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William Hill Plc, co-owner with Playtech of William Hill Online and William Hill Poker, saw net poker revenue fall by 24 percent in the third quarter of 2012.

The company did not report how much revenue poker contributed to William Hill Online but it is a significant change from third quarter 2011 when net poker revenue grew 14 percent.

William Hill Online, the company’s joint venture with Playtech, owner of the iPoker network, saw overall net revenue grow 18 percent with operating profit up 42 percent to £34.8 million.

Sportsbook turnover was up 27 percent, casino grew two percent and bingo expanded six percent.

William Hill has made an offer to buy Sportingbet, owner of Paradise Poker, in conjunction with Gaming VC and is considering buying Playtech out of its share in William Hill Online.

Sportingbet’s poker product has also suffered a huge slump in recent times.

William Hill said in its interim statement, ““As we announced on 16 October, we are progressing a potential offer in relation to Sportingbet. We are also announcing today that we intend to commence the valuation process relating to the minority share in William Hill Online prior to making a decision on this by the end of the first quarter of 2013.


William Hill Poker Revenue Down 24 Percent - European Poker News

Mystery is surrounding the online poker world as an unidentified poker player has come out of nowhere to take some serious players to task on the Poker Stars network. It hasn’t happened since Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom came onto the poker scene with a style that stunned the competition with win after win at the high stakes tables in his previously unidentified veil of secrecy. Isildur1 was finally exposed as a 22 year old Swedish national on January 8, 2011, at the Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure Poker Tournament.Viktor Blom has since gone on to sign a deal with Full Tilt Poker which is set to re-enter the market in November 2012.

The mystery player is only identified by the handle 1Il|1Il|1il| and has been dubbed “Barcode” by the rest of the poker players online. This player is making everyone nervous as he or she is taking down the top dogs in the Poker Stars field Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom included.

A recent report in PokerListings has revealed that Barcode has taken a piece of legendary professional Viktor Blom winning $173,000 in a recent encounter. Barcode has gained $1.2 million so far in October at various games and is still going strong. The poker professional toasted the others and in just one week totalled $500.000 in pool money. Speculation has it the new unidentified player is from Canada but only because the account is registered in Canada giving no clues as to the gender, age or real nationality of this outstanding and successful online poker competitor.

The winnings have come at a cost though, when Barcode lost $200,000 during early competitions at the big time tables. Interest is growing as the internet poker world continues to wage a private campaign against unknown Barcode who continues to seek the top dog position in the high-stakes online poker universe.


Online Poker's High Stakes Winner Only Known As 'Barcode'

Euroclub Network Ltd. announced today that it launched a new online poker network, branded League Network, with its showcase premier customer, GoldBet. The League Network differentiates itself from other poker networks through its focus on entertainment value, balanced player pools across partner sites and higher partner revenues, as sites operating on the League Network will not offer rakeback.

Primarily centered on European and emerging markets, League Network caters to casual and recreational players, offering very generous rewards closely integrated with the poker games. Players earn rewards not only for the amount of time and level of stakes played but also randomly, and even in situations when they fold. These rewards (Gold Chips, Gold Cards and Loyalty Levels) are simple to use with an emphasis on helping operators improve player retention while creating more fun for the players.

As one of the most prestigious online bookmakers in Europe, GoldBet will be bringing its success and experience to the League Network. Founded in 2000, GoldBet’s internationally recognized quality, experience and transparency provides players and bettors a trusted and familiar brand to play poker.


New online poker network, League Network, launches with GoldBet

New Jersey is still in the process of passing a bill to legalize online poker but until that time the Golden Nugget is getting a jump on the possible new revenue stream by offering free online poker play now. You can sign up on the Golden Nugget Web site.

The casino has announced that an online poker app is on the way and to celebrate the Golden Nugget is giving away a free iPad. To enter you just have to go on the Golden Nugget Facebook page and “like” the casino to be eligible.

Ahead of the WSOP Main Event final table getting underway on Monday, October 29, online poker league community HogWild Poker has announced the signing of October-Niner Jeremy Ausmus as a sponsored pro.

A cash player since 2004, the 33 year-old Colorado native booked his first live tournament cash in 2008, and has subsequently amassed $427,145 in winnings. In addition, he is already guaranteed a minimum of $754,798 for making it through to the WSOP final table with a $8.5 million top prize awaiting the eventual champion. However, he will have quite a bit of work to do first as he begins as the short-stack, albeit with 32 big blinds.

Following the announcement of his new sponsorship deal, the married father of two commented: “HogWild Poker is by far the most competitive free-to-play site out there. I look forward to getting to know the community and finding some good games to play.”

As mentioned, HogWild Poker is a free online poker community which is designed to recreate the “social” aspects of online poker within a competitive league backdrop. Players are also afforded the opportunity to enter freerolls and promotions offering entry into live buy-in tournaments, as well as other prizes.

Commenting on their new signing, HogWild Poker CEO Jeff Amrein said: “We couldn’t be more excited to have a player of Jeremy’s caliber representing us at the Main Event final table. He perfectly fits what our brand is all about, he’s a competitive guy who loves and respects the game of poker.”

As the site’s new signing, Jeremy Ausmus’ first duty will involve entering a HogWild tournament on Wednesday October 24th complete with a $100 bounty on his head. Furthermore, the winner of this freeroll will receive a trip to watch the WSOP Main Event final table live in Las Vegas.



WSOP Finalist Jeremy Ausmus Signs With HogWild Poker

Power Poker is a poker room that has been online since 2010 with license in the Netherland Antilles and operated by cake gaming. The same operator responsible of cake poker and a handful other poker rooms. Power Poker is a member in the cake poker network and invites new players with 200% up to $2000 signup bonus.

As some of you know by playing with cake poker the cake network feature an extensive reward system where players earn gold cards and gold chips and guaranteed poker tournaments around the clock.

Are you entertained?! Head over to Power Poker Today!

$2000 signup bonus. That's not so bad.........😁

I will try it out.

Hope everyone is doing well, earlier today we created a listing of cake poker based power poker website and another one is seeing the horizon at ixgames. Here's Colt Poker with a Cowboy based theme and just like power poker you are entitled to 200% up to $2000. Deposit $1000 to receive the highest bonus and just earn frequent player points to release the bonus. You're also invited to a $500 freeroll on saturday, check out the schedule under the tournament freeroll tab.

Requirements for the welcome freerolls is below



If you're a female looking for a new poker room, this site needs more cowgirls from all the cowboys in their stable.

Enjoy the game!

A rising Republican star has put his weight behind legislation from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that would legalize online poker.

In a letter to congressional leaders dated Thursday, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) said he offers his “full support” to efforts by Reid and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) to craft federal legislation on Internet gaming.

“As Congress considers legislation to address the uncertainty surrounding Internet gaming, I offer my full support to the efforts by Sens. Harry Reid and John Kyl [sic] to draft a federal bill that strikes a balance between consumer protection and maintaining state authority,” Sandoval wrote.

Sandoval noted that he has experience in overseeing gambling as a former Nevada Gaming Commission chairman, and said state rights can be preserved under federal legislation.

Read More: Republican governor in Nevada pledges 'full support' to Reid

After spending two years trying unsuccessfully to legalize online poker, a group that included an Inland casino-owning tribe, has dissolved.

Tribes, including Inland tribes, were not united behind the effort to legalize online poker – a factor that certainly didn’t make the failed attempt any easier.

From the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians: Effective October 12, 2012, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians has withdrawn from the 29 tribe California Tribal Intrastate Poker Consortium, LLC, which was formed in 2009 to further the interests of California tribes in intrastate Internet poker. The consortium is one of two members of the California Online Poker Association (COPA). The other member is a consortium of major
California card rooms. San Manuel’s withdrawal from the tribal consortium automatically removes it as one of that organization’s delegates on the COPA board.

“Our tribe’s withdrawal was made after careful deliberation and with the greatest of respect for, and gratitude to, our tribal co-members in the consortium,” said San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
Chairperson Carla Rodriguez. “Our collective effort was a meaningful step toward bringing the benefits of intrastate Internet poker that is safe and well-regulated to the public, the state government, and the
gaming industry in California. We look forward to continuing the cooperative efforts in the future.”

San Manuel’s decision to withdraw was based, she said, on the realization that, ”The politics over Internet poker over the last two years simply has not caught up with modern technology’s inroads into California gaming economics, and it was unclear how soon in the future that would change. We decided it was time to step back for awhile and assess the situation.”

From Ryan Hightower, the association’s spokesperson: “The California Online Poker Association’s Board of Managers has announced it is dissolving the association. The decision was based upon insufficient progress within the legislature toward the passage of an online poker [sic] bill.

When the California Online Poker Association (COPA) was formed two years ago, the COPA operating agreement contemplated that the organization might be dissolved if state online poker legislation had not passed by January 2, 2013.

COPA’s members continue to believe that the authorization of intrastate Internet poker would provide California with hundreds of millions in new state revenue, thousands of new jobs and vital protections for players.”

Check back for more information as this story develops.



GAMBLING: Lack of law spells end to California Online Poker Assoc. : Political Empire

Online gambling is no closer to being legal in California than it was two years ago, so the group created to change that is folding.

The California Online Poker Association, a limited liability company that consisted of 29 tribes and 31 card rooms, announced Thursday, Oct. 25, that it would dissolve.

A division among casino-owning tribes stalled legislation that would have legalized online gambling, leaving it to die without a vote of lawmakers. In the Inland area, the Pechanga and Agua Caliente tribes opposed the legislation, and the San Manuel and Morongo tribes were part of the group lobbying to pass it.

New legislation would have to be introduced in 2013 if supporters decide to try again.

While the poker association may have disbanded, the San Manuel and Morongo tribes haven’t given up the idea of expanding their casino revenue online.

“The politics over Internet poker over the last two years simply has not caught up with modern technology's inroads into California gaming economics, and it was unclear how soon in the future that would change,” said San Manuel Chairwoman Carla Rodriguez in a statement announcing the Highland area tribe’s withdrawal from the association. “We decided it was time to step back for awhile and assess the situation.”

Federal law prohibits online gambling but allows states to permit it. In California, legislation first proposed in 2010 would have allowed tribes and card rooms to buy five-year licenses to operate online gambling sites. The licenses would have cost $30 million each.


Read More: TRIBE: All bets off for online poker group | Breaking News | PE-com - Press-Enterprise

After two years of failed efforts to get the state of California to legalize Internet poker, a coalition of 46 card clubs and Indian casinos is disbanding in frustration.

Legalization bills were introduced this year and last but failed to make it out of committee, in part because of disagreement within the gambling industry over who should be given the state-sanctioned games or whether they would hurt brick-and-mortar casinos.

On Thursday, the California Online Poker Assn. said its governing board has voted to dissolve the organization. "The decision was based upon insufficient progress within the legislature toward the passage of an online poker bill," said Ryan Hightower, COPA's spokesperson.

Hightower said the group originally expected to operate for two years.

"COPA’s members continue to believe that the authorization of intrastate Internet poker would provide California with hundreds of millions in new state revenue, thousands of new jobs and vital protections for players,’’ Hightower said.

Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood), who introduced past poker bills, said the issue is not going away, even if COPA is folding. He called the group a ``grand experiment. You had former enemies trying to work together. People didn't have the same interests.''


California coalition for legalizing Internet poker dissolves - latimes-com

In recent months we reported that Fertitta Interactive/Ultimate Gaming hoped to launch real money poker in Nevada by the end of the year with their offering of Ultimate poker if and when regulators approving pending manufacturer, service provider and operator licenses.

Well it looks as though things are moving ahead as planned as the division of Fertitta Entertainment LLC, which is also the parent company of Station Casinos LLC and the UFC along with Boyd Gaming Corporation, the Golden Nugget were granted interactive gaming licenses by the Nevada Gaming Commission and Control Board Thursday. With the OK to launch online poker websites as soon as the technology is approved.

Boyd Gaming Executive Vice President Bob Boughner told gaming commissioners the company believes online poker in Nevada will be a $180 million a year business and would damage the state’s live poker business.

“The total revenues in the state from poker will be twice what they are today with online poker,” Boughner said.

Boyd Gaming has an agreement with bwin.party to operate online poker and the website can’t be launched until the European partner is licensed, which may not happen until early 2013.

Ultimate Gaming Chairman Tom Breitling told the panel the company’s partnership with UFC and Station Casinos creates a huge pool of online poker players.

“We’re set up to participate in the revenues when there is revenues to participate in,” said attorney Kate Lowenhar-Fisher of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, who was representing the Golden Nugget.



Online Poker Hopefuls Get Step Closer With Approval from NGC | CS Report

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William Hill's Great Bonus Bonanza - Gaming - Onlinecasinoreports-com

An organization of tribes and card rooms formed two years ago to lobby for legal Internet poker in California has disbanded after spending more than a million dollars on the unsuccessful effort.

The California Online Poker Association announced Thursday that it dissolved, a day after rumors began flying that it was disintegrating because of infighting among members.

"The decision was based upon insufficient progress within the Legislature toward the passage of an online poker bill," Ryan Hightower, the group's spokesman, said in a statement.

A handful of bills over the last three years have proposed regulating and taxing online gambling within California. But they collapsed after the state's gambling interests fought over who would profit from the new business.

The California Online Poker Association consisted of two large tribes with casinos – Morongo and San Manuel – as well as several smaller tribes and card rooms. Hightower's statement said the parties envisioned the group might dissolve if California lawmakers did not approve an online poker bill by January 2013.

The group was one of the state's biggest spenders on lobbying during the first half of 2012, outspending many lobbying powerhouses including Chevron and the California Teachers Association.

COPA spent more than $1.2 million on lobbying in first six months of 2012, making it the tenth-biggest spender during that period. The group also spent nearly $147,000 on lobbying in the last quarter of 2011 – even though it reported lobbying no bills during that time.

Read more here: Group lobbying to legalize Internet poker dissolves - Capitol and California - The Sacramento Bee

Online gaming doesn’t need to involve battling killer robots or time travelling, sometimes it can be about sitting back in a comfortable chair and hoping Lady Luck is sufficiently on your side to hand you a wad of cash.

Gambling from home is an increasingly popular activity with familiar High Street brands and even the Government sanctioned Lottery making it easy for people to have punt without venturing outside.

But while granny might be happy betting on a cutely named horse from her armchair, the professionals and serious money are to be found in the world of online poker.

No longer confined to the smokey back rooms of BBC TV’s Big Deal, today poker is played online by an ever growing number of fans and next month, the delight of seasons fans of the sport, a familiar brand is set to rise from the ashes.

From 2004 Full Tilt Poker was one of the web’s biggest poker game rooms until, in what sounds like a plot from a film, it was mothballed in 2011 after running foul of the FBI.

Now after a deal with the US authorities, the brand is to reopen in selected countries on November 6th under the ownership of PokerStars, the world’s largest poker site.

PokerStars has already announced that it’ll reimburse Full Tilt Poker customers who have been unable to access funds the site was closed.

In addition, the company recently announced that poker legend Gus Hansen will return as brand ambassador. Hansen is a four-time World Poker Tour champion and widely considered to be one of the best players in the world.

Earlier this month the player said he was “very excited to represent the industry’s most authentic poker brand”, adding: “Full Tilt Poker has the best games, most innovative software and the strongest poker community; to me this feels like coming home.”

Announcing Hansen’s return to the brand, Sarne Lightman, Head of Marketing at Full Tilt Poker, said: “Gus has always embodied the best characteristics of the Full Tilt Poker brand and we are thrilled to have him return as an ambassador.”

The site has been granted an online gambling licence by the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission, allowing to operate from the island.

The Commission is responsible for ensuring operators and their games are fair and honest and that players receive all their winnings.

“The Gambling Supervision Commission is confident that Full Tilt Poker will safeguard the interests of its players and adhere to the strict policies and procedures governing Isle of Man licensed gaming companies,” said Chief Executive Steve Brennan.

“Full Tilt Poker’s application was strengthened by the fact that their new owners and management team are known to us and have an impeccable record of compliance with the Isle of Man’s regulatory requirements.”


Full Tilt Poker to re-open in November

It appears Zynga really will follow through on its promise and bring real money online gaming to its customers, at least in the UK.

Although the company previously indicated it had its first real money products in development in-house, and was flirting with the idea of acquiring Ongame, it has settled on the more realistic plan: Outsource most of the work to bwin.party and embrace a whitelabel solution for its casino and poker products.

In early 2013, Zynga players in the UK will have the opportunity to play for real money on a skin of PartyGaming, which powers PartyPoker and some smaller skins including EmpirePoker-com and WPTPoker-com. Real money Zynga Poker will share the same international player pool that makes PartyPoker the largest poker network in the world, and (distant) second only to PokerStars in terms of player pool size.

So the question all poker players are asking is: What effect will this have on player numbers on the second largest poker network online? Let’s do some back-of-the-envelope calculations.

There’s no question just how huge the site is—its the third largest app on Facebook in terms of monthly active users. Although numbers have declined over the last three months, it still boasts 6.2m daily active users, 15.9m weekly active users, and 35.8m monthly, according to the latest data from AppData-com.

These numbers appear huge, but its not the normal way we think of online poker traffic; we normally compare sites by players actually playing online at any given moment. This is how PokerScout ranks data: total seats filled at any given moment, averaged over a seven-day period.

And thankfully, we have Zynga Poker listed on PokerScout too. We can see that “15.9m weekly active users” actually translates into only ~100,000 players active at one time.

Of course that’s still a lot of players. It’s more than PokerStars—both real and play money combined. In fact, it’s almost double the entire real money online gaming industry combined.

But now lets factor in age and geographical demographics to come up with the number of UK players who potentially could convert to real money players.

This number has to be reduced slightly to take into account age, as Zynga Poker allows anyone over the age of 13 to play. Although there’s no data from Zynga on player demographics, one report in 2011 suggests only 6% of Zynga players are under 21. Another states that just over 10% of users on Facebook are aged 13-17. We should probably just reduce that 100,000 number down to ~95,000 to accommodate for the underage.

So of our 95,000 adults playing on Zynga Poker at any one time, how many are in the UK? Again, we have no data from Zynga, but according to data compiled by SocialBakers, 8.5% of Facebook users are in the UK. If we assume the same split on Zynga Poker, we have approximately 8,000 Zynga Poker players in the UK who can be upsold real money poker.

So now we come to the question of how many players will convert. It’s theoretically possible that the PartyGaming client will be integrated as a Facebook app—Party is planning an all new software platform for 2013 and Facebook does permit real money gambling apps. However, given the timescale and the costs on Facebook’s platform (reportedly a 30% cut of all in-game purchases), it’s much more likely Zynga players will be encouraged to download more traditional software.

A lot has already been written about how many Zynga players will convert—two good blog posts are on Infinite Edge and Bill Rini —suffice to say that the large majority of Zynga players in the UK are aware of PokerStars and prefer to play for free on social sites like Zynga. Their reasons for playing are vastly different to real-money poker players.

If Zynga is able to convert (and maintain) 5% of their play-money players into real-money players—an impressive conversion rate—we are talking 400 players at one time.

This is roughly equivalent to micro-networks like PKR and SkyPoker, and would result in a 10-15% increase in traffic on PartyPoker.

So this deal, alone, will not make a large, immediate change to the online poker industry. Wednesday’s announcement is important, but not for the immediate changes: It could shape up to be the first step in a much wider change in the industry, bringing social and real-money gaming together. If successful, we could see Zynga open up to more markets and better presence on social media from other operators, which may in turn bring closer scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers to the industry.

But those salivating over the idea of a new poker boom forged from this single deal may wish to temper expectations.



Getting Real: A Look at Zynga Poker's Numbers | Pokerfuse Online Poker News

Face Up Entertainment Group, Inc. (OTCBB:FUEG), a Reality Gaming Social Network company, today announced that it has begun internal testing on Super Turbo Poker and will, upon successful testing, make this poker game available to its members.

A Turbo poker tournament, sometimes called a Speed tournament, is a tournament where the blinds rise at a more accelerated rate than at a regular poker tournament. Additionally, the amount of time each player has to act is reduced. Usually, the blinds will increase every 5 minutes, but sometimes the blinds rise every 3 minutes.

"For players who already tend to act decisively and better under pressure, the Turbo offering in tournament style will make a great addition to our existing platform," stated Felix Elinson, the Company's CEO.

"Online poker tournaments which are played under Turbo conditions move along at an increased pace and have unique advantages over other tournament which can drag on for a couple of hours. This creates a more action packed, intense type of poker tournament where people have to act quickly. It is our intention to continuously expand the company's offerings and we anticipate that these new games will open new opportunities for those players who prefer games outside of the regular pace of Texas Holdem. We are hopeful that the addition of these games will help the company attract new members to our community," added Mr. Elinson.

The Company's game proprietary platform (Online Poker: Play Free Online Poker Tournaments & Win Money at FaceUp Gaming Sites) is being used in creating a vast global gaming network consisting of games from every region of the globe, supporting native languages as well as cross language functionality. Logical additions to the platform include global staples in gaming such as Backgammon, Poker, Chess and Checkers and many others. Face Up Gaming is a legal non-wagering online gaming platform (Online Poker: Play Free Online Poker Tournaments & Win Money at FaceUp Gaming Sites).

Face Up Entertainment Group, Inc. is committed to responsible game-play and is not a gambling site. "Our goal is to maintain the thrill of online games while keeping it safe for everyone. Our social networking functionality provides the user base with the ability to grow their circle of friends beyond those they physically reach day to day. Our users sit down to play a game and more often than not leave making a connection with a stranger which is then maintained via our social network functionalities," stated Mr. Elinson.

The Face Up Entertainment Group, Inc. logo is available at Attachment

In online gambling there are many ways to lose but in Korea sometimes losing can be a win for certain informed players. It is illegal in Korea to play online for real money but there are virtual currencies available to gamers who want to play the odds.

Koreans are able to access social gambling web sites that offer blackjack and poker. The law in Korea is clear on this, allowing players to buy only virtual credits. The game credit limit of 300,000 won or around $270 USD is allowed per month on any Korean social gambling web site. It is illegal for a gambler to sell their points to another player but fans of serious gambling have found a way to get around this restriction.

Those in need of more virtual credits are helped by what Koreans call the ‘moneymen.’ These poker or blackjack players deal with the losing hands mostly because as they lose they can transfer their virtual credits to another player in the form of losses except they get an extra ten percent as a commission for playing to lose. That’s a ten percent cash incentive that moneymen are earning which translated into real terms means even a novice moneyman can make about two million won or $1,800 a month, a professional can profit about $91,000 a year. These transactions are totally illegal in Korea punishable by a prison sentence, but as in many situations like this there is little the officials can do about the activity. Internet instructions are available to guide the Korean moneymen through the hoops. Estimates have suggested that billions of Korean won are negotiated through moneymen every month in the country.

Online social blackjack and poker sites that offer virtual currency betting don’t have any intention of shutting out the moneymen. The sites make money whether the player wins or loses so the more that is played the more profits are realized.



Korean 'Moneymen' Do Well Playing Online Poker to Lose