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Garden City Group Issues a Reminder About New Petitions

 The Garden City Group (GCG), the organization in charge of the Full Tilt Poker Remission Process, updated their website on Thursday to remind the public that new petitions can be created even without Petition and Control Numbers issued to some victims via email.

Just days after their most recent update that notified the public that the remission process is well underway and all email notifications have been sent, the GCG is also clarifying how those who feel entitled to be a part of the Remission process can apply, even if they have not been contacted.
In the update the GCG notes that no one is prevented from filing a Petition for Remission. Those that have not been provided with a designated Petition and Control number are “able to “Create A New Petition directly from the website.
Once the deadline to submit a Petition for Remission passes on Saturday, November 16, the GCG will review all “confirmed, disputed and new” petitions using criteria provided by the Department of Justice.
 
Author: Ekaterina
07 . 10 . 2013 y.
Betting Sites Get 700k Hits a Year from the UK Parliament

 UK newspaper provides revelations that British politicians seem to do an awful lot of gambling research.

No wonder the UK has a more liberal gambling regime than most EU countries: gambling websites are accessed 700,000 times a year from within the Houses of Parliament.
The UK Daily Mail newspaper reports on a Freedom of Information (FoI) request which revealed the figures. In a single month, UK site Bet365 was accessed 16,986 times—so not just gambling, but patriotic gambling, and perhaps even some favoritism being paid to personal constituencies.
Not all the gambling site visits were made by Members of Parliament (MP); the figures only show gross figures for all employees working in the Palace of Westminster. The numbers did show falls during parliamentary recesses, suggesting that MPs and their immediate staff were responsible for their fair share.
An earlier FoI request discovered that a website connecting people so they could have adulterous affairs was visited 52,375 times in seven months. Access to that site has now been banned.
A spokesperson told the Daily Mail that “These figures are not a reliable guide to the level of usage within the house.”
At least British MPs haven’t yet been caught playing poker on camera—a fate that has befallen US Senator John McCain and a number of French Deputies.
 
Author: Ekaterina
07 . 10 . 2013 y.
It’s Official: New Jersey Online Gambling Will Go Live November 26

 Five-day soft launch required for all licensed operators prior to full real-money gaming on the 26th.

In a letter to casino operators obtained by pokerfuse, Director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement David Rebuck officially announced that operators may commence online gaming on November 26.
“Casino licensed Internet gaming permit holders will be authorized to commence full Internet gaming on November 26, 2013 at 9:00 am EST,” Rebuck states.
Prior to offering online wagers on the 26th, operators must complete a five day “soft play” period “in a manner satisfactory to the Division.” Participation in the test period will be by invite only.
Players invited to participate in soft play will do so in an environment meant to resemble full internet gambling.
In order to participate in the November 26 launch date, operators will be required to begin soft play on November 21. The DGE will maintain a list of the approved internet gambling sites on its web site. The list will be updated as operators are approved.
New jersey Governor Chris Christie signed New Jersey’s online gambling legislation into law on February 26. Nevada opened online poker to residents and visitors of its state on April 30 of this year and currently has two operators, Ultimate Poker and WSOP.com.
Author: Ekaterina
07 . 10 . 2013 y.
Russian ISP Beeline Blocks PokerStars.com

 Major Russian Internet Service Provider (ISP) Beeline has blocked access to the dot-com domain of PokerStars.

Attempts to access PokerStars using Beeline brings up a message saying: “Access to the requested resource has been blocked by the decision of public authorities.”
Beeline is a major Russian telecommunications company with international operations in the Ukraine and in South East Asia. It has previously obeyed government orders to block access to opposition political parties during a crackdown by Premier Vladimir Putin.
The domain is listed on the official blacklist published on Beeline.ru. According to a statement by the ISP on the website, the blacklist is “in accordance with the legislation in force,” which requires telecoms operators “to restrict access to information prohibited for distribution by court order or public authority.”
No other domains of other major online poker providers could be found on the published list.
The block is only a removal of the domain from the ISP’s Domain Name System (DNS); switching to another public DNS system, like Google’s, gets around the block, local reports indicate.
A November 2012 Supreme Court Ruling made ISPs responsible for blocking access to online gambling sites in Russia, though until now there has been no evidence that the authorities would enforce the decision. Previously a mobile operator has blocked gambling domains, but this is the first known case of a major broadband provider.
 
Author: Ekaterina
04 . 10 . 2013 y.
PokerStars Plans $10M Atlantic City Poker Room

 Online poker’s industry leader PokerStars has announced plans to build a $10 million dollar poker room at Atlantic City’s Resorts Casino Hotel as a part of their internet partnership with the brick and mortar casino, according to an article in Press of Atlantic City.

The plans, which are contingent on PokerStars receiving a gambling license in New Jersey, have construction on the new room set to begin immediately upon being awarded a license.
Eric Hollreiser, head of corporate communications at PokerStars’ parent company Rational Group, confirmed the plans in a statement to pokerfuse and added, “We will provide more details once these plans are finalized.”
Resorts, which has not had a live poker room since 2010, and PokerStars are hoping to build a bridge for those who would play poker online to visit and play live tournaments and cash games in the nw venue. Branded as the “PokerStars poker room at Resorts”, the live poker room would be backed by the marketing power of the largest online poker room in the world.
“PokerStars is committed to investing significant resources to put a brand new poker room at Resorts Casino Hotel. In addition to the poker room, they are committed to driving traffic to Atlantic City through their marketing,” commented William J. Pascrell III, speaking on behalf of PokerStars.
In what looks like an additional incentive for the state of New Jersey to grant PokerStars a license, the partnership is also trumpeting the creation of jobs that PokerStars and Resorts would bring to the state.
In addition to the building of the new poker room, PokerStars is planning on establishing a North American Headquarters in New Jersey, which is expected to employ approximately 150 people, and an additional 50 people to establish the systems needed to get the online site up and running would be hired immediately upon PokerStars receiving a license.
Up to 200 additional jobs may then be created next year should multi-state agreements be formed and a wider network created.
With internet gaming slated to begin in New Jersey on November 26 of this year, there are some concerns that as a result of PokerStars’ involvement in the Black Friday indictments, the online leader may be deemed unsuitable for license. Without a license, of course, the plans for the poker room would not materialize.
PokerStars and Resorts formed a partnership after PokerStars’ well publicized plans to purchase the Atlantic Club fell through. While PokerStars and the Atlantic Club are still embroiled in litigation over the money that was invested in the early stages of that agreement, PokerStars is pushing forward with the new poker room and keeping an eye on a casino of their own.
“They’re willing to talk to all of the various casinos that are for sale,” Pascrell added.
PokerStars last land based promotion on US soil was the short lived NAPT which famously concluded two days before Black Friday when Vanessa Selbst capped a victory on back-to-back NAPT Mohegan Sun titles.
 
Author: Ekaterina
04 . 10 . 2013 y.
Merge Poker Rooms Reduce VIP Tiers—Top Tier Becomes Invitation Only

 Six levels become three, and the top level is invitation only at Carbon Poker.

The top rooms on the Merge Gaming network, including Carbon Poker and Aced, have radically reduced the number of levels in their VIP program.
Carbon Poker and Aced now have just three levels. At Carbon they are called Carbon; Carbon Plus and Carbon Elite.
The new scheme replaces the former six level program. The lowest VIP level now requires players to accrue 500 player points per month to maintain access to benefits. The middle level is open to those earning 5,000 points a month.
Effectively there are only two levels of VIP which can be earned, the top Elite level is now invitation only. The impact on players at most levels will be a reduction in benefits.
The previous “Wind” level was achieved with just 100 points a month and entitled the player to exchange points for cash at a rate of 10%. The “Water” level required 1,500 points but the points to cash exchange rate was almost double at 19%.
Under the new plan, the Wind level player does not earn enough points to qualify for a VIP level and the Water level player will have to exchange points at the reduced rate of 10%.
Merge Gaming cash game traffic took a big hit after it raised the rake on mid stakes cash games in March this year. This graph from pokerfuse PRO Data shows a how Merge traffic has performed over that time compared to the other sites which still accept US players—excluding the regulated Nevada market.
The first decline against the market followed the departure of Lock Poker an other skins from the network. The second decline followed the increase in rake.
It is apparent that Merge is trying to change its player ecology by discouraging some high volume grinders, to make the site more attractive to more recreational players.
Reaction from players posting on 2+2 has unsurprisingly been negative. Carbon poker closed their sponsored support thread last week, having angered players the previous week by allowing tournament tickets to expire.
Anger now comes from players who were saving their player points to exchange at a higher VIP level and will now have to accept an exchange rate much lower.
Merge skin PokerHost appears to have retained its five level VIP program.
 
Author: Ekaterina
03 . 10 . 2013 y.
Bodog Upgrade Brings a Better Bet Slider and Tournament Information Tab

 Bodog’s latest software upgrade adds new table features and fixes a bug that unexpectedly caused some players to post a big blind.

The bug affected the “Wait for BB” option by automatically unchecking the selection box if the player in the big blind seat left. This led to players who expected not to post until they were in the big blind posting blinds in advance.
Improvements included an upgrade to the bet slider which now increments bets exponentially “allowing for more play/movement in the first half of the bar and less in the 2nd half.” The slider can also be operated by using the ”+” key.
Display features have also improved. There is now a tournament information table accessed through a new details tab. It shows your current position in the tournament, the number of players remaining in the tournament, average stack size, the next level and time until the next break.
A new animation shows folded cards sliding to the middle of the table, and for players who do not fold, but end up all in, there will now be an on table display of the equity held by each hand.
Author: Ekaterina
03 . 10 . 2013 y.
Email Notification for Full Tilt Remission Process is Now Complete

 The email notification portion of the Full Tilt Poker remission process is now complete, according to the Garden City Group (GCG).

As of October 1, the GCG states that it has sent out over 1.4 million emails to former players and that it has already received 23,500 petitions through their online filing system.
If you are a player that did not receive notification from the GCG, but believe you are entitled to participate in the remission program, the GCG encourages you to submit your current email address so they can provide you with both petition and control numbers if they have been assigned.
Additionally, the GCG will continue notifying players whose email addresses were deemed undeliverable, by sending postcards to those whose physical addresses they have on file.
The GCG began the Remissions Process on September 18. The deadline to submit a “Petition for Remission” is Saturday, November 16, 2013.
Author: Ekaterina
02 . 10 . 2013 y.
Intertops Network Problems Disrupt Tournaments and Deposits

 Severe server and network problems at Intertops disrupted play at the Revolution Gaming poker room yesterday.

According to the Intertops rep on 2+2, by now, “most services should be available again, some depositing methods (such as credit card) might still be unavailable.”
Players who encountered problems with tournaments are urged to contact support for refunds.
Interestingly, the rep added: “This is not the implementation of the new MTT schedule and we are not switching networks.”
Rumors that Intertops is not happy with Revolution have been rife. Last month Intertops opted out of all mid-stakes cash games and multi-table tournaments (MTT) leading Revolution to drop all Sunday guarantees by 20%.
 
Author: Ekaterina
02 . 10 . 2013 y.
UK Explores Protection of Customer Funds

 Six potential options—from fund segregation, to trust funds, even reserves held by the regulator itself—are proposed, and the industry has until December to respond.

The UK Gambling Commission has launched a consultation on the protection of customer funds. Responses are required by December 4, and the resulting license condition amendments will come into force at the earliest in April next year.
Currently there is no stipulation under the UK’s regulatory system dictating how player funds must be held. The issue has not had a higher profile previously because there are so few UK licensed operators; the UKGC quotes a figure of £162.32m held on players’ behalf for the period Oct 2011 to Sep 2012 across all licensees. However, with the pending introduction of a new gambling act, which will require the UKGC to regulate all operators serving UK customers, the amounts of player deposits will increase dramatically.
The document notes that online poker has been particularly vulnerable to the insolvency of operators and the subsequent loss of player deposits, but takes comfort from the fact that few players have lost money—a veiled reference to PokerStars assuming responsibility for player deposits (except US) when it took over Full Tilt.
It proposes six options which “all represent, to a greater or lesser degree, increased protection against the risks of funds being unavailable to customers in the event of insolvency or because of fraudulent actions.”
Option 1: Segregated accounts – where funds are held in a separate bank account.
Option 2: A ‘Quistclose’ trust – a peculiarly UK legal form where funds held by an operator are restricted for a particular purpose and therefore not available to creditors in the event of insolvency.
Option 3: Insurance against insolvency
Option 4: An independent trust account
Option 5: Reserve held by the regulator
Option 6: Rules for specific gambling products
In addition it proposes to change the rules on disclosure so that customers are informed about the risks they are taking when they make a deposit. The nature of that disclosure forms a separate topic within the consultation. The UKGC’s light touch regulatory philosophy is evident in its explanations for various options: “What is important is that the regulator takes all appropriate actions to protect the consumer and/or to ensure that the consumer makes informed choices about the risks they are comfortable with.”
 
Author: Ekaterina
01 . 10 . 2013 y.
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