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Indian tribes in California have reportedly joined forces and are preparing an online poker proposal that would allow their interests to be represented.

Many of the state’s tribes had opposed attempts to legalize online poker in the past under the belief that Internet gaming would put a dent in the revenue of their land-based casino operations. But legalization in Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada, with the latter launching online poker last week via Ultimate Poker, have prompted a number of tribal leaders to realize that its only a matter of time before online gambling regulations become widespread in individual states throughout the country, including California.

At a recent online gaming conference organized by Capitol Weekly, Chairman Mark Macarro of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians told The Press-Enterprise that tribes are ready "to begin working with state legislators" in enacting online poker legislation. Macarro added that the previous stance held by a number of tribes who feared that online poker would undercut their profit margins is evolving.

Certain Golden State tribes have always been in favor of online poker regulations and had banded together in the past in an effort to effectuate legislative change, such as the San Manuel Band and Morongo Band of Mission Indians. Both of those groups belonged to the now defunct California Online Poker Association (COPA). Made up of a collection of 60 card rooms and Indian tribes, COPA had attempted to promote online poker legislation to ensure that its members received their share of the anticipated revenue.

COPA elected to dissolve last year after the poker-only Senate Bill 1463, sponsored by Senators Rod Wright and Darrell Steinberg, failed to gather enough support. Despite a few years of lobbying legislators to regulate Internet poker that included hundreds of hours of negotiations and public hearings, not one single vote has been taken by the state legislature.

Sen. Wright is trying again with a new bill this year. Wright’s SB 51 may conflict with the measure being drafted by the tribes, as Wright’s proposal calls for the inclusion of the state’s horse racing interests. COPA sought to exclude racetracks from participating in the state’s online poker scheme. It is not yet known if the latest native tribe proposal will continue in that vein.

With the nation’s largest population and the potential for a huge online poker market, it is encouraging that California tribes continue discussions in an effort to find common ground to legalize online poker. A lobbyist for the Agua Caliente tribe, Barry Brokaw, said that a number of tribes have "made strides" toward a new Internet poker proposal and that "something may develop pretty soon."




California Tribes Changing Views on Online Poker

Recently, Pokerstars’ attempt to purchase The Atlantic Club in New Jersey for a knock-down price hit a serious bump after the deal expired before an agreement could be reached. However, the world biggest online poker room has not given up hope of entering the US gaming market once again, and has now issued a court order restraining the casino from selling itself to another firm.

That order has now been signed by Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Raymond Batten, thus reinstating the $15 million purchase agreement which was ended by the Atlantic Club. Apparently, PokerStars had already invested $11 million of that money to help keep the beleaguered casino afloat and Pokerstars is now claiming that the Atlantic Club owners have violated their agreement. As PokerStars spokesman Eric Hollresier, commented:

“This step has been taken to protect Rational Group’s [Parent company of Pokerstars] rights and interests under the purchase agreement and reflects the group’s desire to complete the acquisition of the Atlantic Club.”

In the lawsuit filed by PokerStars in the Superior Court, the poker room has alleged that just one day before the deal was ended, the sellers had suggested Pokerstars pays them an additional $6 million in exchange for extending the purchase agreement by a further 10 days, while also demanding they be allowed to negotiate alternate deal with other potential buyers.

Had the Rational Group complied with the demand, the company alleges it would have paid the asked for purchase price, but received absolutely nothing in return. As PokerStars attorney Wayne Positan wrote in the complaint: “The circumstances of the termination and the outrageous nature of the terms of the extension demonstrate that [the sellers] have breached the contract and the duty of good faith and fair dealing.”

An initial hearing has now been set before Judge Batten on May 17th.



PokerStars v Atlantic Club Hearing Scheduled For May 17th

All poker players will know the rush of a good hand or bluffing their way to victory with a duff deal. However, many are starting to also feel the sting of scams, cons and dishonesty in anonymous online poker rooms. Obviously there are hidden dangers whilst playing online compared to playing in a physical environment. However, the misfortunes of others shouldn’t deter you from the fun and excitement to be had in online casinos. Here are six ways to escape the scams and still enjoy the glorious game of poker.

Blacklists

Fortunately, there are many sites which help to promote these rogue casinos and players by publishing public blacklists, reviews and reports. Considerations which these lists take into account include poor or non-existent payment histories, poor handling of customers and complaints and suspicious software.

Do your research

Always play at trusted, reputable poker sites which are established and well known within the gambling community as well as the general media. Simply looking at a site’s content, style and related media can lead you in the right direction. Larger, more successful companies will have the resources to put together ad campaigns, a plush website and a catalogue of services and features such as Golden Palace Texas Hold’em rooms. Avoid sites which are new and look basic and unprofessional.

SEO

Many reputable companies will have climbed the search engine rankings through years of good service, a large fan base and marketing initiatives such as link building and pay per click advertisements. Therefore, if you are wary of scammers, stick to the sites which are listed first on major search engines.

Check the features

If in doubt, check the services and features which are on offer such as a helpline and other contact details. Sites which offer programs and incentives that help you win in any way such as reading hands are not to be trusted. Obviously a good poker site should entice you into playing; however, it should not make promises or deals which guarantee a win. You should also make sure that your own safety features are up to date on your computer or PC. Good anti-virus and anti-spyware software will protect you from a barrage of online threats.

Personal information

It may seem obvious to not disclose personal information such as passwords and bank details to an unknown source. However, many players are caught out by fraudulent emails and extra registration forms. Rather than following the links provided, go directly to the website which should be provided in the email. If a website is not included within the email, hit delete straight away.

Report it

If you have been scammed or you suspect a site is being dishonest, there are a range of services for players to voice their concerns either online or via the telephone such as Action Fraud. You should also report individual behaviour as well as websites and emails as these players can target others to part with their money or hack into accounts.



6 Easy and Smart Ways to Avoid Online Poker Room Scams | CS Report

Nice to read..

Las Vegas resident Daniel Healey made history last weekend, becoming the first poker player to win a legal, real-money online tournament in the U.S.

Healey topped a 200-player field to win Ultimate Poker’s first $10,000 Sunday Tournament. Healey collected a first-place prize of $4,173.

Ultimate Gaming spokesman Joe Versaci said the field reached its 200-player cap 45 minutes before the event opened. Because of the high demand, Ultimate Poker will double the capacity of its Sunday Tournament to 400 players, doubling the potential prize pool to $20,000.

Healey said he was excited to have a place in history.

“I have been keeping up with the news updates and poker blogs ever since Black Friday hit and was extremely excited to hear that legal online poker is here,” he said.

Ultimate Poker is majority owned by Station Casinos, Inc. The website launched on April 30. It is currently the only real money online poker website in Nevada. Gamblers must be located in Nevada to play on the website.



Las Vegas man wins first legal online poker tournament in United States

Another bad week for Gus Hansen saw him lose more than $300,000, according to tracking data from HighstakesDB. With the loss, his is now down more than $9.5 million on Full Tilt Poker over his career while playing on the site under his real name.

Full Tilt opened in 2004, and Hansen’s data goes back to 2007.

Around the summer of 2009 Hansen was sitting at about $1.7 million in profits on the site, but then went on a downswing that lasted more than a year. He was down about $10 million. However, in the fall of 2010, Hansen began one of the biggest heaters in the history of online poker. By the spring of 2011, he had erased about $6 million of those losses.

When Black Friday struck in April and Full Tilt Poker shut down that summer, Hansen had to put his upswing on hold for months and months. The site relaunched in November 2012 under new ownership, and Hansen, who had millions locked up in his account, began to play again.

It’s been horrific since then. In the span of six months, Hansen has lost $6,328,995.

The “Gus Hansen” screen name is the biggest loser in the history of online poker. Here’s a look at the five most miserable screen names of all-time.

1. Gus Hansen: -$9,535,729
2. noataima: -$7,067,935
3. lady marmelade: -$6,632,177
4. patatino: -$5,924,546
5. Niki Jedlicka: -$4,449,287

Hansen has played more than 1.2 million hands lifetime on the software, which means he’s averaged a $7.50 loss per hand over his career.





High-Stakes Online Poker: Gus Hansen Approaching $10 Million Lifetime Losses On Full Tilt

PokerStars’ parent company, The Rational Group filed a lawsuit against Resorts International Holdings (RIH) and other defendants, last Monday in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Presiding Judge Raymond Batten immediately granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) to restrict the selling of the Atlantic Club (AC) casino, and has set the initial hearing on May 17, 2013.

The Rational Group asserts that the RIH, an affiliate company of Colony Capital LLC, acted in bad faith when it terminated their contract last April 26, 2013. This is in view of the online gambling company’s failure to secure an interim license for Internet gambling operations, within the stipulated period.

However, the filing of the lawsuit revealed other stipulations in connection with the purchase contract that the parties entered into In December 2012. It turned out that the Rational Group has since paid the Atlantic Club $11 million as part of the deal, with a condition that the latter will retain the monies paid in case the contract is legally terminated. Another stipulation required the Rational Group to pay an additional $4 million within two days after the legal termination.

However, the Rational Group further disclosed that aside from attempting to collect the $4 million, the RIH communicated a proposal for a 10-day extension in exchange for an additional $6 million. The extension is obviously still not enough if the intention is to give Rational Group more time to comply with the licensing requirement. The New Jersey’s regulatory bodies have a total 90 days within which to complete its investigation and evaluation processes, before deciding to grant Rational Group a temporary license.

In fact, up to this moment, it is still uncertain if the NJ regulatory bodies will approve the online poker company’s interim license; thus, even the TRO is not an assurance that the Rational Group will be able to purchase the Atlantic Club casino.






Online Poker Company Files Lawsuit : ADI News

An audio tape secretly recorded by disgraced UltimateBet cheater Russ Hamilton was released on Friday by Hamilton’s former computer expert, exposing the roles played by Hamilton, Greg Pierson and others in the insider cheating at the site, which was at one time the third-largest US-facing online poker room. The long-term cheating at UltimateBet, which was done through special software that allowed Hamilton and others to view the hole cards of opponents at the UB tables, occurred from 2003-07. Hamilton was later named by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission as the sole perpetrator of the cheating, for which UltimateBet later refunded more than $20 million to cheated players.

The release of a three-hour recording, secretly made in 2008 by Hamilton himself, features an extended conversation between Hamilton, UB founder and current iovation CEO Greg Pierson, and two UltimateBet attorneys, Daniel Friedberg and Sanford “Sandy” Millar. The men discuss both the specifics of the cheating and proposed ways for covering it up, refunding some affected players, and otherwise minimizing the impact of the cheating. Hamilton, Pierson and the attorneys also discussed ways to not issue refunds to some of the players, if reasons could be found to not pay them.

The recording’s apparent genesis, from the early 2008 timespan when the scope and nature of the cheating became apparent to independent investigators and players, reflects the realization by UB execs that simply ignoring complaints about the cheating was no longer an option. In addition to Hamilton admitting responsibility for the majority of the cheating, the tape also confirms a handful of players previously reported to be among the victims of the long-term theft, which occurred largely at UB’s high-stakes cash-game tables. Among those specifically mentioned on the tape as being cheated, whether by name or by their UB screen names, were Prahlad “Mahatma” Friedman, Mike Matusow, Mike “trambopoline” Fosco and Robert Williamson III.

At one point, Hamilton admitted even paying taxes on money that he stole from other players and later withdrew from the site.

The recording was released as part of a large data dump by Travis Makar, who for years worked for Hamilton as his personal computer expert. Much of the other data published by Makar has previously been released,including screen grabs of account information for various UB insiders and a collection of photos showing some of the cheating accounts used by Hamilton and a computer rig assembled by Makar to allow Hamilton to evade UltimateBet’s and iovation’s own fraud-prevention software.

Makar, in a private e-mail to this reporter, cited the reemergence of iovation in connection with Nevada’s new online-poker industry as one of his motivations for the latest data release. Iovation has contracted, through CAMS/Verifi, to provide player-identification services to Ultimate Poker. Ultimate Poker (unrelated to UltimateBet), is the online site launched by Fertitta Interactive last week, the first fully legal, Nevada-based online poker site.


Audio Tape Confirms UltimateBet Cheating Details | Pokerfuse Online Poker News

Prominent poker player Phil Hellmuth has issued a brief statement of regret over his long-term involvement with the UltimateBet poker site, for which Hellmuth, an early investor and minority owner, was associated with for a dozen years.

Hellmuth’s statement, issued via his agent, Poker Royalty president Brian Balsbaugh, was first published by independent poker news compiler Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers on the 2+2 forums. Hellmuth chose to make a public statement after hearing secret audio tapes discussing the UB cheating scandal, which occurred from 2003-07, and centered around Russ Hamilton, the disgraced former owner of UltimateBet.

One of the key items in a large data dump published by former Hamilton computer expert Travis Makar on Friday was a three-hour recording secretly made by Russ Hamilton in early 2008, of a meeting discussing the cheating and the company’s plans for covering up the scandal and its potential impact. Hellmuth and Balsbaugh issued the statement after listening to excerpts from the tape, which include the meeting’s participants planning to keep Hellmuth in the dark about the full scope of the cheating.

Participants in the meeting, besides Hamilton himself, included UltimateBet co-founder and current iovation CEO Greg Pierson; Seattle-area attorney Daniel Friedberg, who at one point was Hellmuth’s personal attorney (and attended, with Hellmuth, the University of Wisconsin-Madison) before moving on to represent UltimateBet’s corporate interests; and a second attorney, Sanford “Sandy” Millar, a Californian who handled many of UB’s payroll and tax matters and has been alleged to have a close relationship with Hamilton.

“Trusting my gut has allowed me to be at the top of my profession and develop a lifetime of friends and great experiences,” read a part of Hellmuth’s statement. “Unfortunately, I made a horrible read regarding my relationship with the founders of the now defunct online poker site Ultimate Bet.”

Hellmuth cited a personal disgust at excerpts from the tape wherein the participants discuss how to hide the full extent of the cheating from Hellmuth, who has never been connected to the actual cheating. Hellmuth did acknowledge willingly trading on his reputation and continuing to serve as the site’s foremost spokesman, in an attempt to draw renewed player interest to UB. The site’s cheating scandal was major poker news throughout much of 2008, when the taped meeting occurred.

“At the time,” according to the Hellmuth statement, “I was led to believe that if I left UB right away the business would be impacted and then less likely to pay its obligations to the victims. As such, I made the decision to believe the leaders of UB and stayed on in the hopes that they would make right to anyone cheated.” A later line from the release asserts, “They lied to me about their activities and I made a big mistake in trusting them for way too long.”

Hellmuth eventually departed UltimateBet in December of 2010, just months before it was shuttered as part of the US government’s “Black Friday“ crackdown. By that time the site had been transferred to the control of Absolute Poker, with UB parent company Excapsa placed into a liquidation process that spanned several years.

Not referenced in the statement are Hellmuth’s alleged long-time ownership stakes in both UltimateBet parent company Excapsa and iovation, a Greg Pierson-led online security company that was spun off from UB’s own operations. Iovation was also in the news this week, after being dropped as a third-party ID verification service by Ultimate Poker, the first Nevada-authorized online poker site.

Hellmuth’s statement also references the “founders” of UB, in connection with the secretly taped Hamilton-Pierson meeting, though Hellmuth’s involvement with the site actually predates that of Hamilton, and ignores Hellmuth’s own early role with the company.

Hamilton’s motives for recording the meeting remain obscured, though Makar has previously released brief snippets from the tape, along with other incriminating files and photos.



Phil Hellmuth Releases Statement Regarding UltimateBet Audio Recording | Pokerfuse Online Poker News

There are many differences of opinion in casinos regarding whether or not a player should be paid and when it come down to dispute the courts sometimes have to do the judging. Such is the case in London England where one of the world’s best poker players has a problem with one very large gambling firm.
Crockfords Casino located in the upscale part of town is owned by the Malaysian based Genting Group which has very deep pockets and as many as 58,000 people on their payroll. The Casino is being sued by none other than pro poker player Phil Ivey who claims the casino is not paying him his winnings of £7.8 million (US $ 12.1 million) garnered while playing punto banco over a two day period.
The win which occurred in August of 2012 with news of the disputed payout emerging last October and now the law suit has been revealed many months later.
Crockfords have officially counterclaimed that Ivey and his companion took advantage of improperly-cut playing cards, and manipulated the dealer into rotating some of the cards by 180 degrees before returning them to the discard stack. Card decks with full-bleed designs especially with repetitive, geometric patterns have been discarded at most card-playing venues especially in high end venues such as Crockfords.
Apparently Ivey and his female companion accumulated the win after initially losing some £500,000, then raising the stakes to as much as £150,000 per hand during the two subsequent evenings of play.
Crockfords Casino did refund Ivey’s initial £1 million stake, but withheld his winnings pending an internal investigation. According to published reports there was nothing to suggest any wrong doing by Ivey. The casino alleges that Ivey and his friend conspired to cheat the casino by taking advantage of defective playing cards, thereby gaining knowledge of what card would come next and stacking the odds in the pro player’s favour.



Online Poker Champion Sues for His Winnings

888, one of the world's largest online gambling operators, expects to launch online poker in Nevada this summer, and anticipates that its product will boom by 2015.

Bullish on US online poker

"In Nevada we are awaiting final-sign-off by the gaming control board on our software," 888 CEO Brian Mattingley was quoted as saying by Reuters on Tuesday, adding that the online poker product should go live by the third quarter. 888 recently became the first operator to receive a Nevada license and is also aiming for a New Jersey license.

As Nevada and New Jersey start handing out more licenses and other states pass their own regulations, a lot of marketing spending will be made by companies jostling for position in the United States in the next year, Mattingley said. He added 888 will "start to see some really influential numbers" to its business from 2015.

Taking on Europe too

In the meantime, 888's strong performance in Spain and Italy has seen its revenues rise 9% in the first quarter of 2013. The Italian online gambling business received a boost after the government allowed companies to offer online slots as part of their comprehensive Internet casino packages.

The latest word, according to EGR magazine, is that a 888 sportsbook launch in both Spain and Italy is imminent, following a new supplier deal. Should they manage to complete that arrangement, it will likely boost revenues further and give 888 more confidence as it takes on the all-important American market.




888: US Online Poker to Soar From 2015 - Industry Coverage - Onlinecasinoreports-com

The Nevada Gaming Board has confirmed that it is investigating the circumstances surrounding the brief service period of online security firm iovation in connection with Ultimate Poker, the first fully authorized, real-money Nevada online poker site.

Iovation’s computer- and player-identification services were discovered to be in use by Ultimate Poker within hours of its live debut on April 30. Iovation has not been licensed to do business in Nevada, and was introduced into the process as a subcontractor for CAMS/Verifi, a Nevada-licensed provider of support services.

According to a piece in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett confirmed an investigation into the circumstances surrounding iovation’s initial involvement. Burnett told the LVRJ, “This is in the category of where the ultimate responsibility rests upon the licensee (Ultimate Gaming), and I know that they are addressing the issue. We, in turn, will analyze what we received back from Ultimate, and then decide how to proceed from here.”

Ultimate Poker’s parent company, Fertitta Interactive, which is associated with the Nevada-based Station Casinos chain, dropped iovation within days of significant player protests regarding iovation’s past.

Iovation, based in Portland, Oregon, was built upon the success of online poker room UltimateBet, a long-time US-facing site which was eventually sold to Absolute Poker and targeted in the US government’s “Black Friday“ crackdown.

Iovation itself was split off from earlier ownership entities involved with UltimateBet, including ieLogic and Excapsa, the latter being the software entity controlling UltimateBet. Important figures behind both companies include both disgraced UB cheater Russ Hamilton and iovation founder and CEO Greg Pierson, who has also been directly implicated in the UltimateBet cheating.

Despite the similarity in names, UltimateBet is otherwise unconnected to Ultimate Poker. The Ultimate Poker brand is associated with Fertitta’s highly successful Ultimate Fighting Championship offerings.

Burnett and the GCB have had to deal with complaints on multiple fronts as Nevada’s online-poker era begins. In addition to the situation surrounding iovation’s sordid past, Nevada officials are also investigating the hiring of former Absolute Poker and UB-com CEO Paul Leggett by Amaya Gaming, a Canadian company which hopes to use its Ongame poker software for real-money play in Nevada.




Nevada Gaming Board Investigates Iovation | Pokerfuse Online Poker News

Online poker cash game traffic increased. Like the previous week, last week’s increase was small – just 0.2 percent – but that’s better than the alternative. Six of the top ten sites and networks saw rises in traffic, while four saw declines.

The site everyone has been following, however, falls way outside of the top ten. Ultimate Poker, the first internet poker room to launch in Nevada in a legal, regulated environment, ranks 37th in the industry with a seven-day average of 158 cash game players at the time of this writing.

After an increase in peak numbers every day for more than a week, Ultimate Poker hit its highest figure on the night of May 8th, when 347 players were logged on. Since then, says PokerScout, things have “stabilized.”

As ESPN’s Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend.”

Last night, May 13th, 640 cash game players were logged in at 10:16pm Pacific time, nearly double the previous best. Now, PokerScout is not completely incorrect in its assessment that Ultimate Poker’s traffic has settled, despite that huge jump on Monday. It’s a bit of an artificial number, likely resulting from Ultimate Poker’s 1 Millionth Hand promotion. It’s not quite at the 100 Billionth Hand promotion that PokerStars will soon be celebrating, but it’s a start. In the promotion, the winner of the 1 Millionth Hand will receive $500, while everyone else at the table will get $100. Additionally, players in every 10,000th hand starting with 900,000 will receive money as will those in the 999,999th hand.

Players appear to be logging on to Ultimate Poker more than they normally would in order to try to hit it big on one of the milestone hands. The site is currently approaching hand 950,000.

Even after the promotion ends, however, traffic numbers might stay a little bit higher than they were because more people will be able to login than were able last week. Over the weekend, Ultimate Poker confirmed that Verizon Wireless, Cricket Wireless, and Virgin Mobile customers can all now get their accounts verified and begin to play. As part of Ultimate Poker’s geolocation procedure, customers must have their locations triangulated using their cellular phones in addition to having their IP addresses checked. Until this weekend, clients of the aforementioned wireless carriers were unable to complete the location verification process and therefore could not play on Ultimate Poker. Now that they can, we might expect a small bump in traffic.

In other cash game traffic news, PokerScout reports that the top ten stayed almost exactly the same except for the bottom, where MPN (formerly Microgaming) moved up to 10th place, while Bodog slid down to 11th. As Bodog has a seven-day average of 1,140 cash game players and MPN has 1,200, neither is in much danger of dropping below 11th, as the next closest room, Dollaro, has just 750 cash game players.



PokerScout: Online Poker Traffic Up for Second Straight Week

At 11:58 p.m. Las Vegas time on Tuesday, the millionth hand of legal, secure online poker was dealt at UltimatePoker-com, a company that is fully owned and operated inside the United States of America.

It took just a little more than two weeks (the site launched on April 30) to ring up that number, a sign of both the intense demand and breathtaking potential of internet gaming. It also represents the latest stage in the fast-moving battle for legalized online gambling of all sorts – including, eventually, sports wagering – that offers the most significant potential change in the way Americans consume sports.

“We’re coming out of a lost decade,” said Tom Breitling, chairman of Ultimate Poker, which is mostly owned by the Nevada-based Station Casinos Inc. “We are finally bringing jobs and taxes back to America.”

That’s gambling’s forever political pitch – jobs and taxes. “Who is against jobs and taxes?” Breitling noted.

Of course, this being America and this being the confused morass of gambling legislation, there is always someone against something.

Breitling is right about the lost decade though. Poker saw an unexpected surge in popularity and participation over the last 10 years, with viewers tuning into televised coverage and players flocking to online sites that offered a stream of available games from the comfort of their homes. The problem was the playing part was illegal – the sites coming from offshore companies that eventually closed up after a crackdown by the U.S. government. A drunk could still wager money on mindless games such as keno or scratch tickets while sitting in a bar but a mathematician couldn’t play a game of skill such as poker from the sanctity of his or her own home.

It made no sense.

Now, perhaps, it will.

Ultimate Poker can only accept players from within the state of Nevada, so participation is still limited. It was a groundbreaking moment, though, because it represented the first fully legal online game in the United States.

The player’s money is safe and legally earned. The website, in turn, protects the public with what it calls an extensive identity verification system that is designed to stop players under the age of 21 from participating. Revenue on all sides, player winnings and the house cut, is subject to taxation. It’s a win-win-win for all sides, certainly better than money headed to the Caribbean.

This is just the first website to offer legal poker in America. By the end of the year, there could be a half-dozen more just for Nevada. From there, who knows? Some states, such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, are pushing for full casino action online. A half-dozen other states – including big markets such as California, New York and Texas – could go with just legal poker.

Either way, there could be a flood of action into the market soon.

“Nevada took the leadership position on this,” Breitling said. “My guess is that about 10 states will come online over the next two years. Everyone knows there is a pent-up demand. Everyone knows this is a real business waiting to happen. It’s just a matter of the state’s legalizing what is a new environment of trust.” The money is just laying there, for both casino operators and governments eager for additional revenue.

Like most floodgates, it just needed a few early drips to get going.

Poker can lead to full casinos. In Nevada, at least, it feels like the days after prohibition, with everyone jockeying for what might come.

How soon until you can legally slap down a bet online on the NFL? If not everywhere, then at least in Nevada where sports wagering is legal? And if New Jersey wins a current lawsuit against the United States over the right to offer full-scale sports wagering, then that could blow it all open too, allowing players to legally bet via their smart phone from inside stadiums.

You don’t have to live in Nevada or have any interest in playing online poker or even support any of this to acknowledge that this latest development feels like the start of something significant, the first days of a bold new future.

“It’s been this crazy roller coaster,” Breitling said. “What we’ve already seen just with poker is that if people know the environment they are gambling in is safe and secure, they get more excited about doing it.”

No more offshore companies pulling money out of the country? No more organized crime using sports bets to fund narcotics and human trafficking and who knows what else?

This may have been just the start, but it’s a start toward progress. Jobs and taxes and a brand new day in America’s confusing relationship with gambling.



Y! SPORTS

Phil ‘OMGClayAiken’ Galfond has taken his life earnings to over $10 million after a stunning series of victories on the virtual tables this week, including a whopping $800,000 profit in a single day.

So who else is making millions at the high-stakes poker tables? To find out we're bringing you the top five earners in the history of online poker.



1. Phil Ivey - +$19,242,743

It shouldn’t be a surprise to see the best in the world sitting in the number one spot with over $19 million in lifetime profit. And he won it almost exclusivelyplaying at Full Tilt Poker. Ivey doesn’t just draw his salary from the virtual world however. He's won over $17.6m in live tournament, including his ninth World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, which he won at the inaugural WSOP-Asia Pacific earlier this month.

During Ivey’s affiliation with FTP, he was earning $920,000 per month in salary payments, and once famously won $11.5 million at the Baccarat tables in London’s Mayfair in just two sessions.

2. Patrik Antonius - +$11,315,549

Finnish star Patrik Antonius loves to mix it up in the world of high-stakes poker and was the winner of the biggest online pot ever when he took a $1,356,947 monster against the young Swede Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom back in 2009. Antonius is another former member of FTP whose taken a decent chunk of change in salary payments each month. He has earned closed to $6 million in live tournament earnings, and is married to fellow poker player Maya Geller.

3. Phil Galfond - +$10,035, 683

Phil Galfond is one of the very best poker players in the world. The resident of Maryland is so good, he was the only player in the world exempt from entering the Tom ‘Durrr’ Dwan challenges during the online phenom’s heyday. In 2009, Galfond co-founded BlueFirePoker, a highly successful online training site nettingGalfond a six-figure salary each year. When Galfond left to form his new online venture ‘RunitOnce-com’ he sued BlueFirePoker for not paying him 38.33% of profits. Galfond is rarely seen on the live tournament circuit, but he still owns a WSOP bracelet, which he won in 2008. His live earnings stand at just over $1 million.

4. Di Dang - +$7,411,127

Di is one half of the famous Dang brothers who have been crushing the world of high-stakes poker over the past few years. Both of them learned to play poker whilst in college, and later shared a bankroll as they climbed the cash game rankings.

In 2011, Di Dang decided to start up a new restaurant business near his home in Northern Virginia, and in 2012 he started working with Phil Galfond as a lead coach at RunitOnce-com. Dang is another rare sight on the live poker tables but did take 11th in the $258,000 High Roller event in Macau last year for over $500,000 and change.

5. Daniel Cates - +$7,299,700

Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates has recently hit the headlines after recommencing his part in the ‘Million Dollar Challenge’ against Tom ‘Durrr’ Dwan, a battle that started long before Black Friday and one that Cates has a lead of $1,251,059 over 19,335 hands.

Cates will add a further $1.5 million if he maintains that lead over the next 30k hands.Unlike Galfond and Dang, Cates is a face that you will see on the live tournament circuit. He has yet to achieve any really great runs, but he has finished second and fifth in the two previous PartyPoker Premier Leagues and a fifth in this years NBC Heads-Up Championships. His live tournament earnings currently stand at just $527,000.



Top 5 Biggest Winners in Online Poker History - Mirror Online

Poker’s next world champion could emerge from a small buy-in tournament online.

If the World Series of Poker gets its way, WSOP-com soon will become the second website in Nevada to offer real-money poker games. WSOP officials said today they hope to launch the software during the 44th annual WSOP series, which begins May 29 at the Rio.

Ideally, they want the launch date to fall well in advance of the Main Event’s July 6 start so that players can try to win entries into the 10-day championship event through online satellite tournaments.

“Certainly that would be our druthers,” WSOP spokesman Seth Palansky said. “But we don’t remain totally in control of the process and timing of it all, so it’s hard to know.”

WSOP-com has run an ad for a couple of months, teasing players that "online poker for real money is coming soon.” Ty Stewart, executive director of the WSOP, said the site is waiting for approval from the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Those involved with the WSOP remain patient.

“We intend to be in this business 100 years from now so for us, it’s not about when we start,” Palansky said. “We just have a lot of boxes to check off to met the requirements, which is fine and it won’t be too much longer.”

That approach contrasts greatly to the one taken by Station Casinos’ Ultimate Poker, which openly stated its goal was to become the first licensed site in Nevada. Ultimate Poker succeeded, opening tables for play earlier this month.

But Ultimate Poker has encountered a fair share of issues, a fact not lost on WSOP officials.

“I think the market is ready for a first-class product,” Stewart said.

Stewart later took another swipe at Station by referencing a photo that was widely disseminated Tuesday of a glitch on one of Ultimate Poker’s tables. The photo shows a flop containing two of the same cards — the 9 of spades.

“We’ll make sure there’s only one 9 of spades in the deck,” Stewart cracked.

Stewart promised “a comprehensive series of promotions and benefits” on WSOP-com for players who compete in live events this summer.

Now, it's just a matter of getting the green light to deal the virtual cards.

“We’re not discreet when we have news to share,” Palansky said. “We’ll share it when we’re ready. We’re hard at work completing the necessary steps required to bring it to market. We can’t confirm an exact launch date, but we know it will be this summer.”



World Series of Poker close to launching real-money online games - VEGAS INC

A new online poker bill has been crafted in the state of California, one that would allow well-established card rooms and tribal casinos in the Golden State to win a license.

The Internet Poker Consumer Protection Act of 2013, like its name says, would only legalize poker, and not other forms of casino gambling. In doing so, California would aim to join up with other jurisdictions to create greater liquidity. Not that California necessarily needs it, as the state has more than 37 million people.

In the new draft, horse racing groups would not be eligible for online poker.

A so-called “bad actor” clause in the measure would make it so that any online firm which offered online gambling to Californians in the past would be barred from ever entering the Golden State market, which is truly the crown jewel of the overall United States market. Card rooms and tribal casinos could partner with business-to-business technology providers that reside outside of California, such as a Cantor Gaming from Nevada.

The bad actor clause would mean no PokerStars.

Like Nevada, California’s online poker system would be for anyone within the state’s borders.

The bill was created by eight of the state’s tribal groups, as two other initiatives currently are floating around in the legislature. Many efforts to legalize web poker in the past have failed, so it’s unclear if this one will find any traction. A bill has never been to the California governor’s desk.

Last year, a group called the California Online Poker Association folded amidst disagreement between members. Bills have failed in the past because all the interested gaming parties in the state just can’t come to a consensus, and most don’t want outside firms to be able to get a piece of the pie.

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

So, altogether, there are three attempts at online poker legalization this year — two being pushed by state senators and one to be introduced by the tribes.

California is trying to catch up with Nevada, which kicked off its online poker industry last month.



Third Online Poker Bill In California Comes Forward

John Cullerton, Illinois State Senator, who has previously but not successfully given support to the idea of intrastate online gambling legalization is creating a new stand-alone proposal and has been circulating a draft as reported by Crain’s Chicago Business. This new initiative is following last month’s ripping out of online gambling clauses by an expansion to a land gambling bill. The office of Sen. Cullerton gave confirmation on Tuesday that a proposal was being sent around but details are sparse, with an aide to the Senator saying that details would be provided soon.

Reports that are unconfirmed give light that the Cullerton bill proposes a $20 million licensing fee along with a tax rate that is based on the GGR of various types of games and ranges from 7.5 to 20 percent. All aspects of online gambling would be covered by legislation but with sports betting reservations. A serious obstacle has been presented by the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.

Illinois online gambling will only be allowed for residents over 21 years of age. There will be regulations by a new body set up for online gambling operators with the purpose inside the state lottery and titled Division of Internet Gaming. Michael Jones, State lottery chief, will be given total control of the regulator and the enforcement of the provisions with the use of state agencies. Authorization will be given to the Internet gaming unit to contract with foreign operators and government entities if they are required.
Interstate Talks on Internet Poker by Nevada Governor

Brian Sandoval, Nevada’s governor, has let no time pass with investigating interstate online poker compact possibilities with similar minded governors after the Nevada legislators approved this sort of activity recently. It was reported by Howard Stutz that GameWire was well-informed that Sandoval went ahead and hosted discussions with multiple state governors even though the specific states that they are concerned about have yet to be pointed out. Sandoval is reported to have said after visiting the new corporate headquarters in Las Vegas for BMM International that he has spoken to some of the governors and he will be introducing the concept of compacting them.

He goes on to say that it is in the very early stages and they have a big opportunity due to having the infrastructure and players from other states. He is hopeful the talks will continue. As of now, Delaware and New Jersey are among the only other states to pass a specific legislation that permits online gambling. Moves are also happening in Massachusetts, California, Texas, Illinois, Texas, Illinois and other states are looking into possibilities.

GameWire was told by Sandoval that legislative and administrative arrangements would need to be in place in these other states prior to any collaborative contracts for player access will be signed. Although, he said that he is happy with the progress in Nevada that saw the first Nevada-licensed online poker site go live earlier this month. He goes on to say that they are already gaining over the other markets with people signing up worldwide.
Third California Online Poker Bill Comes Forward

A new bill for online poker was drafted in the state of California. This bill would let well-established tribal casinos and card rooms in the state to be awarded a license. The Internet Poker Consumer Protection Act of 2013 will only give legalization to poker, not other casino gambling forms. By doing this, California aims to join with other jurisdictions to form more liquidity even though California doesn’t really need it, as the state has over 37 million residents.

Horse racing groups will not be eligible for online poker in this new bill draft. A “bad actor” clause in this measure is going to make it so any online gambling firm in California in the past could be stopped from entering the market in the GoldenState. This market is really the best overall the market in the United States. Tribal casinos and card rooms may be able to group with business-to-business technology providers that are placed outside of California like Nevada’s Cantor Gaming.

This bill was designed by eight of California’s tribal groups while two other initiatives recently are floating among the legislature. A group called California Online Poker Association collapsed among the disagreement between members last year. In the past these bills have failed due to all of the gaming parties that are interested in the state not being able to come to a consensus and not wanting outside firms to be able to get in on this action. Sen. Lou Correa introduced Senate Bill No. 678 in February that would OK state-approved sites to accept bets from inside California’s borders. In total, there have been three attempts to legalize online poker this year.




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