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New Jersey is shaping up to be a very friendly state for internet poker players. Last week, Governor Chris Christie conditionally vetoed the state's internet gambling bill, which sounds bad for online gambling supporters but actually isn't. The bill's authors just have to add a provision that says the bill is only valid for ten years, along with some enhancement of anti-problem gambling measures, and the governor will sign it. The bill allows Atlantic City casinos to offer online poker and other games to residents of the state.

"In reality it was a conditional acceptance," Rich Muny, vice president of player relations at the Poker Players Alliance, wrote in a victorious email to the association’s members.

Online poker has other powerful supporters. "It is great to see a modern, global company like PokerStars interested in investing in our state and teaming up with one of the iconic Boardwalk casinos," state senator Ray Lesniak told NorthJersey.com. "These kinds of opportunities can be transformative and provide more proof that New Jersey – not Nevada – can be the hub for a new wave of growth in the gambling industry. PokerStars is the biggest company in online poker, and we should welcome them bringing their American headquarters to New Jersey." Since Black Friday, poker advocates — many of whom still have tens of thousands of dollars still locked up in the shuttered sites — have been trying to get online gambling legalized. When that effort failed at the national level, advocates turned to a state-by-state strategy.

So far, just Nevada and Delaware have passed laws legalizing online poker within their borders. The trouble is, you need a lot of players in order to have a decent poker game. Places like Nevada and New Jersey, which have established themselves as gambling destinations, have a better shot of attracting a sizable enough player pool.

If New Jersey legalizes online poker, it’ll be in a two-way race with Nevada in order to lure players. The new market could be just what Atlantic City needs to reverse seven straight years of falling casino revenues.

Frank Fahrenkopf, President and CEO of the American Gaming Association, is expected to address future political possibilities of legalized internet gambling at the iGaming North America conference in Las Vegas this week.

The third-annual event runs Tuesday through Thursday at Planet Hollywood, attracting some of the most important figures in Internet gaming and panels of influential poker minds.

With real money online poker on the verge of launch in some states and proposed legislation creeping up in others, the conference aims to “introduce the land-based gaming businesses of North America to the global iGaming industry” and “foster understanding regarding the potential impacts of regulation of internet gambling in the U.S. and Canada.”

Pokerfuse staff will be at the event to report on the discussions.

Here’s a look at some highlights of the scheduled sessions:

Player and Affiliate Marketing: The CEO of American iGaming Solutions, Jason Wolf Rosenberg, will touch on issues such as effective player promotions and affiliate compensation.

European Regulatory Models: The current path of state-by-state regulation of igaming in the US could mirror that of Europe. Panelists expected to talk about what North American can glean from the European experience are: Michael Ellen, Director, Licensing & Strategy, Alderney Gambling Control Commission, Robin Le Prevost, Director of eCommerce Development, Alderney eGambling Limited and Katie Lever, General Counsel & Executive Vice President, SHFL entertainment, Inc.

Visionaries Panel: Moderator Steve Lipscomb, founder of the WPT and panelists Atul Bali, President of Aristocrat Technologies in the Americas, and Stephen Martino, director of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, plan to talk about how they view the North American igaming market in the next five years.

Monetizing Social Gaming: Experts in this session will “evaluate the viability of monetizing social gaming … getting beyond the reality that a social media is a necessity and identifying opportunities for profit.”

Rapid Fire Panel: A quick Q&A perspective from the industry’s veteran CEOs on how online gaming should be divided in North America. The lineup incudes Vin Narayanan, Editor-in-Chief of Casino City, Gavin Isaacs, CEO of SHFL entertainment, Inc., Mitch Garber, CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment, and Joel Leonoff, President & CEO of Optimal Payments

State Legislation Issues: Lawmakers from across the US are expected to address the latest information on igaming policies and talk about potential obstacles.

Interstate Compacts: A panel of attorneys and Terry Rich, CEO of the Iowa Lottery, plan to talk about whether state-to-state agreements could help online poker and take a look at the tax implications of enacting compacts.

Internet Lotteries: State and provincial lotteries are delving into the online poker world.

Tribal Perspectives: This panel will discuss the progress of tribal online gaming, “especially reviewing any impact on tribal sovereignty and the existing provisions of the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.”

Players Speak: A perspective from the online poker community “about their wants and needs as gamers.” This session aims to bridge the communication gap between the players and the industry. Marco Valerio, editor and promotion manager of Global Poker Index, will moderate the session, with panelists Matt Kaufman, editor of PokerStrategy, Collin Moshman, leader of Team Moshman Staking and Coaching, and team PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu.



Vegas iGaming Conference To Address Future of Online Poker | Pokerfuse Online Poker News

PokerStars sets the standard for poker rooms across the internet: right now in the world of Online Gaming there is PokerStars and then there is everybody else. PokerStars alone represents between 30-40% of the total business in the entire online gaming industry. Again, PokerStars is so enormously popular that you can find any game at any stakes with any level of player at any hour of any day that you’d like. PokerStars also offers more game variations than just about every other site with: Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha-8, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi/lo, Razz, H.O.R.S.E., Five Card Draw and Deuce to Seven Triple Draw. Its stable of resident pros is extremely impressive and its annual World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is the top annual online poker tournament in the world.


Pokerstars



PokerStars is an industry leader, offering some of the best software, security, game selection, and customer support around. Its biggest flaw is the difficult competition at the mid and high stakes, but other than that, there aren't too many things to complain about. The site continues to come up with new and innovative ways to appeal to their customers and so far it seems they are only going to get better.


Welcome😡

It's the most modern lament in retail: Brick-and-mortar shopping has gone the way of the dodo as everyone buys their junk online. But for the once-booming online gambling market, salvation may require a reversal of that trend. For one online gaming giant, buying a casino in Atlantic City is the first step to bring Internet poker back to the US.

It was the boom that made Rounders relevant: Sometime in the mid-aughts, following Internet impresario Chris Moneymaker's surprise win at the 2003 World Series of Poker, Internet poker exploded. The many games wrapped under the banner of poker, once relegated to a niche crowd and old-timers, were distilled into one thing: Texas hold-em, played online in untold numbers of rooms for untold mounds of real cash. Then the bottom fell out.

I'd imagine that everyone reading this has either played or knows someone who played poker online during the boom days. Fueled by ESPN's coverage of the World Series and the relentless advertising of sites like PokerStars and Full Tilt, whose free rooms served as brilliant funnels into cash games and tournaments, a whole lot of people got really heavily into the poker game. For many people–though not nearly as many as there were losers–it was a lucrative enterprise; a job, even.

But in 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act prohibited "gambling businesses" from accepting revenue from wagering. While that didn't specifically ban people from playing poker online, it did force the major poker sites to funnel their revenue offshore. The industry chugged along semi-legitimately until the FBI and DoJ's crackdown on April 15, 2011 ground things to a halt. The big trio of online poker–PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker–were all shut down, domains seized, and executives arrested on charges related to fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling. While PokerStars and others continued operations in foreign, legal markets, the U.S. poker craze pretty much collapsed.

That doesn't mean the lucrative market has gone away. Now, the Rational Group, which owns both PokerStars and Full Tilt, may be hinting at a workaround: the company is looking to buy a struggling casino in Atlantic City. Rational faces a rather large mess of regulatory hurdles, but if it does end up acquiring the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, it would have a huge foothold in New Jersey's young market for internet gambling.

To back up a bit: New Jersey has long debated internally whether it should try to expand its gambling market in order to increase state revenues, which most notably has sparked fights with all four commissioners of major sports leagues in the U.S. (along with the NCAA, which wants to protect its student-athlete fallacy), who'd rather keep legal sports betting limited to Vegas. Now Jersey, with the conditional support of Governor Christie, wants to open up more online gaming.

As that proposal looks more and more likely–Christie wants the current proposal limited to a 10 year trial, which supporters are amenable to–Rational is taking its own gamble (sorry) in trying to develop a US base within the Atlantic Club, which lost $13.6 million during the first three quarters of last year amid declining revenue. The problem for Rational, however, is that its crown jewels are still on shaky footing with US regulators. In July, PokerStars paid $547 million to the DoJ and $184 million to foreign players in a bid to settle charges. The question now is whether or not the slate has been wiped clean.

“Both companies had issues with U.S. law when, in 2011, the Department of Justice closed down [PokerStars's and Full Tilt's] websites after they continued accepting U.S. bets,” attorney Jason Gross told Press of Atlantic City. “Here you have these two companies, both owned by Rational Group, that went farther than most companies, and it may create further issues.”

Basically, local regulators aren't going to prove Rational's bid unless it can show that it's once again in the good graces of the Justice Department. According to the DoJ, everything is clear for Rational to start operations in the US, pending the regulation allowing it. But New Jersey gambling authorities also need to approve Rational's bid. (For a deeper look at the regulatory minutiae of buying a casino, read the latter half of the Press's story.) But Rational certainly thinks it has a shot. Plus, as these things go, if the slate isn't already clean, another multi-million dollar settlement or two with authorities will go a long way.

The broader issue goes back to one of the sticking points in the original poker crackdown: Gambling comes with a lot of problems–although you could argue the higher crime rates often associated with casinos are defrayed when business is done online–but the biggest issue authorities seem to have with online gambling is the loss of tax revenue.

In that sense, New Jersey seems ahead of the game: By legally forcing online gaming to have a home casino in the States, it could both reopen the online market while also capitalizing on that sweet tax revenue. Rational and its all-powerful brands might not bring online poker back, but it does look increasingly likely that online gaming is coming back.

Read more: Will Internet Poker Make a Comeback by Going Brick-and-Mortar? | Motherboard

People playing online poker in Washington are risking five years in prison and a $10,000 fine under current law, but one state lawmaker believes it's time to make online gambling legal again.

The state made online gambling a Class C felony in 2006, hanging that huge prison term over the head of thousands of players in the state. The law was challenged but upheld by the state supreme court in 2010, and no one has ever been prosecuted under this law.

State Representative Paul Harris said the harsh punishment for a recreational and fun activity is ridiculous. He's sponsoring a bill that would make the punishment for online gambling a $50 fine, with a long-term goal of making online gambling legal again.

"It's another one of these laws that we have on the books that we definitely need to change," said Rep. Harris. "A Class C felony would impact somebody for life. It's crazy. We need to fix that for sure."

Harris wasn't an online gambler before the current law was passed, but one of his legislative aides was. That's why he's championing this cause.

"If we have people who want to play poker online, I wish I could take the whole step and get it legalized, but it's going to take some time," he said. "Let's at least do the first legislation and get rid of the crazy infraction."

Lee Rousso is a very good poker player. He is a very good online poker player. He's also an attorney. He's the man who sued the state over this law and lost.

He's happy to see someone taking on this issue, though he wishes the legislature would simply legalize online gambling again.

"I just think they should leave the player out of it entirely, and I think even the civil infraction is too much, but it's such a step in the right direction," he said.

Rousso believes it's only a matter of time before the state's look to cash in by sponsoring and regulating online gambling just like they do with the lottery.

"Within a couple of years, it will start networking between the states just like the way the lottery is networking between the states," he said. "Legal internet poker that people can enjoy and people feel safe playing really is just around the corner."

Harris also sees potential dollar signs for the state. He believes Washington could make up to $500 million a year if it got into the online gambling business.

Online poker has champion in Olympia - Local - MyNorthwest-com

As internet poker licensees scramble to try to become the first to open for business and offer intrastate online poker in the state of Nevada, there still may be changes to the law that could affect how wide of a net the operators can cast.

We already told you about Assembly Bill 5, which aims to allow the Governor to enter into compacts with other states to allow for interstate online poker. As the law currently stands, poker operators would only be allowed to accept players from within the Silver State’s borders and could not venture out to other states until either the Federal government passes a law allowing it or until the U.S. Department of Justice notifies the state that it is ok to do so. AB 5 strikes all of that, putting the power in the state’s hands.

AB 114, whose major proponent is Assembly Majority Leader William Horne (D-Las Vegas), also allows for interstate poker compacts with other states. The bill, which was introduced last week, also adds a “bad actor” clause, prohibiting any operator that continued to provide online gaming services to U.S. residents after December 31, 2006 from receiving a license for ten years. This means that the two largest online poker sites, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, would persona non grata for a decade.

The aspect of AB 114 that has drawn the most criticism is a change that would double the licensing fees for all approved operators. Initial online poker licensing fees would jump from $500,000 to $1,000,000, while renewal fees would increase from $250,000 to $500,000. Assemblyman Horne wants this change to be made to discourage “fly by night” companies from entering the market. “We don’t want some average American Joe Six-Pack with a server in his garage starting an online gaming operation,” he said. “We want to have serious entrepreneurs entering this arena.”

He added that he believes, “…we are selling ourselves cheap. We have this Lexus product and we’re putting this Saturn price tag on it.”

Some opponents of the fee increase see it as pointless, as licensees must already be hotel resorts with unrestricted land-based gaming licenses and would therefore not be handcuffed by higher fees. They would, though, be mad about it, particularly because it would appear to be a money grab without any good reason.

Governor Brian Sandoval opposes the raising of fees and has said he would veto the bill should it get through the legislature. Because of his distaste for it, though, many in the Assembly do not appear that they will vote for it. They do not want to pass a bill they know will be vetoed.

In the Senate, Senate Bill 9 was introduced, the primary goal of which is to impose the same 6.75 percent tax rate on operators’ tournament profits as is imposed on cash games. In Nevada, brick-and-mortar tournaments are not subject to tax because they are viewed as loss leaders for the more profitable areas of the casino. Tournaments require a good deal of floor space that could be allocated to other games, as well as additional staff and utilities. As an online tournament requires none of these things, the writers of SB 9 believe that they should not be extended the tax exemption.


Nevada Legislators Consider Changes to Online Poker Law

Casino Janitor Returns $10k Cash Left In RestroomOver the years I have covered many a story about money being stolen from casinos or customers taking advantage of malfunctioning ATM machines, and the like. That’s why it came as such a pleasant surprise to recently read about an honest janitor who found $10,000 in cash in the restroom of the casino she worked before promptly handing in the whole amount to her manager.

An employee of the Thunder Valley Casino near Sacramento, California for 10 years, Meuy Saelee found the huge sum in a toilet cubicle at 2:30 a.m.on Friday, February 8th. She then proceeded to call her supervisor, who was subsequently able to track down the owner after first consulting the casino’s surveillance video.

It was then discovered that the money belonged to 46-year-old casino patron Linh Hoang, who was arrested last year for leaving her two young children at home while she gambled. Apparently, despite Meuy Saelee not hesitating to return the cash, the money’s nonchalant owner accepted the return of her $10,000 with a simple “Thank you” before being on her way. As Meuy Saelee explains: “[Hoang] said ‘thank you,’ that’s all. Then, I walked back.”

Nevertheless, the Thunder Valley Casino was not prepared to see their employee’s honesty go unnoticed and so the casino gave Meuy Saelee a $500 reward, of which she then promptly gave $50 to her manager in order to share in her reward.

Over the past few years, other inspiring stories of honesty includes a store employee who returned $3,300 left in donated shoes by an elderly couple. Last October, a Las Vegas cab driver received a $2,000 reward after finding $221,510 in the back of his taxi; and last November in Singapore a taxi driver returned $900,000 found in his cab and when asked if he was tempted to keep the money, relied:

“The money is unimportant to me. It doesn’t belong to me, so how can I use it?”





Casino Janitor Returns $10k Cash Left In Restroom

Federal online poker should be brought back to the table on Capitol Hill this year, according Frank Fahrenkopf, head of the American Gaming Association.

Rep. Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas, will likely re-introduce a poker-only bill in the House, according to Fahrenkopf. Barton has tried before to pass a bill.

Nevada Democratic Senator Harry Reid was working on a bill late last year, but it was never introduced into the Senate, much to the disappointment of many in the industry.

Fahrenkopf was speaking Wednesday at the 2013 iGaming North America Conference about the future of the gaming industry, with regards to taking products to the Internet.

Despite some states making strides to legalize online gaming within their respective borders, Fahrenkopf still thinks a federal bill is the best option for operators and tech firms.

According to Fahrenkopf, state compacts brokered to create liquidity for online poker sites could cause some members of Congress to be concerned and potentially block the partnerships. However, he admitted that federal approval for state deals in other industries has not been needed in recent memory. Real-money gaming could be different, he argued.

Thus, a federal bill would wipe away that possible problem sitting on the horizon.

Also according to Fahrenkopf, a federal bill would be better for Native American gaming interests — and not just the commercial gaming industry. Though, some within the tribal gaming industry were very critical of Barton’s previous plans when the issue was discussed during past hearings on Capitol Hill. Compromises would have to be reached.



Federal Online Poker Efforts Likely To Be Revived In 2013

Internet poker is once again being considered in Iowa with Senate Bill SSB 1068. This is reportedly similar to the 2012 bill that passed the Senate but could not get though the House.

This bill is a poker-only bill and asks for 22-24 percent of adjusted gross receipts, which seem out of line compared to other jurisdictions that take half or a quarter of that amount. But at least something is being considered.

If passed, this is expected to raise $3 million to $13 million yearly for the state. One important thing left out of this bill is the requirement to segregate player funds from the online poker room’s general fund. This would seem to be a no-brainer looking at online poker’s recent past. Hopefully the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission will make that part of the regulations it rolls out once given oversight.

HORSESHOE: The Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs will host a World Series of Poker Circuit event April 11-22. Also, the poker room brought back the bad-beat jackpot in February. This is sure to climb high as quads must be beaten to claim it. The room offers other high-hand bonuses as well paying extra for straight flushes and quads in hold’em games and steel wheels in Omaha.

Nevada is leading the country when it comes to starting online gaming, with New Jersey bucking at the state’s heels.

This week Las Vegas is the center of the industry.

The iGaming North America Conference is introducing brick-and-mortar casinos to the global Internet gaming business.

Online poker is the first casino game legalized within Nevada's borders, but the innovators are already looking to bring all types casino games to the computer and mobile devices.

Conference organizer Sue Schneider says when it comes to online gaming, the accomplishments in the U.S. are way behind foreign efforts.

“iGaming is very long overdue to come here,” Schneider said.

Being late to this game could have its advantages. Schneider says regulators can learn from what's happening worldwide.

Around the world, online gaming has been around since 1995. Companies like One-Live Inc. are looking beyond poker to bring the live dealer experience to computers, tablets and phones using online streams.

These companies want to eventually set up legal Internet casinos.

iGaming expert Jason Rosenberg says don't expect the feds to legalize online gaming any time soon.

Poker is currently only legal within Nevada, and Rosenberg says the feds will have a hard time getting the support to change that.

Rosenberg says the allure for the feds will be the tax revenue they could collect from the multibillion-dollar industry.

It’s been an active time for the New Jersey Legislature and Gov. Chris Christie’s office, as they worked to get the governor’s signature on the online gaming bill that was approved by the Senate just weeks earlier. Christie had hinted he would approve the bill if it addressed the issues that caused him to veto a similar bill last year. Sen. Ray Lesniak worked with a group of legislators to make that happen. The bill was set to go into law in early February if Christie took no action. On the deadline date, however, he vetoed the bill, but with the caveat that he would sign a revised version if it contained several sets of additional conditions.

His conditions within the 31-page veto included a change to the tax rate listed in the bill from 10 percent to 15 percent, with a portion of this revenue to go to entities that work to help treat people with compulsive gambling problems and addictions. This was one of his issues with the bill he vetoed last year.

There’s also a part of the bill listed as Section 33, which addresses the issue of interstate commerce through the gaming act. This Section 33 is a new addition to the bill that overrides the previous interstate gaming wording and calls for the approval of anyone of legal age, inside or outside of New Jersey, to be authorized to wager on the state system. This not only includes other states in the United States that have interstate agreements, but other countries as well, as long as the laws of where the players are located do not disallow it. This could open the door for offshore online gaming, depending, of course, on the future rulings by the DOJ and government.

Another notable point in the veto is the requirement that this online gaming law be set to expire in 10 years, unless it’s overridden by another law (state or federal).

So what does this mean to PokerStars’ proposed purchase of the Atlantic Club Casino? If all goes as PokerStars hopes, it will have an online and land-based presence in America.

IOWA: The Legislature dumped an online bill last year, but has decided to pick it up again this year with a different slant. Under the Senate Study Bill 1068, which basically allows the Senate to do a study on the general mind-set throughout the Legislature and the constituents of online gaming in the state. If it turns out there’s ample interest in the idea, then the study would turn into a bill that would be introduced into the Senate for approval. While any real approved online legislation is still a long ways off, it is another starting point for the state.

PENNSYLVANIA: Being right next door to New Jersey and seeing all of the hullabaloo that’s going on around the online legislation Christie has stirred up, Pennsylvania lawmakers are jumping onto the Internet gaming train quickly. Rep. Tina Davis has a plan that amends the Pennsylvania Gaming Act and would have current state gaming regulators oversee online gaming industry in the state. Davis also said the tax revenue from the online system would go toward the state lottery and the Property Tax Relief Fund.

In a public memo regarding her plans, Davis said, “It is imperative that we maintain the integrity of our gaming industry amid inevitable federal pre-emption and competing states.” This may be the start of an online poker domino effect, meaning that once one or two states start approving the legislation and raking in the revenue, other states will follow suit rapidly or will lose their potential revenue to competing states.

MISSISSIPPI: Since my last article, Mississippi has reintroduced another online gaming bill and, almost in the same breath, shot it down yet again. The bill suffered from the common “died in committee” disease. Maybe next time, Mississippi.

IVEYPOKER.COM: Since Phil Ivey has begun his training site, he has enlisted 28 well-known poker pros as instructors. These instructors, including Ivey, will provide video training for all members of the site. His goal is to make better poker players of people who are willing to learn. On Feb. 6, Iveypoker-com acquired leggopoker-com to utilize its mature poker instruction techniques and technology. This addition will be marketed as Ivey League, a subscription-based personalize training approach for individuals serious about getting better at the game.

Featured column :: New Jersey online poker bill vetoed, well, sort of

American poker pro Scott Seiver, logging on from abroad, just had a rough week at the online poker tables. He dropped more than $700,000, according to data from HighstakesDB.

Playing as “mastrblastr” on Full Tilt Poker, Seiver is a regular at some of the highest stakes available on the Internet. He primarily plays fixed-limit games.

With the poor week, Seiver is down nearly $1.2 million for the year on Full Tilt, second worst in the Internet world. Ben Sulsky has lost more than $2.3 million so far.

While he’s been on the downswing online, Seiver has crushed live tournaments so far in 2013. He won the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure high roller in January for more than $2 million and then finished third in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship a few weeks later. Altogether, he’s won more than $7.5 million lifetime from poker tournaments.

The other man who lost more than half-a-million dollars since last Friday is Rui Cao.

Big winners over the stretch include Ben Tollerene, “kagome kagome”, Patrik Antonius, Alexander Kostritsyn, and Sulsky, who might be turning things around.


High-Stakes Online Poker: Scott Seiver Drops More Than $700K Online

The fast-tracked Bill AB114 removes previous restrictions requiring federal approval for interstate online poker compacts, but imposes a five-year “bad actor” lockout.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed Assembly Bill 114 into law Thursday, allowing the Silver State to enter into interstate agreements for online poker without federal legislation.

The law also places a 5-year restriction on companies that operated online poker in the US after UIGEA was passed in 2006. Such “bad actor” provisions ensures companies entering the state’s new market will not have to compete with market leader PokerStars.

Less than a month ago, Sandoval urged the legislature to move forward with a law that would allow the Nevada governor to make agreements with other states where online poker is legal, like Delaware.

The Nevada Legislature rushed the bill through, in a race to beat New Jersey as the US online gambling hub. It passed the both houses of the Legislature unanimously earlier in the day.

Under the law, there’s a $500,000 licensing fee though Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, who sponsored the bill, had proposed a $1 million fee.

In certain instances, the Nevada Gaming Commission could alter the price tag, though the fees can be no more than $1 million and no less than $150,000, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. A license renewal would cost $250,000.

Horne estimated that online gaming could bring in $3 million in tax revenue to the state.


Nevada Governor Signs Poker Bill into Law | Pokerfuse Online Poker News

The latest development in the poker world saga of Full Tilt and the fallout of that situation is the news that Chris ‘Jesus ‘ Ferguson a World Series of Poker champion has finally settled with the proceedings against him. Ferguson and his attorneys and federal prosecutors put their signatures on the eight-page settlement with U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood of New York City approving the deal. The U.S. Justice Department alleged in 2011 that Ferguson and another poker player Howard Lederer plus Full Tilt owners had defrauded online poker players out of $443.8 million usd.

Ferguson, has never admitted he did anything wrong but has agreed not to work for any unlicensed online gaming site within the U.S.A. Ferguson however said that he, "was unaware of any wrongful activity at Full Tilt or that the company had become unable to satisfy its player account liabilities" Ferguson said he "forgave approximately $14 million in dividends owed to him by Full Tilt" with the "expectation" that the money would be used to pay players just before the Department of Justice crackdown in 2011. Ferguson’s career tournament earnings are more than $7.7 million include $5.4 million from the World Series of Poker. Ferguson was not charged criminally but prosecutors, however, alleged Ferguson did stash more than $85 million from Full Tilt accounts although he collected just $42 million of that sum.

Rival Poker Stars, agreed to pay a $731 million in a settlement with the government of the USA to resolve its own legal issues. Out of the settlement, $150 million will be used to refund money owed to American-based Full Tilt customers. Ferguson's surrendered money will be added to the player repayment pool. Lederer agreed to similar settlement paid a civil money-laundering penalty of $1.25 million and $168,000 that will be liquidated from various bank accounts.

Online Poker Pro Finally Settles Up

That's very good news.

So bodog open one new poker room. That´`s nice 😁

Legalization of online poker in the United States will help, rather than hurt, existing land-based casino and gaming establishments, an article published by the US Gaming Survey in the current of iGaming Business North America confirms.

Online gaming boosts land-based gaming

Based on a 2012 poll of more than 8,000 diverse people from around the United States who currently play online, the article states that: more respondents indicated they would increase their state lottery or land-based casino play than those who would decrease it, in the event that online poker is fully legalized.

Surprisingly, younger people who currently don't buy lottery tickets indicated that they would consider buying them online if they were made available with online poker. Most respondents said that legal and regulated online gambling would have "no effect," negative or otherwise, on their land-based gaming habits.

US Gaming Survey

US Gaming Survey, a top polling company, is the author of the 2012 US Online Poker Survey, an in-depth look into the habits and behavior of online gamblers in the United States - where, as all Americans and other readers of OCR know, Internet gaming is yet to receive proper federal recognition.

"Cannibalization" - meaning the takeover of land-based gaming revenues by online gambling operators - has one of the biggest arguments used by opponents of the efforts to legalize online poker at the federal level. Now that the argument has been blown out of the water, we wait to hear what excuse they'll come up with next.




Legal Online Poker Would Boost American Casinos - Commentary - Onlinecasinoreports-com

Last Thursday officials in Nevada rapidly approved a law to make it the first state to authorize online gambling. Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed the law and claimed it as a “historic day for the great state of Nevada.”

Sandoval said that “the bill is critical to our state’s economy and ensures that we will continue to be the gold standard for gaming regulation.” However, it will probably be a while before the first online bet is placed in Nevada. There are still numerous obstacles to overcome.

The new law has created a licensing and regulation system for online poker games and the state will be hoping to have its system up and running within a few months.

It is thought that intrastate online poker will bring about $3 million a year to Nevada; however, the aim is to negotiate a deal with other states which will allow the expansion of online gaming.

This would mean that Nevada would supply the licensing and regulation for the whole of the US, a market that is thought to be worth up to $10 billion each year. The global market could be worth as much as $30 billion a year.


Nevada Becomes First State to Legalise Online Poker - Online Casino Archives

Wall Street jumped with glee over the weekend with the announcement that Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval had signed a new law permitting gaming companies to conduct interstate online poker. The action was followed by an announcement from New Jersey that Gov. Chris Christie was prepared to sign an intrastate Internet gambling bill.

Initially, all gaming companies with Internet links showed positive responses as investors eagerly acquired their shares. Even companies such as Zynga, which claims to have some 25 million poker players involved in its online “for fun” activities, saw their share price move upward.

Still being worked out by the Nevada Gaming Control Board are the computer systems to be used in Internet gaming. No date was given as to when the necessary approvals will be forthcoming.

Despite intense bickering that swirled around the California online poker issue in the past and abysmal progress for its proponents, efforts to try to legalize the business in 2013 were shored up with the emergence of a new measure late last week.

On Friday, Sen. Lou Correa, a familiar name on the Internet gambling battle front, introduced Senate Bill No.678, which would OK state-approved sites to take bets from within California’s borders. Sen. Rod Wright unveiled his proposal, Senate Bill No.51, in mid-December.

Wright’s bill has sat dormant since Jan. 10, after being referred to a committee.

California is home to the nation’s top tribal gaming industry, and it’s unclear whether some members of that group could co-exist with commercial operators also eying the online realm. With 38 million people, California is a juicy state for firms that do business in gambling, but who exactly gets access is of much concern. In other words, there probably will be winners and losers as a result of whatever passes, but some sort of compromise will be needed.

Other states with legal online poker include Nevada and Delaware, while New Jersey is expected to authorize the activity this week. Offering the real-money games would be reserved for state-licensed operators and their technology partners.



New Online Poker Bill Dealt To California