pushing a restoration of the Wire Act. Their efforts are aligned with lobbying by billionaire casino boss Sheldon Adelson, who wants online gambling to be…

This Week in Gambling – The August 19th, 2013 broadcast of Poker Advocacy with Rich Muny, guests include PPA Executive Director John Pappas. Discussion revolves around the Full Tilt Poker remission, the state and federal legislative efforts, and all that’s going on in the fight for poker. Following Mr Pappas was a  terrific panel discussion featuring Jay Todd of This Week in Gambling, Robin Jones of On Tilt Radio, and poker columnist Shari Geller. Listen to the full podcast HERE or visit On Tilt Radio.

For the past few months, Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas has been running up the frequent flyer mileage over online gaming. With federal internet poker legalization prospects seemingly at a standstill, Pappas focused efforts of the 1.2 million-member lobbying organization on various individual state legislative activities. Debate over Internet gaming and online poker surfaced this year in California, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Pappas is spending part of the weekend at the World Series of Poker in the organization’s booth inside the Rio’s Convention Center. He plans to discuss the various online gaming legalization efforts with the tournament’s attendees. “We…

From Card Player It’s been nearly a year since PokerStars swooped in to purchase Full Tilt Poker, cleaned house and then repaid the players. All of the players except for U.S. customers, that is. In their purchasing agreement, PokerStars set aside approximately $184 million in a segregated bank account for the U.S. Department of Justice to distribute to upwards of 1.3 million players. The DOJ then took eight months to hire Garden City Group to act as a claims administrator. During that stretch, the site reopened to non-U.S. players, the former site owners settled with the government and Full Tilt…