badgerman

Revenue, revenue, revenue....sell it as revenue.

With the federal government coveting revenue at the moment, an online poker bill should be a no-brainer as it would raise revenue without raising taxes. Perhaps the PPA can walk into Congress and scream "WE HAVE REVENUE!" (just kidding).

The supposed constitutional 'infirmity' relating to post-UIGEA offshore sites is hardly fatal. If the legislation is passed, those sites can raise the Due Process challenge if they want back in. Merely make that portion of the statute severable.

The federal gov't has a deficit and can use more revenue. Sell it as REVENUE, REVENUE, REVENUE!

NOW is the time to push the legislation for online poker. The gov't is looking at raising revenue and should be very receptive to a new source of $$$.

@scrappyb...could be worse...you might have been an AP/UB player who almost certain to get nothing back whatsoever(like me)...at least you have 'some' prospect for repayment.

Nobody wants state by state regulation. Smaller player pools, multiple licensing jurisdictions, fewer games offered, etc. I know the PPA is trying to be pragmatic, but they need to listen to the players on this point.

I'd be more impressed if he actually cared about all the AP/UB players that he left hanging high and dry.

How about getting the story out of AP/UB...what happened to the player's deposits there as well?

While Howard tries to make himself look good in all this as the person committed to making the players whole, it omits the fact that, as a member of the Board of Directors, he was grossly negligent in overseeing the operations of the company. All those 'i don't knows' are inexcusable. It was HIS JOB to know how the company was being run.

Amazing how many times Lederer responds to questions with "I don't know"

When we going to hear from the AP/UB people about what THEIR story is?

Republican hypocrites...no poker 'gambling'...just wall street 'gambling'

@Celebritypokerj Skill matters. Tournament chess is almost always played for money and is perfectly legal. The better player (meaning the higher rated player) usually wins (though not always). Same with duplicate bridge, although you may get 'unlucky' to draw particularly skillful opponents on a particularly crucial hand. Too many people believe that poker involves 'getting lucky' and do not understand that it is only short-term variance.

About time some judge had the sense to recognize what every poker player already knew.

It just occurred to me that if the basis for repayment of FT players by DOJ is that they are 'crime' victims, then ALL players victimized by the loss of their funds on AP/UB also ought to be able to share in the proceeds of the 'recovery' from Pokerstars. While AP/UB may not have engaged in the 'extra' egregious post-Black Friday actions that Full Tilt did, their conduct was otherwise substantially similar. All funds recovered by the DOJ therefore should be used to pay ALL the players...

Pokerstars will be a 'savior' only if they bail out the AP/UB customers as well.

oh...and btw KGC...AP/UB ADVERTISED the player funds were segregated from operational funds, thanks for doing doing such a great oversight job in making sure that was true..NOT!

Translation: we, the players, are screwed

Frankly, I don't remember ANYTHING in the FT TOS informing me that my account would be used to make loans to top-name professionals; Seems like interest should also have been paid for the loan.