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With 15 precious days into the new year, the Poker Players Alliance has done little if anything to kick of 2009. Perhaps they are planning a big parade or D.C. press conference behind closed doors. Nobody can tell by looking at their website over the course of the last 15 days.
No new press releases, little in the way of any forum activity among its million plus members and only one "meet up action" planned in the state of Colorado.
"We gotta get the ball rolling," insists Gambling911.com Senior Editor, Payton O'Brien. "The PPA did wonders their first year, now it's as if they have fallen asleep behind the wheel. Gambling911 discussed late in the year the importance of working around the clock to build momentum within the poker community and showing aggressive consistent leadership. There is none recognizable right now."
A simple 9-5 schedule would probably suffice but as things stand now, it doesn't seem as if anyone is on the clock at this organization.
The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association isn't exactly barnstorming either. Check out their website. They must have the same webmaster as the PPA.
Here's the difference though. iMEGA is in its relative infancy and yet they're challenging both a state government (Kentucky) and the federal government in a court of law. As such, the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association is at the mercy of the courts.
And to be fair, President Joe Brennan, Jr., keeps Gambling911.com abreast of latest developments almost daily. He's also been attending "meetings" in an effort to network and build membership at iMEGA.
The best thing iMEGA ever did - besides file lawsuits - was get rid of Ogilvy, the pricey public relations firm. iMEGA and Brennan, Jr. quickly learned that they could do just as good a job getting press on their own. When something happens in the online gambling industry, iMEGA is now the voice for the mainstream press, more so than the PPA some would argue.
Both iMEGA and the PPA are Internet grassroots organizations, yet both websites look as if they are sitting in the Way Back Machine.
We went to the ACLU website today and on its front page there were three press releases put out by the "nation's guardian of liberty" published over the last three days. The last releases on both the iMEGA and PPA sites were from mid December.
The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association gets a B- from Gambling911.com. Like we've said, they are working, doing a little networking, keeping the industry in the loop. The website is in hibernation as are the courts.
We'll give Antigua - the island nation that hosts online gambling websites and is yet another that has filed a complaint against the U.S. - a much needed B+ for its efforts in talking to government officials. But they don't talk to anyone else it seems....accept for the local Antigua newspaper - the Antiguan Sun - read by probably 1000 people worldwide if that.
What could have been if Antigua had put more into rallying the troops?
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
