After December 1st, what will be the safest way to withdraw funds from a poker site to a bank account that doesn't raise a red flag or break the law?

If it is illegal for banks to process transactions from poker sites....why can't it be paid straight from the poker site in whatever funds the sites homebase country's currency is...?

Do you think online poker will ever be aloud in the united states?What is holding us(poker players,ppa,)back from going to obama and getting this UIGEA over turned?Are we close to getting our rights back?After Dec.1st will it be impossible to get money on or off sites?

From what I understand (thanks to the great effort on P5s from TheEngineer) the landscape of online poker really won't alter much post-December 1st (at least in the short term)... is this true?

I thought USA was the land of the free? Am I wrong?

 

Originally Posted by ApesAreFun

I thought USA was the land of the free? Am I wrong?

You're free not to play....see? Still land of the free!!!

First they print so much money till it is as worthless as toilet paper then they tell everyone what they can do with the toilet paper..... Some Change going on indeed.

What does the PPA actually do besides collect $ and hand out badges? Has the PPA ever accomplished anything? Isn't Barney Frank considered a joke in Washington... this is our representative?

 

Originally Posted by ImaLuckSac

What does the PPA actually do besides collect $ and hand out badges? Has the PPA ever accomplished anything? Isn't Barney Frank considered a joke in Washington... this is our representative?

Barney Frank is the chairman of one of the most important committees in the House (Financial Services Committee). Obviously we all have different opinions about which politicians are doing a good job, but it's pretty clear that he's a powerful and important member of Congress.

I also think it's pretty disingenuous to rag on the PPA. They're basically working full time to try and make sure you're able to make a living... They've got people on this board all the time--why not just contact them and let them know what you'd like to be seeing from them?

 

Originally Posted by ImaLuckSac

When will you change the mission statement from "Poker is Not a Crime: Help us Fight" to "Poker is a Crime: But if you want to give us money for a worthless cause... we'll happily take it"?

IMO; when there is a Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act that has been on the books for years, when we can no longer be up front with our banks about where our money comes from, when we can no longer cash checks from poker sites, and when there is a consistent stream of new stories from CNN to 60 minutes that specifically state over and over online poker is illegal, then guess what... ONLINE POKER IS ILLEGAL!

When does the fight end? When will poker players begin to realize that THEY are the ones wallowing in delusion and NOT the American public? When will the PPA stop shoveling shit down our throats and calling it chocolate cake?

Since you double-posted this, I'll double post my response:

That's ridiculous. We lost the UIGEA vote in the House 317-93 (and it was a freestanding bill at that time). Think about that. We had hardly any support anywhere. Were you expecting PPA to wave a magic wand and turn that into 317-83 for us???? It doesn't work that way. We poker players have to work together to earn victories.

PPA has accomplished a lot. When UIGEA passed, media were 100% opposed to us. Stories on poker were covered much like stories on drugs -- the media acted like they were supposed to add a "poker is bad" message to every story, and our point of view was rarely covered. PPA and poker players everywhere have worked hard to get positive stories covered while ensuring that our side is mentioned in all other stories.

We really saw this in Kentucky. After our governor tried to stop online poker and gaming, media coverage was very balanced. Our side received plenty of coverage, and I had a few op-eds published by the bigger papers in the area. Surely this made an impression with the governor (and, more importantly, with other governors).

PPA has also worked to gain support within Congress. The lobbying effort is clearly bearing fruit. We also have the easy-to-use letter to Congress site at http://capwiz.com/pokerplayersalliance/home, and many in Congress have commented that they've received far more letters from poker players than they have from the anti-gaming zealots.

I don't know why you thought this would be easy and would get done overnight, but it won't. We have real opposition (Focus on the Family and other social groups, the NFL, etc.) and are in a real fight. If fighting back isn't for you, that's fine, but the rest of us will continue to stand up for our rights.

 

Originally Posted by TheEngineer

Since you double-posted this, I'll double post my response:

That's ridiculous. We lost the UIGEA vote in the House 317-93 (and it was a freestanding bill at that time). Think about that. We had hardly any support anywhere. Were you expecting PPA to wave a magic wand and turn that into 317-83 for us???? It doesn't work that way. We poker players have to work together to earn victories.

PPA has accomplished a lot. When UIGEA passed, media were 100% opposed to us. Stories on poker were covered much like stories on drugs -- the media acted like they were supposed to add a "poker is bad" message to every story, and our point of view was rarely covered. PPA and poker players everywhere have worked hard to get positive stories covered while ensuring that our side is mentioned in all other stories.

We really saw this in Kentucky. After our governor tried to stop online poker and gaming, media coverage was very balanced. Our side received plenty of coverage, and I had a few op-eds published by the bigger papers in the area. Surely this made an impression with the governor (and, more importantly, with other governors).

PPA has also worked to gain support within Congress. The lobbying effort is clearly bearing fruit. We also have the easy-to-use letter to Congress site at http://capwiz.com/pokerplayersalliance/home, and many in Congress have commented that they've received far more letters from poker players than they have from the anti-gaming zealots.

I don't know why you thought this would be easy and would get done overnight, but it won't. We have real opposition (Focus on the Family and other social groups, the NFL, etc.) and are in a real fight. If fighting back isn't for you, that's fine, but the rest of us will continue to stand up for our rights.

So the answer to my question "what has the PPA accomplished independantly?" is: worked hard, lobbied, gained support, stands up for our rights... Forgive me for thinking that those are vague and meaningless political buzzwords.

Can you really be so suprised to get scrutanized? All summer at the WSOP I saw people signing up for the PPA at the booth in the Rio. I saw people wearing patches and dishing out there $20 for premium PPA memberships. However, at the end of the summer 350+ people were turned away from the Main Event on day 1d. Watching friends of mine and players that flew in last minute from overseas follow Captain Tom Franklin (lol) around the halls of the Rio was a sad sight to see. The ol' Captain and PPA promised that action would be taken, but nothing happened.

As a PPA member, I was happy to fight for the rights of poker players. Now I'm more concerned with the reality of the situation as a full time professional player. How am I suppose to get money off my accounts when all my banks are turning down internet gaming funds? Why are banks sending out letters to poker players saying that will no longer accept any more funds despite the extension. Just look at what happened to Jennifear.

Its getting to the point that I think any serious fulltime player should consider other options besides fighting a losing fight in the US. Move to London, open overseas bank accounts, hell... maybe even denounce citizenship if it comes to that. If they are going to setup beauracratic roadblocks then we need to find loopholes to that. I'm tired of being treated like a criminal.

I just think its ridiculous the way that everyone blindly pats the PPA on the back when things are constantly getting worse. Sure the extension was a minor victory but all it did was slow the bleeding. Things are still and will continue to get worse.

With all that said I appologize for coming off harshly. I certainly appreciate what the PPA does and the efforts of its active members. I've written my Senators, paid my fees, but I want to know what more we can do? What options do we have as poker players if things continue to get worse?

The situation seems bad.