Poker Players Alliance To Go Under As Funding Effort Fails!

A shutdown is appearing ever so likely for the Poker Players Alliance come April 1.

No, that's not an April Fool's joke. Instead, it's the reality of the online poker industry in the United States.

With funding from poker room operators all but dried up and a player base that sometimes wonders if PPA efforts have been geared more toward their benefactors than the players it claims to represent, a lack of money is signaling doom for the grassroots organization.

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Former PPA executive director John Pappas stepped down from his position effective March 1 and his successor, Rich Muny, announced to all who cared to listen that in order to keep operating, the PPA needed $25,000 in donations by March 31.

According to the PPA website, only $5,265 has been donated thus far, falling well short of the goal with less than one week to go. Unless a new benefactor steps in or players dig deep into their pockets, it appears the PPA will close its doors and remain a footnote to the troubled history of online poker.

The PPA is a non-profit that was formed in 2005 and touts itself as "representing American poker players with the goal of establishing a safe and secure place to play poker." The group has worked tirelessly toward that aim, staving off a number of attempts to ban online gaming at the federal level and being instrumental in passing legislation to regulate online poker and gambling in four states.

What About My State?

While that is all well and good, the rest of the U.S. remains out of the regulated loop, with players in unregulated states wondering if or when their home state will join the online poker party. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling somewhat jaded toward this whole state-by-state regulation process that has crawled along for the last almost seven years.

Of course, that is certainly not the fault of the PPA. But it makes it hard to donate to the cause when progress appears to be slowed to a snail's pace.

In any event, based on well over a decade in existence, I suppose we could say that the PPA had a good run.