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Portuguese online gaming launches June 28–Estoril Sol dismayed

 Estoril Sol is owned by Portuguese operator Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM). The parent company saw their profits drop by 95% in 2014 and they blame those losses on increased taxes from the government and dwindling revenue due to illegal casinos. To add insult to the injury the government opted to hand out online gaming licenses to new companies rather than offer them exclusively to existing land-based operators.

The board of Estoril Sol includes important names such as Stanley Ho Hung Sun as Chairman, Pansy Ho Chiu King, Ambrose So Shu Fai, and banker Patrick Huen Wing Ming. The 93 year old Stanley Ho is the founder of the company and widely regarded as the father of Macau gambling, having held a virtual monopoly there for forty years and helping the Mainland Chinese government with the enclave’s transition from Portuguese dominion to the Chinese in 1999. He is the father of Pansy Ho Chiu King and her sibling Lawrence Ho of Melco Crown. Pansy Ho also owns a 50% stake in MGM Macau.
A major complaint of the board is in regard to the Portuguese government’s casino tax regime. Their casino in Póvoa de Varzim gives up as much as 65% of their gaming revenue for taxes. The casino posted a loss in 2014 of €7.15m. The other two casinos, Casino Estoril and Casino Lisboa pay as much as 50%.
The board said, “The less gaming revenues are generated, the more taxes have to be paid.”
Taxes are not the company’s only concern. “The State allowed online gaming companies to operate illegally in Portugal to the point that Tourism of Portugal, the entity supervising and monitoring the Portuguese casinos, sponsored a national motorcycle racing championship in partnership with one of those illegal operators,” the operator stated.
In regard to online gaming they seem dumbfounded that the government offered up licenses to new ventures when they feel they already paid for the right to operate online when they received their casino licenses. Taxes on the online casinos, who will receive three-year licenses and be regulated by Santa Casa de Misericordia de Lisboa, will be from 15-30% for casino games, poker, and bingo. Sports betting operations will only tender 8-16%.
Land casinos such as those operated by Estoril Sol have significantly higher overhead and operational costs than online casinos which can be staffed with a handful of people, and provide no hospitality services nor in person VIP hosts.
Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism, Adolfo Mesquita Nunes said, “We are preparing everything so that on June 28 the technical control structure is operating [for online casinos]. We want to sign up as many operators as possible, particularly international operators.”
Author: Ekaterina
16 . 06 . 2015 y.
Lithuanian President calls for i-gaming regulation

 President Dalia Grybauskaitė of Lithuania has signed amendments to the country’s gaming law which could lead to the supervision of online gambling in the country.

he amendments are the first step towards the regulation and supervision of online gambling in Lithuania, one of the last EU member states in which remote gambling activities have not yet been regulated.
The changes to the gaming law stipulate that remote gambling may be organised only by companies that are certified by Lithuania's Gaming Control Authority.
Author: Ekaterina
16 . 06 . 2015 y.
Macau regulator issues warning against illegal online gaming

 Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau has warned consumers against participating in online gaming, following public enquiries about sites which claim to be authorised by the regulator.

In a statement Friday, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, known by its Portuguese acronym DICJ, warned that "so far, the Macau Government has never issued any online interactive gaming license to any companies", adding that all online interactive gambling websites in Macau "are considered illegal operations".
The regulator issued the statement in response to a rising number of public enquiries relating to online gaming sites which accept bets under the name of DICJ.
"The function of the DICJ is to monitor and supervise the various gambling activities. As such, the Bureau will not encourage, promote or operate any form of gambling activities," it said.
"Any unauthorized use of DICJ official website information and photos for promotional purposes without obtaining prior consent is an offense. The DICJ will not tolerate such illegal acts and will reserve the rights to pursue the matter through legal channel."
The regulator added that it continues to work closely with the Judiciary Police to fight against illegal online gambling activities.
Author: Ekaterina
16 . 06 . 2015 y.
New Gambling Awareness Ads to Hit the UK

 Senet Group, the independent gambling self-regulator, is running some new television, online and radio advertising that reminds people partaking in gambling to no bet more than they can afford, that they shouldn’t chase losses and that doing so is a #badbetty.

The advertisements use a play-on-words to the 1977 Ram Jam song Black Betty and now feature a slightly different lettering in its “When the funs stops stop” banners that are displayed alongside key sporting events.

Ron Finlay, the Senet Group’s chief executive, said: “Our research shows that gamblers are getting the message, but we want to keep reinforcing it.”

In a statement on the Senet Group website, Finlay went on to say that the Group has added guidance which strengthens the restrictions on its members’ advertising.

“Members committed no to advertise gaming machines in betting shop windows and now we’ve clarified that this extends to ‘tournaments’ too. We’ve also added guidance to include trackside hoardings shown on TV within the restrictions that apply to TV advertising before the 9pm watershed.”

The Senet Group was established in September 2014 with the goal of helping to prevent problem gambling. It was created by four of Britain’s most prominent gambling companies, namely Paddy Power, Coral, Ladbrokes and William Hill in response to public concerns on gambling and gambling advertising.

Any gambling operator can become a member and all member commit to:

▪ Dedicate at least 20% of shop window advertising to responsible gambling messages

▪ Withdraw all advertising of gaming machines from betting shop windows

▪ A voluntary TV advertising ban on sign-up offers, such as free bets and free money, before 9:00pm

http://uk.pokernews.com

Author: Ekaterina
15 . 06 . 2015 y.
Brown appoints spokesman to lead state gambling commission

 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown has named one of his top spokesmen to lead regulation over California's gambling industry.

The governor's office announced Friday the appointment of Jim Evans as chairman of the California Gambling Control Commission.
Evans, a Democrat, served as a spokesman for the state's Business, Transportation and Housing Agency before joining Brown's team in 2013. He has also run communications for Democratic senators, including former Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.
Evans replaces Richard Lopes, who announced his retirement in May amid allegations that a former top executive improperly contacted the agency and received confidential information about investigations.
Evans will lead the five-member commission over licensing of the state's $10 billion gambling industry, primarily tribal casinos and card rooms.
The position requires Senate confirmation and pays $138,867 a year.
 
Author: Ekaterina
15 . 06 . 2015 y.
Italy's Third Biggest Political Party Calls for Total Ban on Gambling Advertising

 As the Italian government gets ready to modify the country's gambling regulation to introduce more stringent measures on slots rooms and TV advertising, opposition leader Beppe Grillo has asked the Parliament to discuss a bill that aims to introduce "a full ban on gambling advertising."

Millionaire comedian turned opinion leader and politician, Grillo accused the Government to have explicitly avoided to take into consideration the proposal of a full ban prepared by his political party, the Movimento 5 Stelle, because "the majority is under the thumb of the gambling industry and its lobbyists."
Grillo, whose personal blog was included in the list of The world's 50 most powerful blogs by Britain's The Observer, claims that the new measures on gambling have been ready for weeks now but have been kept secret from the Parliament as they had to be created and eventually modified by the biggest gambling companies active in the country.
"The draft is ready since February 11," Grillo writes. "The Government decided to make it available to the gambling industry and not to the members of the Parliament - they told us that the document is secret and that we have to wait."
Linking to a PDF file that Grillo assures to be a copy of the draft that the government has sent to a number of gambling companies, the leader of the opposition party explains that the reform planned by the Italian Government is not going to introduce any significant restriction or any relevant measure to fight against compulsive gambling issues.
"The M5S found the text and is now making it public. Do you want to know what to know what the draft says?" Grillo asks from his blog. "The ban on gambling ads, that should have been a total one along the lines of the one applied to cigarettes, will be completely insignificant."
In his attack on the plans of the Government, Grillo also explains that the movement he leads has already proposed to introduce a full ban on gambling advertising to be adopted at least on all Italy's State-owned public TV channels.
"I want to remind everyone that the M5S, through Roberto Fico, proposed a special contract that would introduce a total ban on gambling ads from Italy's public TV channels," Grillo explained.
Would the ban hit on the online poker industry?
What is unclear, at the moment, is if Grillo's new war against the gambling industry could hit Italy's already weak online poker market or not.
As reported on PokerNews Italy on Feb. 21, Filippo Degasperi, a member of the M5S, publicly spoke against the ban on live poker games adopted in the country as he explained that he believed poker to be a game of skill and not one of luck.
Speaking about the decision of Italy's authorities to forbid the organization of a poker tournament at a local amateur club in the North of the country, Degasperi explained that he considered it to be "absurd."
"It's an absurd choice," Degasperi said. "The club simply wanted to organize a sporting event where player had to compete against others by developing different strategic approaches." According to the member of the M5S, poker tournaments should also be allowed because they "there is always a specific limit on the money that a player can lose."
"The Italian Government is expected to outline a new package of gambling rules that might considerably change the market," DLA Piper partner and technology lawyer Giulio Coraggio said earlier this month. "We have already reviewed a number of different versions of such new rules and assessed in different manners their potential impact, but this is still a work in progress."
Similarly to Grillo, however, Coraggio seemed to believe that while the companies that run Italy's gambling halls may have something to fear, the online sector looks relatively safe as the announced 'ban' on gambling ads looks a lot softer than initially announced.
"The restrictions on gambling advertising that initially appeared to be very stringent are likely to end up into restrictions that are not so different from the gambling advertising rules that are currently in place," Coraggio explained.
Author: Ekaterina
24 . 02 . 2015 y.
Cole South Recounts Isildur1's Run-In with Brian Hastings

 Old memories were drudged up late last week as one of online poker's most successful players, Cole South (pictured), was interviewed by Joe "Chicago Joe" Ingram on his Poker Life podcast. The podcast was quite lengthy – about three hours – so there were plenty of topics discussed, but one of particular interest was about a controversial incident from more than five years ago that resulted in Full Tilt pro temporarily getting his "Red Pro" status stripped.

Turning back the clock to early December 2009, a mysterious player named "Isildur1" had exploded onto the high-stakes online poker scene, winning and losing six- or seven-figure sums with regularity. December 8th, in particular, was astounding. Isildur1 started out great, up at one point around $2 million, but as soon as Brian Hastings stepped up to the table against him, everything went south. Over the course of nearly 2,900 hands, Hastings won $4.2 million from Isildur1. It was incredible. Hastings could do no wrong.
Following the crazy day, Hastings was interviewed by Gary Wise on ESPN and gave much of the credit to his friends South and Brian Townsend. Hastings said, "Obviously I'm happy and I'll take it, but Brian [Townsend] did a ton of work. The three of us discussed a ton of hands and the reports that Brian made, so I'm very thankful to him and to Cole as well."
That comment generated a huge controversy, as people in the poker community accused the trio of friends of colluding against Isildur1, of inappropriately sharing private hand histories to bilk a mark of his money. Full Tilt Poker's terms of service certainly state that players may not use hand histories for hands in which they did not participate. 
As a result of his comments, Townsend, a CardRunners instructor at the time, had his "Red Pro" status stripped by Full Tilt for a month.
On his blog, Townsend posted his response to the allegations, saying that of the three friends, he was the only one to do anything wrong. Nobody shared their hand histories with him, but he acquired 30,000 hand histories to go along with the 20,000 he already had on Isildur1 to allow him to study up on his opponent. He acknowledged it was against Full Tilt's rules, but stressed neither Hastings nor South gave him the hand histories. All they did was discuss his analysis with him.
Fast forward to 2015 and South, speaking with Ingram, backed up everything Townsend said. He explained that the only input he and Townsend had for Hastings (pictured) was the usual discussions poker playing friends would have. No collusion, no sharing of hand histories, just poker talk.
In his words, "Stinger [Brian Hastings] gave an interview with ESPN - Gary Wise, I think was the reporter - and said something to the effect, or at least Gary thought, that we merged our hand histories into one database and then used that to come up with some strategy against Isildur, which absolutely did not happen. I've got my hand histories, I've never sent them to Stinger or Brian Townsend, and I never received any of theirs. Stone cold, zero of that."
South added, "What did happen was Brian Townsend bought some hand histories from PTR… He then just had some overall tips for playing against Isildur. It was not anything remotely, I hesitate to say, 'useful'... 'The guy's aggressive in this spot;' it was just like talking to your friends about poker. He sent an e-mail with three points on things he would do when he's playing against Isildur. And I talk about my opponents' strategies pretty frequently with people I'm playing. This was extremely tame, nothing I would remotely consider out of line."
Whether or not people believe South, Townsend, and Hastings, it is interesting that this topic still comes up, more than five years later.
 
Author: Ekaterina
24 . 02 . 2015 y.
“Overspending” Contributed to the Demise of Lock Poker

 Shane Bridges, Director of Social Media and Affiliate Marketing at Lock Poker talks with pokerfuse about the pending collapse and loss of players’ funds at the US facing offshore online poker room.

Lock Poker has failed to return millions of dollars in deposits to its customers. One estimate by a forum poster that has been tracking the situation puts the figure at a minimum of $15,000,000, and yet, the site continues to operate offshore and out of the reach of authorities.
Shane Bridges, a former spokesperson for the company has now decided to speak out on the topic and has agreed to answer some questions.
Note: In a conversation with Bridges, he indicated that he is owed back pay by the company and is coming forward now in an attempt to provide information to the poker community.
IS THE PLAYERS’ MONEY GONE?
I never had access to any real financials, but with no significant movement on cashouts and promises of the big turnaround now being 12 months old it would be my assumption that player balances won’t be honoured now.
IN YOUR OPINION, WHY DID THE COMPANY FAIL?
Too much instability and possible overspending of management. The aggressive low margin marketing of Lock couldn’t be sustained with the constant network changes and growing processing problems in the industry. The repeated seizures of processors by the US Government as well as the less scrupulous processors in the shrinking market put too much of a strain on the bottom line. And for a CEO [Jen Larson] that often talked about putting every penny back into the company there was some obvious lifestyle spends that were getting funded somehow.
CAN YOU GIVE SOME EXAMPLES OF “LIFESTYLE SPENDS” AND “OVERSPENDING OF MANAGEMENT?”
Lifestyle spends were the classic big business thing of $500 bottles of wine with every single meal, Vintage Dom any time champagne was drunk, and insane overtipping.
Overspending of management was the business related costs which again was just over the top extravagance. First class flights everywhere for Jen [Larson] and Brendan [Young], insane boutique 5 star hotels everywhere. 
Brendan Young is the programmer behind Lock according to Bridges.
AT WHAT POINT DID YOU SUSPECT THAT THE PLAYERS WOULD NOT GET THEIR MONEY BACK?
Early 2013 I thought the company had one last shot to climb back out of the hole it had put itself in, as each month passed I saw less and less possibility of this happening to the point that by June/July 2013 my belief in the company had pretty much been completely erased.
By December I had no faith but wanted to keep quiet for a couple more months just in case Jen did pull a rabbit out of the hat and get the cash injection needed to at least make good on player balances.
WERE ANY OF THE SPONSORED PROS AWARE THAT THE PLAYERS WOULD LOSE THEIR DEPOSITS
I’m not aware of anyone knowingly pushing Lock after they became uneasy with the situation. Players that were still promoting Lock still believed in Jen’s ability to resurrect the room, often thanks to having large balances themselves and hoping she could make good on those promises. Everyone had a personal level of trust and as that eroded they pulled out and stopped promoting it. The real financial details were only ever known to Jen, the CTO and possibly the CS Manager who also handled the cashier.
WERE HIGH VOLUME PLAYERS PROMISED EXPEDITED CASH OUTS?
Regular players were always given preferential treatment in the cashout process whether it was good times or bad. It’s been so long since significant cashouts were actually processed I couldn’t actually say how far along it was that she was still making those promises.
 
Author: Ekaterina
23 . 02 . 2015 y.
California Online Poker Stakeholders Unite Around “Bad Puns” Clause

 SACRAMENTO — Key stakeholders in California’s online poker debate – including tribes, card rooms and tracks – have finally found an issue they can agree upon.

That issue: Banning lame puns from legislative press releases concerning online poker.
“For too many years, California lawmakers have made a mockery of the process by cramming all manner of mindless poker punnery into their statements announcing new bills,” read a statement from the National Organization for Preventing Unnecessarily Nonsensical Statements (NOPUNS).
“That ends today.”
So-called “Bad Puns” clause
The group has proposed a so-called “bad puns” clause that would sanction lawmakers who engaged in poker-related puns after February 20, 2015.
“It would be one thing if these puns were even a little clever,” said Bay Area card room owner and NOPUNS Director Kyle Ketterman. “But they’re not. It’s just “no more bluffing” this and “we’re all-in for poker” that.”
“Please, how old are you guys?” a visibly exasperated Ketterman added.  “Twelve?”
Bluffing puns among most abused
According to research conducted by NOPUNS, references to bluffing and going all-in are among the most hackneyed of cliche puns in terms of average use:
“Bluffing” or “not bluffing” or “calling a bluff” – 82%.
“Putting the cards on the table” – 71.6%.
“Going all in” or “betting the house” or “betting it all” – 68.7%.
“Dealt a losing hand” or a “folding hand” – 53.1%.
“Showing your hand” or “not showing your cards” – 23%.
“It’s nice to have something we can all finally come together on,” said Mark Lacchara, President of the California Online Tribal Alliance.
“I mean, some of us don’t like PokerStars. And a lot of us can’t stand the tracks.  But all of us are, to a one, abso-fucking-lutely sick of these god-awful puns.”
Lawmakers respond
California lawmakers immediately pushed back against the proposal.
“The ability to make puns is the ace up our sleeve,” said Assemblyman Roger Hall-Smith.
“When the chips are down, a well-placed poker pun is the stone-cold nuts that can leave your opposition drawing dead with public opinion,” Hall-Smith continued.
The Assemblyman then announced plans to introduce a counter-measure that would preserve his right to deploy, as he described it, “the royal flush of linguistic devices.”
When asked for a copy of the bill, Hall-Smith told BCP that “you have to pay to see.”
Author: Ekaterina
23 . 02 . 2015 y.
Bwin Says It’s Close to Sale of Social Gaming Business

 Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment Plc (BPTY), one of the largest online gambling operators in Europe, said it’s close to selling its social gaming business and is in continuing merger talks with other parties.

“We are in active discussions regarding the sale of Win, the group’s social gaming business and expect to make a further announcement shortly,” the Gibraltar-based company said today in a statement.
“The group is continuing its discussions with several parties regarding a variety of potential business combinations with a view to creating additional value for bwin.party,” the company said.
The online gambling business may be in the early stages of a consolidation wave following a disappointing rollout in the U.S. and the $4.9 billion purchase of industry leader PokerStars by Amaya Gaming Group Inc. in June, according to Brian Mattingley, chief executive officer of 888 Holdings Plc, another online gambling company based in Gibraltar.
Bwin’s largest business is sports betting. It also owns Kalixa Group, an online payment service. The company announced the expansion into social gaming in May 2012 with a $50 million investment. Social games resemble casino games such as blackjack and slot machines but are played on Facebook.com and mobile devices.
Bwin appointed a new chairman, Philip Yea, in April, and settled a proxy fight for board seats with SpringOwl Asset Management, led by former casino analyst Jason Ader. Bwin named one of his representatives, Daniel Silvers, as a director in May, as part of changes that included the planned retirement of three board members.
Financial Losses
Losses on the social gaming business would be about 7 million euros ($8.5 million) for the year, the company said in the statement. Bwin also provides online gambling in New Jersey, and the company said it anticipates a loss of 10 million euros on that business.
The company said it expected its revenue for the year to be in the range of 608 million euros to 612 million euros and its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin to be 16 percent to 17 percent.
While betting volumes and player numbers were as expected, the amount won by the company, particularly in December, was exceptionally weak, Bwin said. Full-year results will be announced March 10.
‘Time for Change’
“Management should be embarrassed by these results given the strong performance of Bwin’s peers,” Ader said in an e-mail. “The board as a collective, and its chairman are not holding management accountable for loss of market share, poor expense management and business underperformance. The time for change at Bwin is long overdue.”
The company said its results weren’t indicative of a market share loss, but of a margin dip in a “notoriously volatile industry.” Bwin expects to deliver 30 million euros in cost savings in 2014.
“The company is fully engaged on delivering further value for shareholders and I am confident that our efforts are supported by our major institutional shareholders,” Yea said in an e-mailed statement.
Bloomberg News reported in June that the company was seeking to sell all or part of its businesses.
 
Author: Ekaterina
02 . 01 . 2015 y.
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