The Poker Players Alliance finds itself on shaky ground after a fundraising attempt turned out to be a flop. The Alliance has hinted at financial problems for months now and reached out to its membership to help right the ship. It appears as if their call fell on deaf ears though and now the PPA is playing a bad hand.
The organization appealed to it members for donations following an abrupt leadership change. Back in February, Executive Director John Pappas resigned from his post and even hinted in several interviews that the alliance’s cash flow problem was the reason. The long time Vice President for Player Relations, Rich Muny, stepped into the vacated position and immediately began trying to raise the money from members. But he would fall well short.
Muny originally stated the organization was in need of over $25,000 to keep operations running for the next fiscal year and then set March 31st as the due date. Unfortunately for the PPA, the grassroots attempt only produced a little over $6,000. Since then there has been a significant decline in online and social media activity with little or no mention of said fundraising. A Tweet thanked all of those who did donate but did not mention anything else about the financial shortfall.
With the Supreme Court decision essentially legalizing sports gambling this week, there have been more articles as of late posted on their website. It is a big news story after all, and everyone is jumping in with an opinion and/or forecast. State and federal government regulations regarding gambling and poker have been the Poker Players’ Alliance bread and butter for years. They have been strong advocates since their formation. But this has also gotten them in trouble in the past with many accusing the alliance of being a front for the poker industry and not an organization for poker players.
Online poker sites have donated truckloads of money to the PPA in the past and used the organization as a way to advertise their online services. This rubbed many members the wrong way. Then Full Tilt Poker leaders Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson joined the Poker Players’
Alliance Board of Directors. These two weren’t just accused of stealing from their online customers, but their indiscretions lead to more investigations and regulations of online poker. Suddenly there was an “old boys club” feel to the whole organizations. This made no one happy.
As for now, the Poker Players’ Alliance remains quiet on the future of their organization. One has to wonder what is next. Perhaps they have enough cash to survive in their present yet minimal capacity. Maybe they will slowly recede out of existence. Either way, their presence has influenced the state of poker and gambling today. Although the entire gambling landscape is in a state of flux these days, one would think an alliance such as this would want a place at the table.