Chatting with APCW's J.Todd

This is an interview that I had done in March of 07 at my old site . I felt the need to move it here for folk to read . If you have never heard of the the Association of Players ,Casinos and Webmasters , I encourage you to visit them and become a member and start receiving J. Todd's weekly video news clip . You will never meet a man more dedicated to saving online poker .

1. J. Todd , maybe you could start off by letting the folks know a bit about the APCW ?

The Association of Players, Casinos and Webmasters was founded in 2003 and has become one of the premier voices in the online gaming industry. We offer unique information, services, and content that's valuable to each segment of our community. Additionally, we are always looking for innovative ways to work with other organizations to help bring online gaming back to the US and keep it legal in the rest of the world.

Our Auditing Program has helped us established a solid and respected reputation, and helped to recover tens of thousands of dollars from casinos for players and webmasters. We produce weekly videos to help keep the industry informed and motivated, and hopefully working together toward a common goal. We also produce a print magazine, APCW Perspectives, which focuses on the business & politics on online gaming and has a current circulation around 10,000 in Europe, North America, and the United Kingdom.

2. What are your thoughts on the UIGEA law and do you think it'll have any effect on live casinos ?

I sure hope so! And if so, you will most notice it in poker rooms. There is no debate that poker's popularity on television and in brick & mortar casinos can be directly attributed to online sites.

Right now, you may see a surge of players hit live casinos because they can no longer play online. But over time, I believe the constant supply of fresh new players looking to take their game to the next level will dry up, because there won't be any way to play from home and many people are just too intimidated to walk into a live casino if they've never played before.

3. Maybe I'm wrong here , but I feel that most of the online sites has really let the U.S. player down by not taking a much harder stand against this law . Do you feel that there was anything they could have done ?

You really answer your own question, because that's exactly what we were waiting for them to do: ANYTHING. Party Poker ran a banner sending players to the Poker Players Alliance to donate 20 bucks... big deal.

Collectively, these casinos had a database of millions and millions of players in America, yet no emails were sent. Collectively, these casinos spend millions and millions to market dot net sites, yet not one spend a red cent to educate "Joe Player" about what was going on. Why not?

When this law hit, most casinos ran and hid, leaving people like the  APCW to fight their battle for them. Even to this day, not one casino has contacted me to ask how they can help fight this ban with us... not one. Sure, some sites still take American players. And privately many are cheering us on, just so long as they don't have to spend anything, say anything, do anything, or place their butts in the line of fire.

It's really a sweet deal, if you think about it: They profited from America all these years, and now they can just abandon us and wait till all the fighting is done, then guess what? They'll be back with their hands out, ready to take our cash again. I hope players and webmasters remember this.

4. I hear a lot of folk in different forums have that attitude that their not from the U.S. so no big deal , it don't effect them . I've even had some that have gone so far as say they wish sometimes that the sites that still allow the American player would shut the doors on us as well . What would you say to these folk ?

I say they don't see the bigger picture for sure. How long did it take France, Germany, Italy, or Israel to follow the American lead on this issue? What happens here will affect them, whether they believe it or not.

Let's say that online casinos shut their doors to all Americans... so 80% of the industry revenue goes away. Logically then, 1,600 of the 2,000 online gaming sites will probably go away, too. So now where do you play? What are your choices like? Are the bonus offers that competitive anymore? Will there be further consolidation?

The more online casinos need to compete for the players, the better it is for the players and webmasters... that's just plain ol' common sense.

5. In closing , any advice that you might wanna share that you feel we all should be doing ?

We all need to be on the same page... we're all scattered about. I'm not saying everyone should join the APCW... although that would be great! LOL! But even if APCW was one of three to five powerful groups, why can't we communicate better and work on the same plan? Why can't we coordinate our attacks?

It seems to me that some other groups out there are so busy with perpetuation their own agendas --- for whatever reasons --- that they've lost sight of the fact that we're on the same team. The APCW has tried to work with these groups --- to fight this together --- and we we're dismissed. That's a real shame, because if we lose this fight, we will lose together.

J.Todd ~ APCW Administrator


J. , I'd like to thank you and the APCW for all the efforts that are being made to help the online player , and thanks again for taking the time to come by and have a chat . Folk , I encourage you all to join in the fight with the APCW !

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