Poker Central Acquires Rebranded Poker Alliance

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Monday, July 2nd, 2018 | Written by Shane Larson

The financially struggling player advocacy and lobbying group Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has been acquired by Poker Central, a media firm that broadcasts poker content. The new entity is known as the Poker Alliance, dropping the word “Players” from its previous name.

Shift in Operating Policy

Although the goal of promoting a safe and regulated environment for online poker in the United States remains the same, there will be certain changes in the way the Poker Alliance does business. It will now primarily focus on representing the interests of corporations in the online poker world. Players will be relegated to the back seat, and their viewpoints will only be considered insofar as keeping customers happy is a priority for commercial enterprises. To the extent that legalized internet poker is something that both companies and regular individuals want to see, there need not necessarily be any conflict between these two populations.

The old funding mechanisms, which relied on small donations from players, are being reworked. Now, it’s corporate sponsors who will be supplying the lion’s share of the funding for the Poker Alliance. At present, the Poker Alliance website lists only Poker Central as a sponsor, but it says that “resorts, hotels, casinos, gaming applications or platforms” will provide cash going forward.

Impetus Behind the Sale

For a while now, the Poker Players Alliance has been strapped of funds. In its heyday, back around 2007 – 2009, it used to spend more than $1 million per year on its lobbying efforts. However, this figure has been steadily declining for close to a decade. In 2017, the same year that PokerStars stopped funding the Alliance, it was only able to devote $105,000 to lobbying.

In February 2018, longtime Executive Director John Pappas stepped down from his role with the organization. Later that month, Vice President Rich Muny sent an email to members announcing a fundraiser seeking to raise $25,000 by the end of March. Without meeting this bare-minimum goal, Muny stated, “PPA cannot continue fighting for poker.” By the time the fundraiser ended, the total amount raised was a puny $6,015.

Therefore, the PPA has been in a holding pattern for several months without the resources necessary to successfully promote its agenda. It’s very likely that the group was just waiting for any reasonable buyout offer to come along.

Why Did the PPA Fail?

Online poker players, particularly professionals, tend to have a fair bit of discretionary income. It’s therefore a bit surprising at first glance to see that all of them throughout the United States combined couldn’t cough up enough cash to surpass the PPA’s $25,000 goal.

The truth is that many of its target audience have a mixed or negative opinion of the organization. Some feel that with licensed online poker appearing in only four states since the founding of the Alliance in 2005, its results have been too lackluster to warrant any serious attention. Others believe that the PPA’s role several years ago in California legislative debates as basically a champion of PokerStars calls into question its commitment to the players.

Yet, we must bear in mind that even in the years when it was able to dedicate seven-figure budgets to the fight to spread poker across the country, the PPA has always been a small concern. By comparison, Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson, a fervent opponent of all types of online gambling, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to back prohibitory legislation and to finance his preferred political candidates. Faced with this kind of opposition, perhaps the best the PPA could have done was to just maintain the status quo.

New Leadership

The Poker Alliance will be headed by a new president, Mark Brenner, who has experience as a corporate executive and in dealing with government agencies. Meanwhile, previous leaders John Pappas and Rich Muny will continue to serve on the Alliance ‘s advisory board for at least three months, although the fate of the organization’s former board of directors, the majority of whom have been there for more than ten years, is as of yet undetermined.

Being acquired by Poker Central, of course, also carries many benefits for the Poker Alliance, including providing a stable source of funding that will enable it to more fully achieve its prime objectives. Furthermore, the poker media firm is owned by Cary Katz, a businesses entrepreneur and avid poker player who has a better insight than most into the intricacies and nuances of the poker industry.

Sports Betting to the Rescue?

Although its main constituency will be firms in the online poker industry, the Poker Alliance may find itself immersed in the world of sports betting in the near future. The old Poker Players Alliance had flirted with dabbling in this related form of betting as a means of broadening its appeal and perhaps generating much-needed money. Many companies are active in both realms, so there are certain synergies that may come into play.

You see, the recent Murphy Supreme Court decision has inaugurated a scramble at the state level to institute legally licensed sports betting markets. According to Poker Alliance President Mark Brenner, “as many as 37 states” are thinking of regulating wagering on sports. While the states are ironing out the details of these regulations, it’s highly likely that many of them will consider including online poker in their legislative bills. If the Poker Alliance can participate appropriately in these debates, it may be able to serve as an effective body arguing for the inclusion of online poker with the proper provisions for player protection and the well-being of a sustainable gaming industry.