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PokerInVenice Cashout Difficulties Mount

 PokerInVenice, an online gaming site that offers its players internal balance transfer capabilities between multiple poker networks, has been beset by a series of slow-pay/no-pay complaints stretching back several months.

The PokerInVenice business, which operates as PivGame Ltd. and lists Cesare Florio as its CEO, has also been involved in problematic relationships with other sites offering similar services. Those partnerships included one with 4donk.com, which operated as a white-label skin under PokerInVenice’s deals with poker networks.
PIV also previously had a business partnership with Muchos Poker, a similar multi-network site that was blocked recently by the iPoker Network. IPoker blocked Muchos Poker while initiating a freeze on its own player-to-player (P2P) transfer capabilities, as it sought to address internal concerns.
The problems with PokerInVenice cashouts include multiple allegations of slow/no cashouts totaling tens of thousands of dollars, and include the purported transfer of some players’ balances from now-defunct skins to newer entities.
One example includes the offer of receiving a “bonus” of the balance a poker room on Play2B, where players will be required to rake an amount equivalent to 75% of their balance before they will be allowed to withdraw their funds.
Players with larger balances have little chance of recouping a majority of their funds under such deals. The overall lack of liquidity of the new sites combined with the number of hands required to be played in order to rake the required amounts within a certain time period effectively renders their funds lost.
The reshuffling situation involving TargetPoker and PokerInVenice, as with the recent Minted Poker/Everleaf situation that includes a similar rake-through proposal, have both been offered under the license of Malta’s Lotteries & Gaming Authority (LGA). The LGA, a licensor of convenience for many smaller online poker networks, has a nonexistent track record in successfully resolving player complaints stretching back several years.
Separately, PokerInVenice has also released a statement that cashouts coming from the Cake Poker Network will take at least 75 business days to process, a situation blamed on delayed reconciliations from that network. The PokerInVenice operation currently claims to be able to provide access to and cross-network balance transferring from seven poker networks: Cake/Revolution, Ongame, Enet, Ideal, Instadeal, Merge (under the name Onfire) and Play2B.
The PokerInVenice situation involves finger-pointing by several of the businesses involved, including the calls for player complaints to be sent to the Malta LGA, despite that agency’s historic non-responsiveness.
 
Author: Ekaterina
30 . 05 . 2013 y.
Real Madrid Agrees New Deal with bwin.party

 After its announcement that it was continuing to sponsor MotoGP, bwin.party has now agreed to extend and redesign its sponsorship deal with Spanish football club Real Madrid.

The bwin.party name will no longer appear on the players’ jerseys—the new deal is all about “exploiting the Group’s extensive content and media rights catalogue” and is structured to reflect changed consumer behavior.
Rather than being displayed on the shirts, the bwin.party name and logo will be on the perimeter signs and prominent on the clubs website. Co-branded mobile and gaming apps are planned and bwin will have access to players for marketing campaigns.
The company is currently neck and neck with iPoker Spain for third place in the Spanish regulated market, but a very long way behind 888Poker Spain and market leader PokerStars. It operates under both its bwin and PartyPoker brands.
Author: Ekaterina
29 . 05 . 2013 y.
First Reports of Impact of 30% Greek Gaming Tax from OPAP

 Greek gambling monopoly OPAP has produced its first quarterly report since January’s introduction of a 30% gambling tax— revenues are down over 18% year on year.

The company also blames fewer trading days than in the first quarter of 2012 and the “harsh local macroeconomic environment.”
Consumer retail spending fell 15% over the same period and Greek GDP is down 5.3%. OPAP’s profits fell by 70% on the revenue decline.
The Greek Government’s stake in the publicly listed company has just been sold to a consortium of Greek and foreign bidders on the orders of the IMF, EU and ECB Troika as a condition for extending loans to the financially ruined country.
Author: Ekaterina
29 . 05 . 2013 y.
Poker Revenues Fall in France

 Revenue for online poker in France has decreased overall in the last twelve months, a contrasting trend to other forms of gaming in the country.

Gross revenues for online poker cash games in the European country fell by 14 per cent for the twelve month period to May, resulting in €61.2 million of revenue. Poker tournament revenues in Frances faired a little better, with revenue remaining constant at €41 million.
The figures were revealed by President of ARJEL (France’s regulatory authority for online games), Jean-Francois Vilotte last week. Mr Vilotte said more progress needed to be made on a European regulatory-judicial framework that adequately addressed the gaming industry and the revenues it generates.
“The European Commission just needs to draw the lessons of European jurisprudence with regard to the principle of subsidiarity,” he said. “On the other hand, work undertaken by the Council of Europe on sporting ethics is progressing well.”
French online poker sites still rank highly worldwide in terms of play traffic. According to PokerScout, two .fr poker services are among the top nine services with the most traffic; PokerStars.fr which sits at ninth with a seven day average of 1240 players and Winamax.fr which is seventh with a seven day average of 1520 players.
Two other .fr websites were ranked in Pokerscout’s top 20 sites for poker traffic. They were iPoker.fr (15th) with a seven day average of 560 players and PartyPoker.fr (17th) with an average of 530 players over seven days.
Despite the fall in poker revenues, Mr Vilotte said that France’s overall gaming industry was currently in a good state.  “The French online gaming industry has well and truly established itself and, as expected, has consolidated,” he said. “By way of comparison, gross gaming revenues for the sector were €188 million for the first quarter in France, compared with €145 million in Italy. The sector was down 1% in France whereas it dropped 14% in Italy, because of the economic environment.”
Gross revenues for online betting in France increased by 20 per cent to €63.4 million in the twelve months to May. Revenues for online pari mutuel horse racing rose 3 per cent to €103 million, though Mr Vilotte said he expected activity in this area to fall.
Author: Ekaterina
28 . 05 . 2013 y.
Gala Interactive Boosts Gross Win and Profits

 Gala Interactive has reported major gross win in year-on-year revenues, with poker responsible for the increase.

The online division of UK headquartered Gala Coral Group, Gala Interactive reported a 49 per cent increase in gross win, which the company said resulted in the trebling of gross win for its Galacasino.com site. The major increase in gross win for the site followed the relaunch of its online poker and casino services on Playtech’s platform in May last year.
Gala Coral’s poker services were moved to the top tier of Playtech’s iPoker network in April, which has put it with the likes of bet365 and TitanPoker. This move would likely make online poker in important part of the Gala Interactive division and the Gala Coral brand as a whole in the short and long term future.
Gala Interactive’s Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) also increased by 27 per cent to £6.6 million in the first quarter of 2013, something which was also attributed to the relaunch of online poker and casino services in the division.
Despite the strong performance by Gala Interactive, Gala Coral’s online businesses contributed less than 10 per cent of the entire business’ gross profit. Gala’s Retail and land-based gaming arms contributed significantly to the businesses overall gross profit.
Gala Coral’s other online division, Coral Interactive, posted a £2.3 million loss in the first quarter of 2013, which was blamed on a heavy marketing push during the first quarter period. Gross win for the division, however, more than doubled year-on-year to £12.3 million, with sports gross win rising 121 per cent over the same period.
Gross profit from Gala Coral’s land-based casino division fell 7.7 per cent year-on-year to £25.2 million. However, the sale of the business’ land-based casino estate to Rank Group was completed earlier this month, after the first quarter of 2013.
 
Author: Ekaterina
28 . 05 . 2013 y.
Bodog Wants More Zorro’s

 Bodog wants more Zorro’s for the $100,000 Grand Final of the Anonymous Poker Series (APS) to be held in Manila. It has already had a masked qualifier playing the first two events of the series, now it wants more for the final.Two free places in the event are up for grabs to players who send in a photograph of themselves dressed as Zorro to PokerHero@bodognetwork.com.

Free seats will also be warded to the first person to bust out of the WSOP Main Event Day 1A and to the Bubble Boy (or Girl)—the last person to exit the Main Event before the prize money starts to be awarded.
Jonas Odman, President of the Bodog Poker Network explained: “When we launched the APS the event was designed to give those who’ve had a bad poker experience a better one… and feel these players fit the parameters perfectly.”
Bodog has committed itself to the recreational player model and promotes its anonymous tables as a way for players to avoid being targeted by poker sharks.
Author: Ekaterina
27 . 05 . 2013 y.
Rafa Nadal On Court for Poker Tournament

 Over the weekend, PokerStars Team member and tennis prodigy Rafa Nadal took on 200 PokerStars.FR players in a tournament held on a tennis court.

The players played the tournament online, rather than live, and Rafa finished about half way up the field when his K-Q was beaten by J-6.
The top 20 finishers all received a PokerStars chip set signed by the tennis legend.
Rafa joined the PokerStars Team six months ago and since then has been prominent in many of their promotions.
On top of his Grand Slam victories, he won the Olympic Gold medal in Beijing in 2008. He is currently defending his title at the Roland Garros event in Paris, where today, he overcame losing the first set against Daniel Brands to make it to the second round.
Author: Ekaterina
27 . 05 . 2013 y.
Complaints About Slow U.S. Full Tilt Payouts Irksome to Some AP & UB Players

 Recent media reports from several outlets indicate that the remission process for former Full Tilt players in the U.S. continues to drag on and may take years before players will be reunited with their funds.

While that is certainly unfortunate considering that the wait has already lasted longer than two years, the good news is that player funds will eventually be returned. Patience is indeed a virtue and is found in abundance among the world's best poker players.
The long delay has prompted a number of posters to take to online poker forums and gripe about the snail's pace in which the U.S. DoJ operates. That is understandable to most because some players have a significant amount of money tied up in cyberspace. Considering that rest-of-world Full Tilt players were reimbursed with their frozen funds upon the site's relaunch more than six months ago, the excessive wait for U.S. players seems to some a bit unfair.
However, a certain percentage of online players don't find the slowness of payment to be unfair at all and would gladly trade places with Full Tilt's former U.S. players. Those players are the ones who frequented UltimateBet and Absolute Poker and whose prospects of ever being reunited with their long-lost funds look extremely dim.
Of the three poker rooms or networks that were targeted on Black Friday, only the Cereus Network consisting of AP and UB looks to be the one in which players won't be made whole. Recent reports concerning either of the Cereus poker rooms continue to unearth new revelations regarding the superuser cheating scandal from years ago. But nary a mention concerning payouts to former players with account balances remaining on the sites.
Pros such as Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke with past affiliations to UB have made statements attempting to distance themselves from the improprieties that are known to have ocurred. In the case of AP, news of a new book written by Ben Mezrich that apparently blurs fact and fiction in telling of the site's rise and fall will hit the book shelves this week.
While these news reports are certainly interesting and newsworthy to some, what concerns former AP and UB players most is the fact that they have millions of dollars tied up on the poker rooms. Money that will likely never be seen again in light of the list of creditors already lined up who have staked a claim in whatever dollars can be squeezed from the possible remaining assets.
While former U.S. Full Tilt players continue to gripe and whine about the lengthy delay in reimbursement proceedings, just remember that things could have been worse. They could have been former AP and UB players without any such remission process in place and the likelihood of ever again seeing their funds virtually non-existent. AP and UB players would gladly trade places with ex-U.S. Full Tilt players in a heartbeat.
Author: Ekaterina
27 . 05 . 2013 y.
Ladbrokes to Cut 100 Jobs

 Gaming company Ladbrokes has announced that around 100 jobs are set to be cut at the company in the coming months.

It follows a new direction for aspects of the business, with the recent launch of Ladbrokes Israel and the transfer of many key roles to the Tel Aviv-based office. The cuts are set to affect those working at Ladbrokes’ head office in London, which will bear the brunt of the company’s move to Israel. Respresentatives of the company have said that some major roles will be moved from London to Tel Aviv “in order to maximise [the] potential” of the new office.
In a statement released by Ladbrokes, the company said the cuts are necessary as part of its shifting focus and goals in the gaming industry. “As a result of this and the company’s ongoing commitment to maximising efficiency, a number of Ladbrokes employees have been placed at risk of redundancy and a 90-day consultation period has begun,” the statement said.
“Ladbrokes envisages that around 100 roles will be affected at the conclusion of the process and appropriate advice and support will be provided to all those affected.”
It is currently believed that staff in Ladbrokes’ gaming team, marketing and support divisions will be among those most affected by the proposed cuts. The cuts would also mean that around 10 per cent of staff in its office in Rayner’s Lane, London.
The proposed cuts are the latest move in what have been a series of major reforms in Ladbrokes’ business operations. Ladbrokes Israel was launched at the start of this month following a long-term licensing agreement with software development company Playtech.
Ladbrokes also recently announced that it had taken on Jim Mullen as the director of its digital operations effective from November. Mullen was previously the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Ladbrokes’ chief UK rival, William Hill. In another major change at Ladbrokes, Customer Experience Director Stephen Vowles announced his resignation from the post after completing a re-structure of Ladbrokes’ marketing functions.
In April, Ladbrokes announced that first quarter profits for the company fell by 25.8 per cent, and said its full year profits were likely to be towards the bottom of the existing market range.
Author: Ekaterina
24 . 05 . 2013 y.
888poker Renews PGA EuroPro Tour Golf Sponsorship

 European golfing tour PGA EuroPro Tour has announced that it will be sponsored by the gambling site 888.com’s poker brand, 888poker, in 2013.

The sponsorship renews 888poker’s 2012 association with the golf tour, extending the poker site’s tenure as the main title sponsor.
In a press release, PGA EuroPro Tour said the tie-up between the two will see new promotions and events added to this year's sponsorship in the hopes of bringing together fans and players of the tour.
Barry Hearn, chairman of Matchroom Sport, which promotes the PGA EuroPro Tour, welcomed the ongoing partnership.
“I am absolutely delighted that 888poker will be the title sponsor of the PGA EuroPro Tour once again in 2013,” he said. “We enjoyed a fruitful relationship with 888poker in 2012 and are thrilled that they want to be a part of the PGA EuroPro Tour once again this summer. 888poker is an extremely professional, forward thinking and highly successful company who have an established name and brand that is great for the Tour to be linked with. The Tour is stronger than ever this year and I am really looking forward to what should be a great year as the Tour and 888poker continue to build on the strong relationship built in 2012.”
Founded in 2001, the EuroPro Tour has established itself as Europe’s leading developmental golf tour with the top five in the Order of Merit at the end of each season advancing to the Challenge Tour. In 2012, winner Paul Maddy collected £32,000 winnings playing in the tour, which has featured Ryder Cup winners Nicolas Colsaerts and Ross Fisher in previous years, as well 2010 Open winner Louis Oosthuizen and 2011 Masters winner Charl Schwartzel.
Other notable golfers including Scott Jamieson, Thomas Aiken and Jamie Donaldson, who have all won European Tour events in 2013, have also played on the PGA EuroPro Tour in previous years.
888.com Senior Vice President Itai Pazner said, “Last year’s tour was a great success for our poker brand and offered our online player’s access to the prestigious PGA Tour. We hope this year our new integrations will take the partnership to the next level.”
888poker.com claims to be one of the biggest online poker sites in the world with over five million registered users.
Author: Ekaterina
24 . 05 . 2013 y.
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