Federal Online Gaming Hearing Success—This week saw a discussion and hearing on American online gambling and the possibility of federal regulation held by a subcommittee of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee. Overall the hearing is being viewed as a positive step forward.

After opening statements by the Subcommittee’s chairwoman, the subcommittee on Commerce Manufacturing has six people with different gambling related backgrounds speak about the state of American gambling and what steps should be taken to move the country forward. The speakers were:

Parry Atfab, Chairwoman of the Board of Advisors of FairPlayUSA

Ernest Stevens, Jr., Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA)

Keith Whyte, Executive Director of the National Council on Problem Gambling

Alfonse D’Amato current Chairman of the Poker Players Alliance

Kurt Eggert, Professor of Law at the Chapman University School of Law

Dan Romer, Associate Director of The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and the Director of its Adolescent Communication Institute.

The hearing had no legal outcome but it does provide a foundation to build upon for positive and well research consumer protection laws and Internet gaming regulation.

Maryland Lottery Proponents Say No to Online Poker—The Super Committee of six republicans and six democrats have been formed into a think tank and have to find $1.5 trillion to help fix the national budget. Governor O’Malley of Maryland opposes legalizing online gaming in his state as he fears it will take money away from the long established state lottery. His argument against online poker continued as he pointed out that live slot machines and casinos contributed greatly to the funds for Maryland’s public education. If folks turned to the online version of things that money would be lost or at least have to be found from somewhere else in the budget. O’ Malley’s opinions have not found favor publicly or among online poker fans.

Bloomberg Supports Online Poker Legislation—Bloomberg.com, well established and widely regarded economics and news site published an op-ed piece supporting the passing of online poker legislation. In fact the folks over at Bloomberg showed the logicality of supporting online poker over other forms of gambling such as state lotteries. They explain how seeing online gaming regulation as a moral issue is without logic. The article continued by explaining to readers a little more about the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). It also explained the happenings of Black Friday for those not yet in the know and basically presented the current state of online gambling and gaming in America. It was nice to see the comments following the article were for the most part positive and well formed. Having the endorsement of such a large news and finance medium can only help the cause of online gaming legislation. The reach of Bloomberg includes public education, private businesses, the world of stocks and shares not to mention television media. If more influential economic formats and companies would get behind poker legislation it would be easier to pass through the House. After all online gaming is a money maker and its legalization can only improve the national economy. As the economy improves in one area it will effect others such as budget issues, unemployment numbers and getting the country back on track.

Full Tilt Not Paying Players? — According to Pokernewsdaily and the folks over at EGR magazine, Full Tilt has had enough of their assets unfrozen by the Department of Justice to pay out one third of the U.S. players. The amount available is somewhere in the 60 million dollar range. But Full Tilt says its not that easy. Claiming that some banks voluntarily froze assets before the feds did it and some issue with back credit for some players, Full Tilt has made it clear there will be no pay out in the near future. In total the owners of Full Tilt Poker owe American players somewhere between 100 and 150 million dollars.

Quiet Protest in DC— A poker legislation rally took place in Washington last week. Members of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) showed up to speak with senators about the state of online poker and online gaming regulation. Politicians were quoted as saying that it was the players themselves that needed to get behind the legislation in order to pressure the committee into passing it. Poker newsdaily.com reported a total of 130 meetings between PPA representatives and senators. They discussed the importance of passing the legislation and the desire for an early as possible approach. Some of the meetings took place during the rally in DC whereas others were held back in the PPA members’ home states.

More Indictments—The folks over at Homeland Security and the Department of Justice handed down another ten indictments for online gambling rooms this week. Illegal gambling has a five year sentence but money laundering is a 20 year sentence. Its hard for many poker fans to believe that some of their most beloved sites and poker companies are facing 25 years in jail. Those facing stiff sentences this week are, according to pokernewsdaily:

Bookmaker.com

2Betsdi.com

Funtimebingo.com

Goldenarchcasino.com

Betmaker.com

Betgrandesports.com

Betehorse.com

Doylesroom

TruePoker.com

These new indictments were the last phase in a sting operation by the folks at Homeland Security set up over two years ago and providing documented evidence of fraud.

WSOP Main Event Underway—-Last memorial Day weekend signaled the start of the 2011 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, Nevada. Action is available live at the WSOP website with a five second delay.

Feds Seize Major Poker Sites

Scarborough Wins WPT Hollywood —Despite the fact that Erik Seidel was his opponent in the heads up part of the WPT Hollywood final table, Mike Scarborough won the event. He took home a nice chunk of change ($273,664 to be precise) and made his name by beating the man of the professional poker year. According to the folks at pokernewsdaily.com the final results of the WPT Hollywood open were as follows.

1. Mike Scarborough – $273,664
2. Erik Seidel – $155,103
3. William Reynolds – $110,788
4. Tom Marchese – $77,551
5. Andy Whetstone – $62,041
6. Ali Eslami – $50,962

Mike Scarborough hails from Cincinnati, Ohio and the WPT Hollywood Open was his second professional tournament.

Nevada Passes Initial Gaming Bill— Nevada proposed an intrastate online gaming law that would regulate online poker for Nevada players and Nevada companies, create jobs and pave the way for future federal regulations. The initial bill has passed through the state senate with a unanimous vote.

The original bill proposed by senator William Horne established guidelines for interstate as well as intrastate gaming regulations. To pass through committee unchallenged the interstate language had to be left out. By establishing the foundation of an intrastate gaming law, Nevada is paving the way for its eventual interstate and federal gaming laws.

Proposed Legislation in Florida— This week the politicians down in Florida are looking at two separate bills that could effect the game of poker in the sunshine state. The first bill, SB 1594 is directly related to dog tracks in Florida. SB 1594 hopes to eliminate the requirement that dog tracks must have live races in order to have a casino on their premises. The proposed law is in favor of helping dogs and their owners survive a tight economy. The second bill, SB 812 is like many others we’ve seen lately and targets the issue of intrastate online gambling. Despite a little opposition both bills passed through the first level of voting

Alan Sternberg Wins the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star—Alan Sternberg take home over a million dollars after some nail biting play this week. He went heads up with Steven Kelly. Steven Kelly was a formidable competitor for Sternburg and took home a nice chunk of change for his trouble. Second place and $595,000 in your pocket is nothing to sneeze at. Here’s the final ranks and results as posted by the folks at pokernews.com.

First Place: Alan Sternberg—$1,039,000

Second Place: Steven Kelly—$595,300

Third Place: Mike Matusow—$369,800

Fourth Place: Vivek Rajkumar—$295,800

Fifth Place: Casey McCarrel—$221,800

Sixth Place: Mike Sexton—$148,000

Another WPT event is set to take place in April 9-13 in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

Another Try at Federal Gaming Bill—John Campbell a republican from California and Barney Frank a democrat from Massachusetts have come together to create a bill that would create federal regulation of online gaming including taxes and licensing requirements. The basic concept of the bill was established last July in the House of Financial Services but stalemate because of concerns from both sides of the aisle. The new proposed gaming bill concentrates on licensing and consumer protection. There would be a lot of background research conducted on online casinos that wanted to have a license as well as a list of “bad” or illegal sites published for public information. Underage gambling is mentioned as a item that needs attention as well as the use of online banking for gambling. There would be limits set on casino deposits in an attempt to weed out excessive play.

DeMaci has been around on the professional poker circuit for over six years and came in second at the same event last year when the Big Event was sponsored by PokerStars and held in Los Angeles. If DeMaci will hold the lead is anyone’s guess at this point but starting strong may be his ticket to first place instead of second.

Players and organizers alike were on tender hooks at the start of this year’s NAPT tournament in California. Because of the current controversy in the state regarding the passing of gambling regulation that would oust online casinos like PokerStars from operating within the state, sponsorship was voluntary withdrawn days before the event took place. Despite this professional and semi pro players still lined up to take part in this annual event.

The action continues until March 12. The California legislature is still up in the air about passing an online gambling law. We’ll keep you posted.

WSOPE

Poker Legislation Update—the battle for regulated online gambling continues with no final decisions or even tentative bills passed by Congress. Republican senator John Kyl, a republican from Arizona announced his resignation this week. He will leave Congress in 2012 and for many his departure is a positive move. Ky; was very against creating legislation to regulate online gaming, gambling and casino sites that would create jobs and increase state revenues.

PokerStars New Players— the search for online gamers and poker pros to fill the 15 available positions in Pokerstars new online team is over. The chosen few come from 11 different countries and will offer a global perspective to the world of online poker. Almost 5,000 people applied for the 15 positions. The lucky few according to pokernewsdaily are:

Shane Schleger – shaniac
Mer Brit – PeachyMer
Clayton Newman – cnew27
Kwang Soo Lee – PiS.ToTo
Yu-Reng Peng – AmPHisbaenA
Jorge Limon – Baalim
Andrew Brokos – foucault82
Kevin Thurman – WizardOfAhhs
Freddy Torres – sirfreddy83
Richard Veenman – Tzen1
Sigge Reichard – ClarkKent89
Javier Dominguez – El Canonero
Mikhail Shalamov – innerpsy
Tyler Frost – frosty012
Dale Philip – Daleroxxu

WSOP on the Move—Rumors are flying around Vegas that the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, home of the WSOP for the last five years may be sold. Sources say that the Light Group a major player in the Las Vegas hospitality industry will be buying the casino and hotel. WSOP officials are not certain that the change of ownership will take place but have stated that the WSOP main event will always be accommodated somehow, someway, somewhere. I paraphrase.

New Jersey passes Internet Gaming Bill

With a few technical hurdles still to go, New Jersey residents can celebrate the fact that the recent passage of online gaming laws allows New Jersey based casinos to enter the world of online gaming. The hope is to boost the economy of the Atlantic City and the state as a whole resulting in 500 new jobs and millions in state revenue. The bill still awaits the governor’s signature but is thought to be the first step in an overhaul of the land based gaming world.

PokerStars Leaves the Screen and Enters the Living Room

PokerStars launched its new player application this week that allows registered users to take the game from the screen and into their living room. Because play takes place between the registered player and their friends, every player’s identity is known and the user retains full control of the game with customized settings. Many feel this home game version of online casino play heralds big changes in the world of cyber poker. So far, players cannot win cash money from playing the PokerStars home game.

Galen Hall wins Caribbean Adventure

After ten hours of play the final table of this year’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure drew to a close. After a heads up battle between Galen Hall and Chris Oliver, Hall grabbed the title and $2.3 million for his trouble. The Caribbean Adventure had 1560 original entrants and the tournament lasted a action packed six days. Galen is best known for his multiple victories in the world of online play. Maybe this well publicized land based victory may take his career in another direction.

No More Bad Beats

A new site called No Bad Beats Poker launched this Sunday claiming to have the solution to emotional betting or going on tilt. Patent pending new software allows the gaming site to track player equity percentages and calculate whether they should have won a hand or not. If frustration overtakes a player fighting for a big pot and they make a silly mistake the site promises to refund their money. The hope of the new site is to take the emotional stress out of poker so players can concentrate on improving their skill game.

It was reported this week that Senator Harry Reid, house majority leader, would attempt to add the online gaming legislation to the current tax bill dominating congress during this lame duck season. Next term the republicans will have the floor and the future of this poker legislation may be desperate if not dire.

After months of preparation and planning the gaming legislation was in such a form that it could finally be presented to congress for serious consideration. The bill features a number of different components including the federal regulation of U.S. based gaming companies, consumer protection to players, tax revenue for economically depressed states and the now controversial licensing laws that would slow the industry for the first three years. Quite a bit of paper work to say the least.

Many professional advocates including professional poker players, consumer rights organizations and gaming organizations felt the bill contained a lot of necessary protections for consumers using the Internet and secure banking to play online poker and other games for money. After the recent issues with major online casinos and the few remaining state court cases, consumer protection is an important part of gaming in the new millennium. State representatives and senators from both sides of the aisle had input on the bill that Reid, among others, thought could be accommodated during the final week of Congress this year.

In the end, the semi permanent tabling of the online gaming bill was due to politics rather than principals according to many. Because the basic tax revenue legislation was causing so many issues between the two parties, it became a silly idea to add fuel to the fire. Many saw this week as the last chance for the government to act on the proposed legislation until the next time the democrats have control of the house.

January will mark the start of the republican party’s control over congress with the necessary votes to veto or outvote much of the proposed democratic legislation. Because many conservatives still equate online gaming with gambling and sin the chances of the bill being brought to light in the next few years is slim to none.

So what’s next? Well for the time being the online gaming world will continue as it always has: balancing on the fine line between entertainment and legal issues. It makes sense to stay close to secure casinos with excellent reputations. Now is not the time to risk expanding your gaming repertoire to accommodate one of the many poker sites springing to life all over the net. Right now, consumer protection is pretty much a bust in the online world so smart choices and thorough analysis will be the best way to enjoy a safe online gaming experience.

Legislation and lame ducks.

House leader Harry Reid is proposing the online poker legislation be address during the lame duck session or quiet season in congress. Politicians from across the aisle sent Reid a letter stating they would not support the bill as it seemed to take advantage of young gamers incapable of making informed decisions (I paraphrase). The house seems split and a final decision has yet to be made. Because of the partisan battle however the concept of online gaming legislation has finally made it to mainstream media sources such as national news networks making the promotion and education of the proposed bill much easier.

Tis the season for charity.

Around the holidays everyone is in a giving mood and this includes professional poker players. The date has been set for the annual all in charity poker event at the Venetian. December 11^th will be the day that professionals, celebrities and amateur players work hard at winning for a cause. This is the third year of the All in for Celebrity Palsy event. The initial buy in will be $540 with an extra 90 minutes after that for a s many additional $200 buy ins. The proceeds will be split between the prize money for players and the cerebral palsy foundation.  It should be a rainbow of celebrities and good feelings for the holiday season.

Cake Poker Promotion

Like stores and business across the western world the folks of online gaming and casinos like to cash in on the holiday season. The folks over at Cake Poker have launched their December Donkey promotion. Between chef Gordon Ramsey and the online poker players of the world the term “donkey” has become an insult. At Cake Poker throughout the month of December players can buy an actual donkey that will be donated to the Oxfam charities. These donkeys will be given to families in the developing world to improve farming and the home life of rural families. Worth heading over and playing a while.

Happy Birthday CardRunners

It’s been five years since the poker training site CardRunners came to life and to celebrate they are offering prizes and discounts galore. If you sign up with the training site between December 6 and 12^th. The daily giveaways include new laptops, digital cameras, Ipads and Xbox Kinects. For anyone wanting to shape up on their poker skills it is time to take advantage of the longevity of CardRunners. Happy Birthday guys.

It’s been quite a mess in the world of poker legislation in recent weeks. Here’s a quick blog sized rundown of the three main issues.

Poker stars.com announced that they would no longer accept cash money players from state of Washington. This is due to the recent decision by the state regarding the prohibition of online gaming. The state of Washington does not prohibit in state casino play but will not allow its state citizens to play online poker for money. Although advocates for online gaming are trying to fight the decision for the meantime gaming giants are pulling out the region.

The state of Kentucky seized 141 gaming domain names last October and their legal case continues to pile up the red tape. The owners of the names such as Full Tilt Poker and Poker Kings want their property back as they feel it was seized without due process. The state of Kentucky wants someone to come forward and represent the domain names that they took property from but don’t have an identity for. The Gaming Association has offered to represent the poker websites in the case but has yet to get approval to do so. It could be a long time before the case goes to court.

And back to our favorite piece of poker legislation HR 2267. This is the online gaming Bill that has been sitting in Congress for months. It outlines consumer safety laws, poker and online gaming regulations as well as sets up a tax structure for the industry. Taxation of online gaming will increase revenue to the overall American economy. Which is why it seems strange that it has been put on the back burner by senators. Indications are that taxes do not get votes and the midterm elections are on the horizon.