Gambling News Blog

With a Congressional hearing looming regarding the planned implementation of rules for 2006’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Acgt (UIGEA), a conservative Washington D.C. has issued a “white paper” on the UIGEA, designed to highlight the law’s shortcomings and unrealistic demands in a manner clearly digestible to the business and legislative worlds.

The paper, entitled “Time to Fold the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act: A Bad Law with Perverse Outcomes,” was written by Eli Lehrer, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a D.C. advocacy house very frequently associated with conservative, pro-business causes. The paper was quickly summarized in an “American
Spectator” piece called “No Dice,” also penned by Lehrer and Michelle Minton, a policy analyst for CEI, and the entire original white paper is available on the Poker Players Alliance web site at pokerplayersalliance.com.
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When Archie Karas lost his $40,000,000, there were rumors he must have gone off and committed suicide. No one saw him around Las Vegas for four or five months. After all, how much strain and pressure could any one man’s brain take, if he was still alive? He would have had to feel like Steve McQueen did in that scene from the Cincinnati Kid, when he lost to The Man’s straight flush with aces full. It would be a feeling of total devastation! However, Archie “The Greek” Karas was not only alive, but set to return to Las Vegas to perform a few more miracles, or perhaps more correctly, mini-streaks, that most of the public knows little about to this day.
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The World Series of Poker has released the full schedules for its Circuit series stops at Caesars Palace Las Vegas and Harrah’s New Orleans. The two series are part of the WSOP’s ongoing tour to Harrah’s properties across the country, with $5,000 buy-in main events at each stop, a slew of earlier, and in many cases, very affordable preliminaries, and plenty of satellites as well.
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Cultures will clash on the poker felt when the cards fly at the third annual PartyPoker Nations Cup, which features teams from six countries competing for cash and their nation’s pride. The tournament takes place April 7-10 in Cardiff, Wales, and the participating teams are defending champion Sweden, last year’s runner-up the United States, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and Holland. The winning team will pocket $100,000 and earn bragging rights as the PartyPoker Nations Cup champion.
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Ahead of a scheduled vote wherein Dutch legislators will consider UIGEA-style legislation designed to restrict access to the Dutch online gambling market for international court, a Netherlands Court has denied an appeal in a related case by Unibet, admitting in its ruling that its interpretation is different than that called for by European Union treaty.

Unibet had been judged guilty of violating the Dutch Gaming Act and infringing upon the market rights of the Dutch state lottery, De Lotto (The Lotto). The October, 2007 ruling called for Unibet to pay De Lotto €100,000 per day, up to a maximum of €3,000,000, plus legal costs, for continuing to serve the Dutch market in offering wagering on
amateur soccer games in the Netherlands. The recent denial upheld the decision in favor of De Lotto.
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This April, follow the road of your choice to the world’s most prestigious poker tournament as Bodog Poker launch their massive Freeway to the Final Table promotion! Whether you decide to take the highway or the scenic route – all roads could lead to the World Series of Poker (WSOP)* courtesy of Bodog Poker and PokerNews.

The freeway comes in the form of a PokerNews WSOP Semi-Final Freeroll running every Monday, Wednesday and Friday beginning April 2. Both Monday and Wednesday freerolls kick off at 20:00 EST with Friday freerolls starting at 22:00 EST. These freerolls award the winner with T$270 (entry into one of Bodog Poker’s WSOP Semi-Final Tournaments) and the top five finishers
receive entry to the following $12,500 Team PokerNews Freeroll. To enter, download Bodog Poker through PokerNews, open a new account and make a deposit.
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Continuing our review of various works that I can recommend and think are useful for the professional player brings us to Sit’n Go Strategy by Colin Moshman (Two Plus Two Publishing, Las Vegas, Nevada, 2007). Of course, one does not need to be a professional in order to educate one’s self in the areas of poker that one plays or is interested in — after all, who wants to be a certified loser in any area? My operating belief is that even social players will enjoy their nights out more when they win, and having some knowledge of how to make that come about is worth the hours it might take to read one of these books. The reason that I mention professionals specifically is that my belief is that the true
professional poker player can adjust to any game at any time — and further, he should be able to sit in any game with comfort. Of course there is something to be said for those that specialize in one game, but there always comes a point where “your” specialty is not the best game for you for one of many possible reasons.
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Just the mention of her name makes the young men drool. We’ve seen her on the silver screen and at the poker tables, and now Shannon Elizabeth has taken yet another chance in a career that’s been speckled with risk.

Shannon’s most recent challenge is as a contestant on the very popular ABC hit, “Dancing with the Stars.” Every week Shannon will work her feet into blisters to show the world that competitiveness runs through her veins and that she’s more than just a pretty face. She’s already survived the first eliminations of the show and has emerged as one of the favorites. We will watch with great anticipation in hopes that one of our own from the world of poker might actually have a chance to
bring home the coveted “Mirrored Ball Trophy” that all the celebrities dream of.
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PokerTek, Inc., licensor of automated poker tables, announced a needed infusion of cash this week. PokerTek’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosed taking out a $1 million loan from UBS in exchange for a lien against PokerTek’s holdings of auction rate securities. PokerTek also entered into an agreement with Board of Directors members Lyle A. Berman, James T. Crawford III, Lee Arthur Lomax and Gehrig H. “Lou” White for a $2 million loan. The loan was issued at an interest rate of 13% and collateralized by security interest in PokerPro tables with all principal and accrued interest payable on March 24, 2010. The agreement also leaves open the possibility for an additional $1 million
loan.
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Although online gaming company bwin Interactive Entertainment AG won’t release its final full-year results until next month, the company’s preliminary fourth quarter and annual 2007 release validated the company’s continued focus on its core business.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, bwin increased both its gross and net gaming revenues above the levels they had achieved before exiting the US market in late 2006 and the Turkish market in early 2007. Sports betting still represents a little more than 50% of bwin’s business, and the company’s strong fourth quarter performance was driven, in part, by an 18.8% increase in sports betting net revenues. Poker was also a strong performer for bwin in the
fourth quarter, posting a 16.6% increase in net gaming revenues. Sports betting was also the key performer year-over-year, showing a 22.4% increase in net revenues over 2006. The loss of the US and Turkish market was more apparent in poker-related net revenues for the year, which were down 22.2%.
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