Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson isn't the only Las Vegas casino executive opposed to legalizing online poker. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Friday that M Resort President Anthony Marnell III said he wholly agrees with Adelson's stance against online poker and that "we're pushing this way too far."
Marnell made the comments during a recent interview with Nevada Newsmakers, a statewide public affairs television program. Like Adelson, Marnell says he fears that operators won't be able to prevent underage minors from gambling.
"I just can't see a scenario where you can truly secure that from young children," Marnell said. "Once it becomes legalized, it's taking it too far. I think you start to create addictive behaviors in the home that we can't see as operators. We have problem gambling initiatives on the casino floor."
Marnell said his views didn't reflect those of his employer, Penn National Gaming, which acquired M Resort last June. Marnell's opinion differs greatly from the majority of the casino industry, which has welcomed a regulated online poker platform. Companies like MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment have already joined forces with various online poker operators such as bwin.party and 888 to position themselves for a share of the market.
Marnell also reinforced Adelson's concerns that online poker would lead to other gambling activities being made available to homes across the country.
"That's just my take on it," Marnell said. "I know I'm not in the favor of the gaming industry perspective. I just think enough is enough. We don't need to push this farther into the home. It starts off as a bingo room then it becomes a full blown Las Vegas casino. All it takes is time, money, and legislation. My opinion is online poker won't be the end of this. It will just be the beginning."
After three years of seemingly making political progress toward legitimizing the activity, everything came crashing down on Black Friday, and 2011 went in the books as the year online poker went dark across the United States.
Looking back, it could have been worse. Don't get me wrong, the fallout was brutal. The DOJ indictments forced the major online poker sites out of the country and left many U.S. players without large chunks of money and their main source of income.
When the indictments struck, many people worried that the controversy could also stop cold any possibility of licensing and regulating Internet poker in the United States in the near future. It stood to reason that politicians concerned with re-election wouldn't want to go near an issue tainted with federal indictments.
This did not happen. To the contrary, the bottom falling out of online poker reinvigorated the player community to bombard representatives on Capitol Hill with phone calls, emails, Facebook posts and tweets. The American Gaming Association and Nevada casinos seized on the sudden absence of reputable sites for Americans to play on by pushing harder than ever to lead a domestic-based online poker industry.
The result is that, entering 2012, it's the first time I think federal online poker legislation passing by the end of the year is a real possibility.
I wouldn't say the odds are favorable. It's still a long shot. There is a lot left to overcome.
One big issue is that it's an election year, which shortens the congressional season and always makes it difficult to move controversial legislation.
That's why the rebranding of Internet poker legislation in 2011 is so important. The bill Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) introduced was named the "Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act." That sounds like something a congressman could vote for without any backlash from conservative constituents.
Barton told PokerNews in November that he believed there were already the votes to move his legislation through the House. He laid out the plan for 2012, to move the bill through the Energy and Commerce Committee in the spring and the full House in the summer.
Another hurdle is opposition from Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson. One would think that a single person could not derail what so many people want. However, Adelson has the ear of Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). Having Kyl on board to strengthen UIGEA while exempting poker is probably the biggest key to getting legislation passed this year. If Adelson can convince Kyl to oppose online poker, many Republicans will fall in line under the Senate Minority Whip and that could be the end of any hope for online poker in 2012.
Kyl can't stand in the way for long, though, because he has announced that he will not run for re-election. Also not running for re-election is Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), long the champion for poker on Capitol Hill.
This interesting dynamic is one of the main reasons why I think 2012 could be the year. If Barney Frank really views this as a passion project, he is going to cash in his remaining favors and do everything he can to get it done before he leaves office. If Kyl wants to strengthen his baby, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, before he leaves office, this is the way to do it.
The November elections may also bring changes to the structure of the Senate. The Republicans took over the House last election and will be looking to take the Senate, as well. This may be Harry Reid's last term as Senate Majority Leader. If that ends up being the case, it may be time for him to finally put his chips on the table and push all-in to pass legislation that benefits the Nevada casinos that have financially backed him all these years.
All of this means the lame-duck session between the November elections and the next year could be very interesting.
In 2011, we did see the first state take steps to offer intrastate online poker. Look for the first licensed and regulated sites in the United States to get up and running in Nevada during the second half of 2012. The new year could see states like New Jersey and California follow suit.
Another thing to watch in 2012 will be the results of the federal indictments for owners of the three big poker sites and the expected payment of money owed to Full Tilt players.
The past year was worse for the poker community than anyone could have imagined, but the shattering of the status quo may end up being worth it if a safer, permanent structure for online poker is born in 2012.
The Internet gambling business has always been a lucrative one, but federal law has kept states on the sidelines, barred from tapping into an estimated $4 billion that Americans spend every year to gamble online illegally.
Not anymore.
Now that the U.S. Department of Justice has reversed its outright ban on Internet gambling, states are scrambling to figure out what the decision might mean for them.
“Every state will be asking its AG: tell us what this opinion means,” says Mark Lipparelli, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board. California, Illinois, Iowa, New York and New Jersey are among other states that are expected to act quickly to get in on the action. That is precisely what Nevada has done, but Nevada put some pieces in place before the ruling in a way that some of the other states have not done. It has also been in the full-fledged gambling business for more than 70 years.
No one really knows for sure how many Americans gamble online or how much revenue states will be able to collect if it is legal. The American Gaming Association figures that worldwide, online gambling generates $30 billion a year. The group figures that states could collect up to $2 billion in tax revenue if online poker were legalized.
Fed reversal a stunner
For years, the federal government has construed the 1961 Federal Wire Act as a prohibition against online gambling. But in a ruling last month, the Justice Department indicated that law only restricts sports wagering. “It’s a big surprise,” says Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
The ruling doesn’t automatically legalize Internet gambling. States still have to pass legislation allowing for it and develop regulations overseeing it. And to many, it’s unclear whether the decision legalizes only online gambling within a state’s borders or also gambling that occurs across state lines.
Some experts interpret the decision to mean that states that pass their own online gambling laws could enter “compacts” with other states that have similar laws to allow online wagering on an interstate basis. Gambling expert I. Nelson Rose writes that the decision means “almost every form of intra-state Internet gambling is legal under federal law, and so may be games played interstate and even internationally.”
But the uncertainty has state officials like Lipparelli in Nevada worried. “We need Congress to make clear” what is legal, he says.
The American Gaming Association, which represents the commercial casino industry, agrees. It says the December ruling “validates the urgent need for federal legislation to curb what will now be a proliferation of domestic and foreign, unlicensed and unregulated gaming websites without consistent regulatory standards and safeguards against fraud, underage gambling and money laundering.”
Online lottery sales
The Justice Department’s ruling, drafted last September but not publicly released until late December, came in response to a request from New York and Illinois. Both states had asked Justice whether it would be legal for them to use the Internet and out-of-state vendors to sell lottery tickets to in-state adults.
“We conclude that interstate transmission of wire communications that do not relate to a ‘sporting event or contest’ … fall outside the reach of the Wire Act,” Justice said in the opinion. “Because the proposed New York and Illinois lottery proposals do not involve wagering on sporting events or contests, the Wire Act does not, in our view, prohibit them.”
New York, which has the country’s most profitable lottery, already had online “subscriptions” for its Mega Millions and Lotto games, and the ruling is expected to provide the state with the green light it was waiting for to do the same for other games. The way New York’s current subscriptions work is that players can log on, sign up and pick and save their favorite numbers, combine entries with friends, and have winnings automatically sent to “prize accounts.”
Illinois state officials had always thought their plan to let the Illinois Lottery offer Mega Millions and Lotto online was legal and now that Justice has agreed, “we are proceeding as fast as we can,” says Illinois Lottery Superintendent Michael J. Jones. Lottery officials plan to ask the legislature to give them authority to also offer Powerball online.
Lotteries provide states with substantially more revenue ($17.9 billion) than commercial casinos ($4.5 billion). Lucy Dadayan of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, a specialist in state gambling revenues, says the ruling almost guarantees that “most states will consider expanding their lotteries in the hopes of generating more revenue in tough economic times.” But she says that “even if the sale of online lotteries is in compliance with the Federal Wire Act, state officials should not jump into legalizing online lotteries and should carefully assess long-term social and financial costs of online lotteries.”
Nevada is one of the few states that doesn’t offer a lottery. But the Justice Department ruling is expected to give the state the final go-ahead it was waiting for to launch online poker. In fact, the state has had an online gambling law on the books for the past decade, delaying its implementation only out of fear it might be running afoul of federal law. With online betting taking off in Europe and efforts in the U.S. Congress to legalize online poker, the Nevada Legislature last year ordered its Gaming Commission to write a set of online gambling rules. Just last month, Nevada became the first state to adopt online poker regulations. Gamblers could be playing Nevada poker games on the Internet in as few as nine months, with the state taking a cut of the revenue.
“It's good news for Nevada, which now establishes itself as the leader in U.S. online gaming regulation,” writes David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University
Well, names have been named and it looks like Bianca Rojas-Latraverse, one-time girlfriend of World Series of Poker Champion Jonathan Duhamel, is likely the mastermind behind the Christmas week attack that left him in the hospital.
On December 21, Duhamel, 24, opened the front door of his condo in Boucherville, a suburb on the south side of Montreal and found two men waiting for him. His two male assailants beat him twice, he told police — in addition, he later recounted, they threatened his family and said they’d cut off his fingers. They took $40,000 Canadian and €74,000 along with a $10,000 gold Rolex and his WSOP bracelet that's estimated to be worth around $40,000.
Thankfully, police quickly found leads, thanks to a tip from a woman is featured in a photo of Duhamel and Rojas-Latraverse, kissing both of them in the poker pro's bedroom. Investigators say that woman told them she received text messages from Rojas-Latraverse, 20, in the weeks leading up to the robbery, announcing the attack would take place.
"I’m scared," Rojas-Latraverse allegedly texted to the woman, her friend. "Tomorrow I have something big that could cost me my life."
All of these details and more came out at the bail hearing for Rojas-Latraverse, who's facing down five charges including conspiracy, armed robbery, breaking and entering, forced confinement and assault. Her alleged accomplices, John Steven Clark-Lemay, 22, and Anthony Bourque, 20, face the same charges.
Coverage of the crime has revealed that Rojas-Latraverse was a habitual liar and manipulator. One former friend told the local paper La Presse that she even tried to pass herself off as a medical student at the University of Montreal, going so far as to buy textbooks and go to classes.
After they broke up, she text messaged him while he was in Europe to say she was pregnant. "It was a well-concocted lie," he told the press in a series of interviews held before the new year. "She is pretty special. Many in my entourage had doubts about her. It took me time to realize it, I believe."
Although the Department of Justice (DoJ) recently changed its ideas regarding the Wire Act of 1961, there are still a number of obstacles to regulating the US online poker industry. While the DoJ’s latest move makes it easier for US states to create their own online poker laws and launch interstate online gaming services, thereby boosting state revenue, they might be disappointed to see that the profits will not be as large as they would like them to be. Speaking on the subject, Anthony Cabot, an online gaming expert and attorney, said: “No one can assume that it’s a free ride to Internet poker.”
One of the biggest obstacles to the online poker in individual states is the low population in those states. Most US states are just too small to invest millions of dollars in the online poker industry, especially when there might just not be a good number of players at the tables. Speaking on this hurdle, Cabot said, “You have to have enough players to populate that ecosphere. Little states don’t have enough to make it work.”
Besides, there are just too many parties eagerly waiting to grab a share of the profits. Casinos managed by Native American tribes, lotteries, as well as land-based casinos will all want a share of the market. I. Nelson Rose, a law professor at Whittier College, says that all three parties exist in California and predicted that California will have to issue three licenses in order to satisfy them all. Simultaneously, he said that the lottery might lose because of the power of the native tribes. He said, “The tribes see [online gambling as inevitable and something that must be shared.”
Another point to consider is that all the states have not approved online gaming. The District of Columbia and Nevada have already legalized online gaming, leaving the door open for the other 49 states to join them, but attorney Stephen Schrier does not think that this is possible although he feels that one state will launch online gaming services in 2012, that one state most likely to be Nevada. Schrier also feels that interpreting existing laws will be a huge problem.
Simultaneously, all the legal gaming experts agree that the DoJ has made a very significant announcement although it is just a small step towards the final goal. Rose even labels it as the government’s gift to states that are wallowing in debt.
TEED OFF WITH POKER Top online grinder, Dusty "Leatherass" Schmidt, has had plenty of time since Black Friday to re-evaluate his life. Unlike younger more carefree pros, Dusty is one of the many American pros with families unable or unwilling to relocate to another country to continue making a living from online poker. Famous for putting in millions of hands online (hence the "Leatherass" moniker), Schmidt, who is also the author of the popular poker books, "Treat Poker As A Business" and "Don't Listen To Phil Hellmuth" ( Don't Listen to Phil Hellmuth: Correcting the 50 Worst Pieces of Poker Advice You've Ever Heard: Amazon.co.uk: Dusty Schmidt, Paul Christopher Hoppe: Books), has decided to change his focus. He has rediscovered his first love, and it's golf. As a younger man, the 30-year-old was a total golf nut aiming to get on the PGA tour until he was struck down by a heart attack at just 23. Now he is giving it a second shot. But Schmidt's not giving up poker completely; he still aims to put in 25,000 hands a month despite a hectic golf tournament schedule. And, having recently jumped ship from DragTheBar-com, will keep making strategy videos for online training site BlueFirePoker-com. If you're a fan, read his blog about his new plans at:
Blog | Dusty Schmidt WHAT'S IN A NAME? Not much. Don't be influenced by opponents online screen names or avatars. Scary isn't necessarily scary. Innocent isn't necessarily innocent. Gender may not even be real! Assume nothing.
LAST CHANCE FOR AUSSIE MILLIONS The last super satellite for the "Aussie Millions" is running on the iPoker network today (Titan, Vernons, etc). Be lucky!
POKER CLINIC Q: I'm a relative beginner and my question is: How dangerous is it to go head to head with a loose aggressive player? A: Any aggressive player is dangerous but a loose aggressive player can and should be exploited when or if you feel you have the experience to do so. The key to understanding this kind of player's vulnerability lies in his or her looseness. Loose players will always enter far too many pots. This fact alone immediately tells you that a lot of the time they will be playing with weak, below-par, pre-flop hands. Your tactic is to wait until you have a strong pre-flop hand. That will provide your opportunity to exploit.
CLASSIC TACTICS Here are the classic tactics against loose aggressive players: a) Only enter pots with strong cards or cards that look like they might connect with the flop to produce a premium hand. If you end up with strong post-flop cards you can relax and let the psycho blast away at you with aggressive bets. Let him build your pot for you.
b) If you're brave, you can fight aggression with aggression in the knowledge that the loose player is more likely to have sub-standard cards on a majority of occasions. This requires experience.
Bodog Poker had announced in July that it intends to fully withdraw from the US online poker market, and recently, it issued another announcement stating that it will launch a special Bodog Poker site exclusively for US players and will rebrand it as Bovada Poker. The Morris Mohawk Gaming Group (MMGG), the former US licensor of Bodog Poker, will operate Bovada Poker, which will be part of the Bodog Poker Network. For non US players, the bad news is that the new online poker brand is meant only for US poker players and will not accept non US players. But players from other parts of the world can still play against US opponents at Bodog Poker since the entire database of US players at Bodog Poker will be moved to Bovada Poker, which exists on the same network. Meanwhile, US players at Bodog Poker will no longer be able to access the online poker software at Bodog Poker. Instead, they will have to download the Bovada Poker software from the website of Bovada Poker. The online poker accounts of US poker players at Bodog Poker will be moved to Bovada Poker. US players need not have to register all over again; they can use the same Bodog Poker usernames and passwords.
This major shift is not going to affect the player traffic on the network. Bovada Poker was shut down for a brief period on the morning of Dec 14 when player database and details were being moved, but it is now open to players once again. Non US players will notice a slight drop in the player traffic, but since US players usually do not log in at this time, the disturbance will be very slight indeed.
The rebranding of Bodog Poker to Bovada Poker is expected to have a number of advantages. In the first place, it means a rise in the volume of players on the Bodog Poker Network and at Bovada Poker. Following the incidents of Black Friday or April 15 this year, the number of players at Bodog Poker shot up because players migrated to Bodog Poker from the affected sites, but player volume reduced following an announcement by Merge Poker that it will start accepting US players again.
Currently, existing Bodog players are continuing to flourish owing to plenty of fish at the low-stakes and micro-stakes tables and under-subscribed guaranteed online poker tournaments and hope that the situation will continue. :dance:
Las Vegas • The fight to fully legalize online gambling in the U.S. is now less about whether Americans will be able to play and more about who will bring the action to them — and when.
A recent U.S. Justice Department opinion opened the door for cash-strapped states and their lotteries to bring online gambling to their residents, as long as it does not involve sports betting.
The DOJ memo also inflamed a battle within the industry about how to legalize online gambling that once generated an estimated $6 billion yearly just from poker: Should each state have its own system, or should there be a nationwide law?
While the opinion sent gambling stocks rising, many players who’ve been shut out from top online poker sites since April just want games to restart and don’t care who profits.
“I don’t like this legal limbo. Is it legal, or is it illegal?” said writer Brian Boyko, who plays poker as a hobby.
Boyko of Austin, Texas, has been using a small offshore site since executives and others at PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker were accused of illegally getting banks to process gambling funds.
John Campos, the then-vice president of the board of SunFirst Bank in St. George, was charged in the case for his alleged role in processing payments through the Utah bank for PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. He has pleaded not guilty and the case is pending.
Most of the U.S. games disappeared after the indictments.
Pennsylvania lottery officials say they will explore the possibility of selling lottery tickets online following a re-interpretation of federal law that could permit it.
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell said a recent change in the reading of the federal Wire Act of 1961 doesn't mean the state can start selling lottery tickets online immediately, however.
"It would require changes to the lottery law and lottery regulations, and that would be a long-term proposition," she said. "To change laws and regulations, that could take a year or more."
In 2010, the state lottery systems of New York and Illinois asked for a federal opinion on whether the Wire Act of 1961 prohibited them from selling lottery tickets online.
In a September opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice that was made public in late December, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Virginia Seitz wrote that the Wire Act is applicable only to a "sporting event or contest," opening the door for lottery tickets to be sold online.
But it also opened another door — online gaming. The Wire Act was used as the means to make online gambling and gaming like poker illegal, but Seitz's opinion doesn't rule it out.
One lawmaker in New Jersey is pushing to make online gambling legal, citing the memo. State Sen. Raymond Lesniak said he'll try to get a bill to Gov. Chris Christie's desk by next week.
"We can be the Silicon Valley of Internet gaming," he said. "It's the wave of the future."
Mount Airy Casino Resort officials said putting together an online gaming component is a trend across the gaming industry.
However, John Culetsu, Mount Airy's executive vice president and general manager, said any online gaming ventures the casino would take "in no way replaces the total gaming, accommodations, dining, entertainment and recreation features one can experience from personally visiting a property which offers all of these amenities such as Mount Airy."
Culetsu said the casino isn't making any predictions on how it will take advantage of the new law interpretation or how the business will be affected until federal or state lawmakers define the "legalities of online gaming."
As for lottery ticket sales, Pennsylvania Lottery said it's too early to say when it would be able to start selling tickets online but that it is something the state is exploring.
Before any changes will be made, Brassell said the lottery likely will consult with gaming vendors and industry experts around the world. She said that likely would include consulting with the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. The association also includes Canadian lottery groups, which do operate online gaming.
"We're going to tap into all the resources we can, so we can wrap our head around the impact," Brassell said.
She said the lottery's analysis will include full studies on online lottery tickets' "fiscal and social impacts, as well as the impact on our network of retailers."
The recent issue of the Las Vegas Review Journal carries a report by Howard Stutz, in which he has voiced his views regarding the recent announcement made by the Department of Justice (DoJ) of the US that it has altered its opinion regarding the 1961 Wire Act. This announcement has led to a lot of jubilation in the online poker gaming community, and according to Stutz, there is nothing to celebrate. Stutz has pointed out that, for a long time, the online poker gaming community has been celebrating the changes in the opinion that the Wire Act of 1961 includes all possible types of gambling. Quoting Prof. I. Nelson Rose, who said, “We are about to see this explosion of internet gambling sweep across the nation,” Stutz voices his opinion as follows: “I don’t want to be the wet blanket dropped on the party, but we need to analyze the situation.” Stutz agrees with Greg Germignani, the lawyer, when he says that online poker will have to thoroughly re-examine the situation. The lawyer can be quoted as follows: “This is not a green light to fire up the online poker servers by any means.”
In his article, Stutz also makes a study of various opinions voiced by pro-gaming organizations such as American Gaming Association and the operators of various Las Vegas based gaming companies, who are trying to pressurize the US federal government to create a legislative and regulatory framework for online gambling before the states start doing it on their own.
Writing on this, Stutz says, “The move could make Nevada, which adopted internet poker regulations last month, the regulatory hub for the nation’s online poker industry, providing the state with a new revenue source and high tech jobs.”
Stutz has also expressed his opinion that the federal government might not legalize and regulate the online poker gaming industry this year. Neither does he feel that that states will achieve much progress in regulating the online gaming industry within their jurisdiction. He has pointed out that most of the states are in no position to invest millions of dollars, while others face a number of other problems such as opposition on the part of tribes.
Stutz predicts, “Clearly, internet poker, one of the biggest stories of 2011, will continue to be at the forefront of gaming news in the coming twelve months. For now, however, everyone just needs to breath.”
Until a year ago, nobody officially knew that Viktor Blom was the man behind the legendary screen name of Isildur1. Until now, Blom’s successes had come almost exclusively in the online arena, with his only notable live cash coming in the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe. But now, Blom has a live tournament victory he can definitely hang his hat on.
Viktor Blom won the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Super High Roller event Saturday, topping a field of 29 players who each put up $100,000 to win a prize of $1,254,000. Blom defeated Dan Shak in heads up play to take the early lead as the winningest player of 2012.
Out of the 29 players who entered, only five were guaranteed to cash. After Scott Seiver had the misfortune of bubbling in 6th place, it was Daniel Negreanu who would be the first to fall in the money. Negreanu, who finished 2nd in last year’s Super High Roller, took 5th place this time around to earn a prize of just over $250,000.
Canadian pro Jonathan Duhamel started the new year on a positive note with his fourth place finish in the event. Duhamel, who was recently the victim of a home invasion and robbery, earned $313,600 for his efforts.
When Galen Hall was eliminated in 3rd (taking home $470,400), that left Blom and Shak to battle for 2012’s first great prize of the year. Blom entered heads up play with about a 3-2 chip lead, making him the likely favorite to win the tournament.
Blom dominated the heads up session, eventually securing an overwhelming chip lead of more than 6-1. On the final hand, Shak shoved a gutshot straight and flush draw and got a call from Blom, who held top pair. The river blanked, knocking Shak out and giving Blom his first live tournament title. Shak took home $846,700 for second place.
Blom is best known for playing in the nosebleed cash games at major poker sites – first Full Tilt Poker, and now PokerStars. For well over a year, the identity of the mysterious “Isildur1” was unknown; however, rumors soon began to swirl that Blom was the man behind the highly volatile high stakes player, and his identity was officially revealed at least year’s PCA.
Calvin Ayre, the billionaire founder of Bodog gambling group, decided to play Nostradamus this week and predict what 2012 has in store for the online gambling industry. To his credit, Ayre has been part of the industry for many years and his opinions, if not his predictions, should be given some thought.
Ayre predicts that when it comes to the introduction of online gambling in states across the US, we won’t be seeing much movement, despite the recent DOJ change of heart. If anything, we may see only Nevada take the plunge and regulate online poker and gambling. “I say it’s 50/50 that there will be one more state doing remote gambling in 2012,” said Ayre, “and even that one state may only offer online purchases of lottery tickets.”
Looking towards Europe, Ayre believes that the market is “stale and mature”, with the general industry on the Continent being non-cooperative. This, he believes, will lead to further division.
According to Ayre, Asia is the place to be in 2012, especially if you are an online gambling entrepreneur seeking to enter new markets. “If you don’t yet have a toehold in Asia, you have no business calling yourself an industry player,” he said.
He also suggested targeting Latin American which he called “a largely virginal territory” and possibly “the second best market to target in 2012.”
Calvin Ayre believes that 2012 will be focused on integrating online and land based gambling, as well as the expansion of mobile gambling. He also sees a peak in interest in the Live Dealer market. “The technology has matured, and bottom line, it’s just fun,” he said.
Pennsylvania lottery officials say they will explore the possibility of selling lottery tickets online following a re-interpretation of federal law that could permit it.
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell said a recent change in the reading of the federal Wire Act of 1961 doesn't mean the state can start selling lottery tickets online immediately, however.
"It would require changes to the lottery law and lottery regulations, and that would be a long-term proposition," she said. "To change laws and regulations, that could take a year or more."
In 2010, the state lottery systems of New York and Illinois asked for a federal opinion on whether the Wire Act of 1961 prohibited them from selling lottery tickets online.
In a September opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice that was made public in late December, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Virginia Seitz wrote that the Wire Act is applicable only to a "sporting event or contest," opening the door for lottery tickets to be sold online.
But it also opened another door — online gaming. The Wire Act was used as the means to make online gambling and gaming like poker illegal, but Seitz's opinion doesn't rule it out.
One lawmaker in New Jersey is pushing to make online gambling legal, citing the memo. State Sen. Raymond Lesniak said he'll try to get a bill to Gov. Chris Christie's desk by next week.
"We can be the Silicon Valley of Internet gaming," he said. "It's the wave of the future."
Mount Airy Casino Resort officials said putting together an online gaming component is a trend across the gaming industry.
However, John Culetsu, Mount Airy's executive vice president and general manager, said any online gaming ventures the casino would take "in no way replaces the total gaming, accommodations, dining, entertainment and recreation features one can experience from personally visiting a property which offers all of these amenities such as Mount Airy."
Culetsu said the casino isn't making any predictions on how it will take advantage of the new law interpretation or how the business will be affected until federal or state lawmakers define the "legalities of online gaming."
As for lottery ticket sales, Pennsylvania Lottery said it's too early to say when it would be able to start selling tickets online but that it is something the state is exploring.
Before any changes will be made, Brassell said the lottery likely will consult with gaming vendors and industry experts around the world. She said that likely would include consulting with the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. The association also includes Canadian lottery groups, which do operate online gaming.
"We're going to tap into all the resources we can, so we can wrap our head around the impact," Brassell said.
She said the lottery's analysis will include full studies on online lottery tickets' "fiscal and social impacts, as well as the impact on our network of retailers."
After a long, three year hiatus, one of the pioneering online poker sites, Poker Room, has returned to the scene.
Last month, rumours started circulating that Bwin Party Digital, which owns the site, would be opening the online poker room to real money players once more. The idea was initiated by employees of the Stockholm based online gambling entity, Bwin, which merged with Party Gaming last year.
PokerRoom.com was launched in 1999 and was extremely popular among players, who flocked to the Ongame Network of poker rooms to seek out this site. However, when Ongame was forced to exit the US gambling market following the introduction of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006, Poker Room online poker site started to suffer consequences, and by 2009 it shut down.
At the time, PokerRoom.com transferred its player base to Bwin. An announcement in April 2009, entitled "End of an Era", stated that "after almost ten years of fun and games, it is with heavy heart and a tear in my eye that I have to announce that this is it: as of 11:00 today, Poker Room will no longer be open for online poker."
"We have seen players qualify online for just a few bucks and turn it into tens of thousands at the biggest poker tournaments in the world and seen guys that were used to playing against their mates in lounge rooms mix it up with the very best players in the world."
Bwin Seeking to Sell Ongame Poker Network
here are a number of reasons why Bwin would reopen Poker Room at this point in time. One is that Bwin.party digital is planning to reenter the US gambling market following a partnership deal recently signed with Boyd Gaming and MGM, and the resurrected online poker room is part of their plan to attract a new player base.
The other reason is that Ongame Network is currently up for sale and Bwin wants to increase its value with the re-opening of a well-known brand in the industry.
A note on the newly opened site, following the Bwin Poker Room reopening reads: "We're back... did you miss us?
"PokerRoom is proud to announce its return to the world of online poker. We have opened our doors again to real money players. Whether you're a PokerRoom veteran from the past, or a new player just starting out in poker, we look forward to welcoming you at our tables."
While Tulsa native Ben Lamb had his run for the World Series of Poker Main Event championship cut short in November, he still took home more than $4 million for his third-place finish and was named WSOP Player of the Year.
Lamb's performance included: a runner-up finish in a $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha event for $260,000; then winning his first WSOP championship gold bracelet and $814,000 in the same game's $10,000 world championship; he took 12th in the $10,000 No Limit Holdem Six-Handed Championship for $56,000; and eighth in $50,000 Poker Players Championship for $201,000. And amazingly, he accomplished all this while only entering eight events.
Tulsa roots
South Tulsa has always been home for Lamb. The 26-year-old attended Jenks High School, playing billiards and golf with friends when not in class. School came easy to Lamb, and he says he didn't have to study until college.
“My parents and family were great and very supportive growing up, and I had a great group of friends,” he says.
While in high school, the poker boom was well under way, and Lamb joined in the fun with friends in high school and the in college at Trinity University in San Antonio.
Winning more and more, Lamb put college on the back burner.
“I was making decent money while in college and decided to take a year off and give myself a shot at poker. That was six years ago and I've never looked back,” he says.
In Oklahoma, Lamb could often be found in poker rooms at the Creek Nation and Cherokee Casino, where he also worked as a dealer for six months. Dealing also helped teach him more about the game, and these years helped shape him into a top-notch player.
Poker brain
The Main Event at the World Series of Poker takes deep focus and concentration. Players who advance play for up to 12 hours per day. Tension is high and attention spans wane as bleary-eyed players riffle and count their chips. Lamb, who has lived in Las Vegas for three years, found major success in earlier WSOP events including a deep run in the 2007 Main Event, finishing 156th for $58,570. More success would follow.
From 2006-08, Lamb scored in larger tournaments online and in casinos. In the 2009 WSOP, Lamb came in the money in three events including another breakthrough in the Main Event — finishing in 14th for $633,022.
Life has definitely changed for this poker shark, including his recent purchase of a new condo in the high-end CityCenter on the Las Vegas Strip.
The location is ideal for his line of work.
“Well, obviously I have more money,” he says of his success at the tables. “I was doing well before, but this summer definitely increased my bankroll and allowed me to play the bigger games more aggressively and with deeper stacks.”
Professional poker is definitely not for everyone. The lifestyle can bring major financial swings, but Lamb seems to make it work. His daily life is a bit unorthodox and doesn't fit a 9-to-5 schedule. Lamb heads off to “work” each evening around 7 p.m., walking to the Aria or Bellagio casinos to play. Outside of poker, Lamb enjoys golf, billiards and ping-pong, and is an Oklahoma City Thunder fan.
While Lamb may not have reached his ultimate prize, the poker world can expect to hear more from this card shark — don't bet against him.
Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer based in Rockwall, Texas, and editor of PokerTraditions-com | We need your ideas and stories. Email tips, ideas, and comments to info@pokertraditions-com!, devoted to poker history, lore, lifestyle and people.
David Shallow entered final table play at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Ireland Main Event as the overwhelming chip leader. It is commonplace to see someone with a healthy chip advantage to begin the final day – maybe a couple million chips – but leads like Shallow’s are something to see. With 6,155,000 chips, he lorded over the other four competitors (a double elimination to end Day 3 created a 5-handed final table), who had just 4,310,000 combined. If a mad scientist would have fused them all into a single, mutant poker player, Shallow still would have been a significant favorite. So that means David Shallow won WPT Ireland, right? Exactly.
Here were the chip counts to start the final table:
David Shallow – 6,155,000
Steve Watts – 1,600,000
Patrik Vestlin – 1,100,000
Charles Chattha – 835,000
Ronan Gilligan – 775,000
While the final table was very short by World Poker Tour standards, coming in at under three hours, it wasn’t a totally smooth ride for Shallow. Right off the bat, he doubled-up both Patrik Vestlin and Ronan Gilligan, causing his chip stack to fall to 4,276,000. Gilligan rode the momentum, eliminating Steve Watts in 5th place. Watts had moved all-in pre-flop with T-T for his remaining 1,130,000 and Gilligan called him with A-K. The flop was Q-J-7, which was generally good for Watts, but it did give Gilligan a straight possibility if he could hit one of the remaining two Tens to go along with the 6 outs he already had. No dice on the turn, but the river produced one of those Tens, allowing Gilligan to knock Watt out with a Broadway straight. That pot took Gilligan up to 2,898,000, which was still a good chunk behind Shallow, but nothing that couldn’t be overcome. It looked a whole heck of a lot better than the more than 5,000,000 chip deficit he faced about a half-hour earlier.
Just a few minutes later, Gilligan continued his hot streak. Patrik Vestlin raised pre-flop and Gilligan called from the big blind. The two saw a flop of 9s-7s-3s and Vestlin made the first bet with As-Qc, giving him the nut flush draw. Gilligan check-raised to 450,000 with Js-9d – top pair and a flush draw – and Vestlin shoved for 1,750,000. Gilligan thought a bit about his decision, but decided it was worth the risk and called. The turn was the Tc; black, but the wrong black. Another tease presented itself to Vestlin on the river in the form of the 8c and Gilligan’s hand held up. Vestlin was gone in 4th place and just like that, less than an hour into play, Ronan Gilligan, the shortest stack to start the final table, was the chip leader. He had 4,852,000, Shallow had 4,259,000, and Chaz Chattha had 1,029,000 chips.
After that, though, it appeared that Gilligan’s confidence may have gotten too high, as he began making some reckless raises and calls with marginal holdings. Having watched his stack take several hits, he once again made a call of a David Shallow pre-flop raise with just 3-4 in the hole. Shallow had T-9 and the flop was friendly to both, giving top pair to Shallow and an open-ended straight draw to Gilligan. Shallow led out on the turn for 215,000, Gilligan raised to 525,000, Shallow moved all-in, and Gilligan called. Gilligan couldn’t find the outs to complete the straight on either the turn or river and he was eliminated in 3rd place.
Going into heads-up play, David Shallow once again had a large chip lead over Chaz Chattha, 7,280,000 to 2,860,000.
Shallow was very aggressive heads-up, a style for which he is known, but that style came back to bite him less than 20 minutes into the one-on-one match. Looking at just K-3 suited, he watched Chattha raise pre-flop to 140,000 and decided to three-bet it to 360,000. Chattha took it up to 600,000, Shallow moved all-in, and Chattha quickly called. And no wonder. Holding pocket Queens, Chattha was a big favorite over most hands. Shallow hit a 3 on the flop, but nothing else materialized and all of a sudden, Chattha had a slight chip lead, 5,180,000 to 4,960,000.
Just after that, Shallow regained a small edge, taking a couple small pots, and that was all he needed when the big hand was dealt. With Q-Q, Shallow raised pre-flop to 135,000, only to see Chattha re-raise him to 380,000 with 9-9. Shallow raised him back, making it 825,000 and Chattha moved all-in. Shallow made the call. The flop ran out K-K-2, pretty much as bad as it could get for Chattha without a Queen showing up. The turn 8 and river 3 sewed it up for David Shallow, who won WPT Ireland along with the €222,280 first prize and a $25,000 seat in the season-ending WPT World Championship.
World Poker Tour Ireland – Final Table Results
1. David Shallow – €222,280 ($289,031)
2. Charles Chattha – €111,130 ($144,502)
3. Ronan Gilligan – €74,090 ($96,339)
4. Patrik Vestlin – €52,600 ($68,396)
5. Steve Watts – €39,270 ($51,063)
Apparently, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom isn’t just good at cash games. It was last year at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure that the Swedish high-stakes phenom revealed one of poker’s worst kept secrets and this year, he returned to the Bahamas to prove that he could hang with some of poker’s best tournament minds.
Blom defeated a stacked field of 32 entrants in the $100,000 PCA Super High Roller to record his first live victory and collect a massive first-place prize of $1,254,400. Blom defeated eventual runner-up Dan Shak, who has made some noise in Super High Roller events in the past, winning a $100,000 event at the Aussie Millions in 2010.
“This was more fun than winning the same amount in a cash game,” said Blom. “I’m not used to making it this far in a tournament. I didn’t expect it. It feels great, very different to playing online.”
Last year’s PCA Main Event champion Galen Hall finished third and was ultimately responsible for bursting the bubble on Scott Seiver, who finished sixth and failed to make the money.
The other two cashing players were Jonathan Duhamel and Daniel Negreanu. Duhamel was recently beaten and robbed in a home invasion by four suspects that allegedly included his ex-girlfriend. Negreanu finished runner-up in this same event in 2011, losing to Eugene Katchalov.
Here’s a look at the final results.
1. Viktor Blom — $1,254,400
2. Dan Shak — $846,700
3. Galen Hall — $470,400
4. Jonathan Duhamel — $313,600
5. Daniel Negreanu — $250,900
Poker blog on poker software, poker strategy and on Angelina Wang's online poker journey! Writing a poker blog to her comes easy. Working in a poker software & gaming development company and being an avid poker player gives Angelina that extra high we all look for in life. Her’s is a true blue poker blog and not an affiliate site! Enjoy reading her poker blog.
Welcome:
Industry analysts expect many states to push for legalized intrastate online poker programs during 2012 in reaction to the recent Justice Department interpretation of the Wire Act. According to a recent DoJ memo, the Wire Act should be interpreted as outlawing only sports betting over the phone or internet, and shouldn't ban poker or other casino games.
According to a report in the New York Post, gaming analysts believe that at least five states will make a push for legalized online poker this year.
“We believe there soon will be enabling legislation in some of these states, which could expand quickly as other states in desperate need of tax revenue seek to tap into a new (and potentially large) revenue source,” said gaming analyst Harry Curtis of Nomura Securities.
In combination with the new licensing laws put into place in the state, the Wire Act finding makes it seem very likely that Nevada could become an online poker-friendly state by the end of 2012. However, they are far from the only state that seems likely to at least consider such a move.
Other states that have previously debated online poker legislation include California and New Jersey, and both are expected to revisit the debate again this year. In the case of New Jersey, the state legislature actually passed a law that would have allowed for online poker in the state; however, the bill was vetoed by Governor Chris Christie due to concerns over whether such a move would be legal under federal law. If that was truly the only hurdle to online poker in the state, New Jersey could be a likely spot for online poker to flourish.
Other major markets mentioned in the report were New York, where expanded land-based gambling has already been heavily pushed, and Illinois.
According to another report by Roger Gros of Global Gaming Business, there's also the possibility of states combining their player pools to increase revenue. According to Gros, one such plan is being considered by Nevada and California, two states that share a border. It's a natural pairing, considering Nevada's gaming expertise and the large population of California.
It is likely that interstate online gambling exchanges would also pass legal muster. Several lottery programs allow players from several states to participate, including large jackpot games like Mega Millions and Powerball.
American Prohibition Favors International Players Online poker prohibition in the United States will ultimately have a negative effect on America’s dominance in poker. Without the ability to train and hone skills on virtual poker tables, our current generation of online pros will eventually lag behind their international contemporaries and will no longer dominate the game like they did before the inception of online poker. The power is already shifting from America to Europe and Latin America. The next wave of superstars will come from countries that permit online poker—the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Russia, Germany, and Sweden.
If there’s one thing I learned since I opened up my first online poker account in 2004—it’s that every six months or so, the entire game changes. Strategies change drastically and certain aspects of the game grow tougher. Almost all of the fishy players go busto, never to be heard from again, while some of the bad ones who don’t go broke eventually improve. The superior players are always improving their game to stay a step ahead of the rabid pack. A strategic move that worked three months ago is considered passé. The hot rising internet superstar from last year has become a dinosaur. The rise and fall of internet phenoms sometimes takes no more than six months.
Even if you didn’t play online poker and strictly played live, you still had to deal with online poker’s popularity because it seemed like more and more internet players were also playing in brick and mortar games. Live pros were forced to learn how to play internet players whether they liked it or not. A few had a difficult time tweaking their game, while others easily adapted.
In the days before the internet, it used to take a couple of years before the bulk of the community adapted their style of play—usually after a reading a popular poker strategy book from a famous pro. It took a while to put their strategy into practice at brick-and-mortar tables. But with online poker, you could develop a new strategy on a Monday and use it to make the final table of the Sunday Million later in the week.
Anyone with internet access can quickly learn the basics of poker by reading strategy articles, posting questions on poker forums, or subscribing to websites in order to view training videos recorded by well-respected pros. The more time you put into improving your game, the better you’ll get. And you don’t have to leave your hometown and fly to Las Vegas to sharpen your skills.
Poker education via the internet accelerated skill at an exponential level. It used to take pros a decade of grinding it out on leather asses before they achieved a significant level of expertise in tournaments or mixed games. Online poker sped up that process in remarkable fashion. I’ve seen some wunderkinds master a new game like Badugi in only a few weeks. I’m afraid that online poker prohibition will stunt the growth of American poker players because we won’t have the same opportunities as our international contemporaries when it comes to improving our game. We’re talking leaps and bounds. A few online pros will move abroad in order to train, but many others don’t have that opportunity, so they’re forced to kick it “old school” and log endless hours in casinos chasing down donks ... one table at a time.
My favorite aspect of online poker was the ability to multitable tournaments and cash games. That’s how you maximized profits. The formula was simple—the more you played, the better chance you had to improve your win rate. Alas, brick-andmortar rooms do not permit you to multi-table. Even if you could play three tables, all that running back and forth would be outright exhausting.
Marnell made the comments during a recent interview with Nevada Newsmakers, a statewide public affairs television program. Like Adelson, Marnell says he fears that operators won't be able to prevent underage minors from gambling.
"I just can't see a scenario where you can truly secure that from young children," Marnell said. "Once it becomes legalized, it's taking it too far. I think you start to create addictive behaviors in the home that we can't see as operators. We have problem gambling initiatives on the casino floor."
Marnell said his views didn't reflect those of his employer, Penn National Gaming, which acquired M Resort last June. Marnell's opinion differs greatly from the majority of the casino industry, which has welcomed a regulated online poker platform. Companies like MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment have already joined forces with various online poker operators such as bwin.party and 888 to position themselves for a share of the market.
Marnell also reinforced Adelson's concerns that online poker would lead to other gambling activities being made available to homes across the country.
"That's just my take on it," Marnell said. "I know I'm not in the favor of the gaming industry perspective. I just think enough is enough. We don't need to push this farther into the home. It starts off as a bingo room then it becomes a full blown Las Vegas casino. All it takes is time, money, and legislation. My opinion is online poker won't be the end of this. It will just be the beginning."