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Roaring demand for online poker helped 888, the online gambling company, swing back into the black in the first half of 2012.

Revenues from the group’s poker division jumped 72 per cent year on year to $41.3m, as the group shored up its position as the second-largest online poker company in Spain, where it controls 26 per cent of the market.

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email [email]ftsales-support@ft-com[/email] to buy additional rights. 888 profits soar thanks to poker boost - FT-com

888 also settled a disputed outstanding tax bill in Spain with a one-off payment of $11.1m. The bill related to two previously unenforced Spanish tax laws from 1966 and 1977, which came to the fore as the Spanish government mulled issuing licences to online gambling companies.

Brian Mattingley, 888 chief executive, wrote off the bill as a cost of doing business in Spain. “Those claims were served a month before licences were issued,” said Mr Mattingley. “One could be cynical and say that was an entry payment to get in [to the market]. But if you want to get into the market, you have to pay that tax.”

888 reported profit before tax of $18.4m for the first half of 2012, after recording pre-tax losses of $22.1m for the same period in 2011. The group capped off the turnround by reintroducing an interim dividend of 2.5 cents per share.

A two-year-old document verification company in Tennessee has applied for a Nevada Gaming Control Board online poker service provider license.

Player Verify LLC offers a software product that assists online poker operators in collecting detailed personal information from their customers to satisfy regulatory requirements in Nevada, while using encryption technology to keep the data safe from unauthorized access. Player Verify also provides centralized databases for player exclusion and real-time fraud reporting.

Mark Dalton, managing member with Player Verify in Franklin, Tenn., said gaming Nevada gaming companies that select its player authentication services will have the ability to instantly authenticate identities via its Identity Checker tool.

The system matches information submitted to a nationwide database of government and public information. A player is verified only if the information submitted lines up with the databases, easily screening out potential problems.


Read More: Player Verify applies for Nevada online gaming license - Business - ReviewJournal-com

Earlier in the week the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, the GOP approved a 54-page document that included a provision calling for a ban on online poker, which the platform warned was putting the “American Dream” at risk.

“Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families,” read the party-approved platform. “We support the prohibition of gambling over the internet and call for the removal of the Justice Department’s decision distorting the formerly accepted meaning of the Wire Act that could open the door to internet betting.”

Should the Republicans reclaim the Whitehouse from the Democrats later this year, this could therefore spell bad news for online poker as the GOP are seeking to force the Department of Justice to change their stance on the Wire Act of 1961, which previously only applied to sports betting.


Read More: Poker News - Republicans Against Online Poker

Everest Poker, which has been an independent online poker room for a long time, has decided to join iPoker Network, a move that is believed to be beneficial for both iPoker Network and Everest Poker.

While Everest Poker is not an insignificant online poker room, it isn’t one of the top poker rooms too. Everest Poker did look as if it was on the way to becoming a top online poker room for a brief period of time. The online poker room could have joined the ranks of Party Poker and PokerStars as players were fond of it and several affiliates were promoting it. Back in 2008 – 09, Everest Poker became one of the major sponsors of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Today, Everest Poker’s golden days appear to be over. PokerScout-com says that Everest Poker is the online poker industry’s 23rd largest online poker room, attracting a weekly average of 570 players to its ring game tables. EverestPoker.fr, meant exclusively for Everest Poker’s French players, is doing much better than EverestPoker-com. The French site occupies the 15th position and attracts a weekly average of 650 ring game players. Everest Poker, therefore, would make an excellent addition to the iPoker Network, which is the world’s biggest online poker network, attracting a weekly average of 2,800 players to its cash game tables, according to PokerScout-com. If EverestPoker-com joins the iPoker Network, its traffic will improve.

Read More: Everest Poker to Join iPoker Network

Don't vote Republican.

South Point Poker, owned by Michael Gaughan, became the first US casino operator to get a license to operate a real money online poker room within Nevada. South Point Poker CEO Lawrence Vaughan said that the online poker room will be launched in October.


While this is excellent news for Nevada, as many as 50 poker networks intrastate, each governed by its own regulatory framework, will not work in the long run. The Nevada Gaming Commission is gearing up to license many more casino operators, but the ideal solution for US online poker is the formation of proper federal poker laws, which will legalize online poker gaming throughout the US. However, Nevada, which is the first US state to create a regulatory framework for poker, will be the ideal state to lead the country’s online poker industry.


Read More: US States Waiting for Federal Poker Legislation

Internet betting firm Bwin.party Digital Entertainment PLC said it would seek to give its poker products a makeover to halt declining revenues in the game and see off competition from a resurgent PokerStars.
The world's largest online gaming group reported first half earnings up 13 percent to 92 million euros on Friday, slightly ahead of market expectations, as strong takings from sports and casino betting offset the weakness in poker and increased taxes.
It said average net daily revenues in July and August were down 8 percent versus the second quarter, affected by a later that usual start to the German football league - delayed due to the timing of the London Olympics - but that it remained confident on its full year result.
Bwin, which launched in Spain in 2012 after internet betting was allowed there for the first time, said economic woes in southern Europe had also had an impact.
"It has been difficult for us, the two markets that have been most challenging have been Italy and Spain. Last year we saw a significant dip in Greece but actually Greece now seems to be levelling out a bit," said Chief Financial Officer Martin Weigold on a call to journalists.
Faced with declining poker revenues across Europe, bwin said it would focus on renewing its poker products, aiming to do more to attract and keep casual players and introducing mobile poker games.


Read More: Bwin.party looks to address problem poker | Sport | The Guardian

For the fourth consecutive presidential election, Republicans have included a clause in the GOP platform, seeking to prohibit Internet poker.

On page 32 of the platform, under a section titled "Making the Internet Family-Friendly," the text reads: "Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families. We support the prohibition of gambling over the Internet and call for reversal of the Justice Department's decision distorting the formerly accepted meaning of the Wire Act that could open the door to Internet betting."

The inclusion is clearly a victory for the right-wing religious groups over the poker lobby.

"We were hoping they'd just remain silent on it this year," said Rich Muny, vice president of player relations for the Poker Players Alliance. "We thought there was a decent chance they would just let it go and not speak on the issue at all. I hadn't heard it mentioned at the convention. But it's very difficult to get something removed when it's on the previous platform."

A month ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the Las Vegas Sun that the only way an online poker bill could get done is if it gets the Republican votes.

Read More: News :: 2012 GOP Platform Includes Clause That Seeks to Prohibit Internet Poker

The players at 888 Poker who always wanted to visit Morocco will have that chance through the latest promotion that is offered by 888 Poker. 888 Poker announced its newest promotion that would allow players to have the chance to win a golf and a poker holiday in Morocco. This promotion is titled The Moroccan Magic promotion. The players who win will be eligible for the special package that will give players the chance to play at the 888 Poker Morocco Tour Championship and the Euro PGA Golf event.

This promotion is going to become effective starting from the 24th of September until the 27th of the same month. The players who want to take part of this promotion will have to play through satellites or they can go directly to the qualifier. The players who choose to play through the satellites will have to play in satellites that run each 2 hours. The buy-ins for the satellites is at 1.10 dollars. Players will then earn seats in the qualifiers on their way to win the grand prize.

As for the players who will choose to go directly to the qualifiers, the qualifier takes place every Wednesday at 8:05 pm GMT. There are 2 guaranteed prizes to be given every week. The buy in for the qualifier is one hundred dollars plus ten dollars that has to be paid by the players who did not play through satellite to earn their seats in the qualifier.

Read More: 888 Casino and Poker Online Gambling : ADI News

I am pleased to join PokerSoftware and would like to introduce myself. I am a 39-year-old poker player living in Vilnius, Lithuania. Although I am older than most online players, I like to believe that with age comes experience.

I grew up in New Jersey where I started to play nickel and dime games with my friends. My father had a regular poker game that changed houses every week, which perhaps was the catalyst for my interest in the game. We would play dealer’s choice games, which exposed me to many different types of poker.

As I got older, I played poker in college as well as Stud cash games in Atlantic City to help pay for expenses that came up as a student. I could only imagine how life would have been different if online poker were available then.

In 2002, I deposited online for the first time on Ultimate Bet. It was really my first experience playing Hold'em and I lost almost my entire deposit playing cash games by not understanding bankroll management and the nuances of Hold'em. With my last few dollars, I joined a $5.50 MTT and, being that it was my first tournament ever, I must have gotten lucky to make the final table and have some money to play with.

From there, I decided to start learning about the game and, for a while, stuck to playing sit and gos and MTTs and stayed away from cash games.


Read More: wackyJaxon Joins PokerSoftware Writing Staff

Veteran online gambling operator Bodog announced recently that it would be upgrading its system with software supplied by Amaya and its subsidiary Chartwell Games. The Canadian company has been doing really well of late with deals being made left, right and center. The firm’s acquisition of gaming software developer and licencee of brand name icon games Cryptologic. The firm also has a Canadian origin before relocating to Ireland. Bodog was created by Calvin Ayre a Canadian from Manitoba.

Amaya has been looking into expansion for a few years now and through strategic positioning Montreal based Amaya Gaming Group experienced tremendous growth of revenues. The huge 285 percent surge during the second quarter of 2012 was outstanding. The expense for restructuring and acquisitions was responsible for the company’s net loss widened slightly from $1.1m last year to $2.72m in Q2 2012.

David Baazov, President and CEO of the Amaya Gaming Group, commented, “We continue to deliver very strong revenue growth achieved both organically and through acquisition. The successful implementation of our growth strategy has led to a larger and more diversified customer base, as well as a more comprehensive product offering that improves our competitive position. Our recently completed financing provides us the resources to continue to execute and pursue some significant opportunities available in our industry.” Bodog joins the company of many other noted firms such as Gala Coral, Victor Chandler, Rank interactive and bwin.party that are already using Chartwell’s extensive games suite. Bodog will switch over to Chartwell on their Asian jurisdiction web location.

CTXM the former supplier, is being taken over by Teddy Sagi’s Playtech software firm and Bodog thought this may be a good time for a change in suppliers. Maybe Bodog wasn’t interested in a joint venture drama the way William Hill had to go through a while ago.



Chartwell Games to Supply Online Gambling Firm Bodog

The PokerStars Sunday Million and Sunday Warm-Up will take some downtime as the World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) steps up to the plate with $30 million on the line overall.

Starting today, Sept. 2, and running until Sept. 23, the WCOOP springs into action with 65 different events of various formats and games.

Thirty-two days of WCOOP excitement get going today at 11 a.m.(ET) with a $215 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed, no-limit hold’em six max event; and later, at 2.30 p.m., a $215 buy-in, $1.5 million guaranteed, no-limit hold’em event.

The fun and games will then come to a close with the $5,200 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event on Sept. 23. The tournament guarantees a total prize pool of $5 million including a first prize of at least $1 million.

Buy-ins vary from $215 to $10,300, but there are satellites to every event from just $1.


World Championship Of Online Poker Kicks Off - European Poker News

So far this year, the impact of women on the game of poker has been outstanding. Xuan Liu kicked the year off right for the ladies, becoming the first woman to ever make the final table of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, then followed that up by driving deep at the World Series of Poker in Seven Card Stud on what was arguably one of the most difficult final tables of the schedule. Add in the bracelet victories by Vanessa Selbst and Allyn Jaffrey Shulman at the WSOP and it has been a good year to this point. But there is a group of ladies who have been united by a common thread that may have an impact yet this year and into the future as well.

Meet The Grindettes – poker’s latest femmes fatale!

This quartet of ladies – founder Katie Stone, Jennifer Shahade, Jamie Kerstetter and Katie Dozier – were brought together in 2011 with one thing in mind. The ladies love the game of poker and have the skills and abilities to make a living from the game. Identified by their red heart “Grindettes” patch, the ladies all had an impact on tournaments during the summer in Las Vegas and are continuing to branch out into other tournaments across the United States.

Stone switched from chess to poker back in 2004 and has been able to maintain success in both of these difficult endeavors. A successful online player who has earned over $200,000 in her career, Stone has been able to move over to the live game with similar results. Since 2009, she has racked up final table finishes around the world that included this year’s WSOP, where she finished in 37th place in the $1500 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em event.

Read More: Meet The Grindettes – Poker

Zynga has snatched up a former executive for online poker site 888, AllThingsD reported. Maytal Ginzburg comes on board with Zynga as its chief operating officer in charge of new markets.

According to AllThingsD: “The hire is important for the Facebook games maker because it shows that, while a number of executives have decided to leave, it can still recruit talent at a very high level.”

Zynga Poker is looking to be a strong real-money gambling brand in regulated markets around the globe. The company has begun lobbying in the United States as well.



Zynga Poker Makes New Hire

Last week, Las Vegas' South Point casino became the first company in the United States to be awarded a legal license to offer real-money poker games online.

It received unanimous approval from a five-member panel of the Nevada Gaming Commission and also was given the OK to manufacture and operate as a service provider.

The games at southpointpoker-com aren't expected to go live until October, as the company is still in the process of formalizing its operations, but free-money games have been running for months with downloadable software at the click of a button.

The games do have their limitations. Nevada — at least for now — only is allowed to provide the real-money games in an intrastate format, which means that you have to physically be located within the state borders and at least 21 years old to enjoy them.

Since it is the first in what is likely to be a growing pool of providers in the next calendar year, South Point's biggest challenge will be its ability to prove that it can keep players outside the legal realm from accessing its services.

“We want to make sure it's done correctly because what you do might have an impact on what others do later,” commission chairman Peter Bernhard told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Read more: First online U.S. poker license requires increased responsibility - San Antonio Express-News

Online poker edges closer and closer to the live casino experience, as PKR launches another software upgrade - enabling players to order virtual drinks at the table.

PKR's update (Version 2.08) allows players to order in-game drinks for themselves and their peers, in exchange for PKR points. As an avatar takes a sip from a mojito, you can hear the ice cubes clink against their glass. A range of beverages are available, from pints of beer to polyester cups of coffee.

A new playing environment has also been introduced with the update - the luxury yacht. These features are in keeping with the brand's legendary ethos of bringing online poker games to life. However, it is the digital upgrades that will appeal most to the players who can't get enough of the game:

Multi-tabling is much easier to handle as several windows can be opened at the same time and arranged in a variety of ways to match the user's preference. Up to nine games can be displayed on one screen, allowing the player to flick between tables and stay on top of each hand.

Plus, players now have the ability to record hands. Whether you want to analyse a mistake, get your head around a bad beat or relive an exciting showdown, you can save the action replay. As a kicker, you can also share the videos on YouTube without leaving the table.


Read More: world-einnews-com/pr_news/113183866/pkr-brings-in-the-drinks-with-its-latest-software-update

The popular online poker forum TwoPlusTwo is again coming under fire by Daniel Negreanu for its policy regarding what can or cannot be posted on its site.

The latest incident in which KidPoker told site moderators to "stop being such nits" occured when a planned 50-plus hour poker podcast designed as a charitable event to benefit the 22Q.org Foundation attempted to post details of its fund-raising drive on the TwoPlusTwo forum. The post was deleted by site moderator "ProfessionalPoker" who told a 22Q spokesman that charity spamming is not allowed on the site without approval from site owner Mason Malmuth, according to examiner-com.

TwoPlusTwo has allowed posts of links to podcasts in the past and the latest fracas has many poker players bewildered over what is or is not allowed by way of postings. Negreanu had a run-in with the same moderator in March when he attempted to post his weekly rant but his post was removed because the video included an advertisement for iSeriesLive. Negreanu received a one-day ban from posting on the popular online poker forum when a second attempt was again deleted by ProfessionalPoker.

Read More: Daniel Negreanu Blasts TwoPlusTwo

A few months ago, online poker network, iPoker, announced they would be splitting their network. the entire Network would be divided into two skins which would be two categories: large player pools and smaller player pools. The Network was making the changes to allow the player experience to be improved and the change has now gone into effect.

iPoker 1 will be the network category for larger player pools and the iPoker 2 network category will be for smaller player pools. Bet365 is one online poker room that will be working on the iPoker 2 network. this option provides mid to low stakes of No Limit Hold’em cash games as well as other options. players will be able to play comfortably as the tougher competition will be eliminated.

The split of the iPoker Network was based on the player traffic at online poker rooms as well as the new players they see signing up each month. The sites with at least 6,000 active players each month would move to iPoker 2 while those under this amount would stay on iPoker 1 and then have to prove the higher numbers before moving up to the other network category. Sites also have to commit to bringing in at least 850 new players to the site each month to remain or make it to the top category.


Read More: iPoker Network Now Split with 1 and 2 Network

New players at William Hill Poker are now eligible for a deposit bonus of 200 percent, up to £1,250. In addition, new players will also earn an automatic entry into the weekly $1,000 new depositors freeroll.

William Hill Poker delivers online poker at a superior level in the gaming industry, offering the best VIP Program along with continuous promotions and tournaments. Combined with cutting edge software and award winning customer service — available 24/7 — William Hill is the only destination for online poker.

William Hill Poker offers over $20 Million in guaranteed prizes every month as well as an exciting line up of land based, cash games and countless poker online bonus offers. There is no other choice when it comes to experiencing online gaming.

If you don’t have a William Hill poker account but would like to take advantage of the new player bonus ENTER HERE



William Hill Poker Offers 200 Percent New Player Bonus - Poker News

It is the Democrats’ turn to take the national stage this week as they attempt to rally their base at the National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. And, like the Republicans, the 2012 Democratic National Platform was published to coincide with the festivities. Unlike in the Republican National Platform, however, online poker was not attacked.

In fact, there was no mention of online poker or online gambling at all. The closest the platform came to discussing the issue, and it really wasn’t very close, was on page 69 under the heading “Internet Freedom.” That section states, in part, “The Obama administration has led the world to recognize and defend Internet freedom – the freedom of expression, assembly, and association online for people everywhere…”

It adds that the administration has taken strides to “preserve the Internet as a platform for commerce, debate, learning, and innovation in the 21st century,” though again, there is no mention of online gambling.

One will recall that the Republican National Platform called for a straight ban on internet gaming, stating:

Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families. We support the prohibition of gambling over the Internet and call for reversal of the Justice Department’s decision distorting the formerly accepted meaning of the Wire Act that could open the door to Internet betting.

The same section of the Republican National Platform that included the above passage also made mention of child pornography, child predators, and human trafficking, thereby associated games to those horrors.


Read More: Democratic National Platform Does Not Discuss Poker