Rich Muny, the former President of the Poker Players Alliance, appears to have turned into a COVID-19 conspiracy theorist. The one-time fighter for online poker legalization in the U.S. may seem to some to have gone off the deep end.
The Poker Players Alliance was the top advocate for online poker in the U.S. up until 2018 when it disbanded. Muny was one of the top executives for the organization, and was heavily criticized when the PPA failed to bring about much change.
The PPA, under Muny's leadership, attempted to convince lawmakers to pass pro-online poker legislation. Muny, along with his cohorts, appeared numerous times in front of Congress and lobbied state legislatures around the country to support pro-poker bills.
The poker community rallied around and trusted the PPA to get the job done. They were, in essence, the only real hope the poker community had of getting nationwide legal online poker. But Muny and his team were unable to get much accomplished in seven years following the 2011 Black Friday scandal.
To this day, online poker is only legal in four U.S. states (Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania), and Michigan is on the cusp of becoming the fifth and will do so sometime in 2021. That isn't very impressive given Black Friday occurred nearly a decade ago.
There are still 45 states left to go, and few of them have even seriously considered an online gambling bill. So, the Poker Players Alliance, which is now the Poker Alliance, accomplished very little. Muny made excuses for that failure recently on Twitter.
"I did my part. Poker players were not nearly as upset about losing poker as these people we see now on both sides protesting for what they want. And, I do wear a mask, so no. But, if you're sitting around waiting for me or anyone else, that kind of illustrates the issue," Muny wrote in response to a poker player's criticism for his PPA failure.
"If you really cared you would have strapped on some of your pew pews and stormed the capitol building for the liberty and justice for all US poker players. We have photos of you on Calvin Ayre's private island. We know the real motive behind your actions!" the poker fan (@CashlessCab) wrote back.
On to a new occupation
Muny no longer fights to bring legal online poker to the U.S. According to his Twitter bio, he is a mechanical engineer. In his free time, he seems to like verbally attacking Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and spreading COVID-19 misinformation.
If you take a quick scan over his tweets, you'll notice an apparent obsession with sending negative remarks to the governor. And he sure seems to enjoy retweeting his hundreds of comments to DeWine.
As a mechanical engineer and failed online poker advocate, Muny appears to think he's an expert in epidemiology. He doesn't believe COVID-19 is a serious threat despite over 350,000 Americans dying from the virus in less than a year. He referred to DeWine's coronavirus restrictions as "tyrannical," and believes the vaccine is useless.
"If you think Ohio supports your #COVID19 restrictions without representation, then you must be in a bubble, surrounded by people who tell you Ohio actually likes you. That bubble will burst the day of the 2022 GOP primary, when you and your lockdowns go down in a landslide," Muny wrote at the governor.
When Muny isn't busy calling for DeWine's resignation, he spends much of his time letting his followers know that people under 70 aren't vulnerable to COVID-19, which isn't true, and that face masks don't help stop the spread of COVID-19, which also isn't true as evidenced by studies from numerous medical experts.
Featured image source: Flickr
