Poker
Poker News
Amaya Hires Former Absolute Poker Frontman as Online Gaming Head

 Canada’s Amaya Gaming, a growing player in international gambling business, has hired former Absolute Poker CEO and COO Paul Leggett as its head of online gaming, replacing Paul Bertilsson, who will continue on as a consultant with the company.

Leggett’s hiring was first reported by eGaming Review last week, and has since been confirmed independently by pokerfuse, despite no formal announcement of the hiring by Amaya.
Leggett is expected to oversee one of Amaya’s new acquisitions, the Ongame Network, in particular. Bertilsson was the former Managing Director of Ongame Services, and Leggett, according to EGR, will now head up Amaya’s online division and is “responsible for all of Amaya’s online activities.”
Neither Leggett nor Amaya responded to inquiries from pokerfuse asking for confirmation of Leggett’s hiring, his official title, expected responsibilities and an interview.
The future roles of both Leggett and Ongame have the potential to raise eyebrows in states such as Nevada, where recently enacted online poker legislation includes a five-year “bad actor” provision for post-UIGEA, US-facing sites. Leggett served as CEO, COO and owner for several US-facing entities from 2007 onward, including Absolute Poker, UB.com (formerly Ultimate Bet), and Tokwiro Enterprises, a shell holding company fronted by former Kahnawake Grand Chief Joseph Tokwiro Norton.
Absolute Poker, which also owned UB.com, ceased operations after the April 2011 “Black Friday” crackdown by the United States, leaving tens of millions in player balances unpaid to its worldwide, though largely American, player base. Leggett was most often cited as the COO of UB.com as the Black Friday indictments were passed down.
The Ongame Network is one of the oldest online poker networks which operated in the United States prior to the passage of UIGEA. The former home to sites including bwin, PokerRoom.com and Hollywood Poker, the network was first operated by BetAndWin, which morphed into bwin.party following a 2011 merger.
With a surplus of gaming assets following the merge, bwin.party began a search for an Ongame buyer. The network was first sold to Shuffle Master, who later backed out of the deal. Amaya later purchased Ongame for a lessened price. Shuffle Master (now SHFL) then negotiated a pact with Amaya to use the Ongame platform.
Amaya also has a deal in place with Bally Technologies which, like SHFL, is already an approved licensee in Nevada’s new online poker regime. It remains to be seen whether Amaya’s hiring of Leggett presents any overriding concerns for Nevada regulators.
Author: Ekaterina
06 . 05 . 2013 y.
Lock Poker Ads Removed on 2+2 as Cashout Situation Goes from Bad to Worse

 On Friday, owners of popular poker forum Two Plus Two held a telephone conversation with “top officials” from long-term advertisers Lock Poker, which resulted in a promise that a new Lock representative would “give a more detailed explanation” of the serious cashout issues players face.

For months players both in the United States and outside have faced delays in cashouts stretching months. Lock Poker hosts a sponsored forum on 2+2 featuring sponsored representatives and heavily advertises banner ads across the site.
During the conversation which Mason Malmuth, 2+2 co-owner, categorized as “positive,” Lock agreed to stop all promotions on 2+2 until the issues are resolved to 2+2’s satisfaction.
Lock promised that the new representative would “take an active role in answering any questions” posed on the forum.
A poster presenting himself as a representative of Lock’s security and fraud department has addressed the 2+2 community, but currently no new information explaining the cashout delays has been divulged. Mods at 2+2 have yet to officially confirm that the poster is actually a site representative.
Professional poker players that represent Lock have been called upon to answer similar questions. Most of the pros that have responded have taken a wait-and-see approach to the situation and have pointed to Lock’s latest promise that cashouts will improve shortly.
The improvements are said to be a direct result of Lock’s latest policy implementation restricting withdrawals from accounts that have received transfers, with winnings derived from those transfers also reportedly frozen.
This is an extension of a previous policy to prevent cashouts from players receiving transfers.
The thread on 2+2 quotes an email response from Lock support: “Thank you for your reply, please note that player transfers and winnings derived from player transfers are not eligible for payouts. if you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.”
Lock official deny that such a rule is in place and attributes the email to circumstances specific to the recipient.
Several questions surrounding what is acceptable with regards to transfers remain unanswered, as do questions about a luxurious trip for Lock pros to a castle in Portugal, and requests for Lock officials to provide proof of the company’s solvency.
 
Author: Ekaterina
06 . 05 . 2013 y.
Poker Rooms Risk Closure Under Oregon Bill

 A bill currently being considered in the US state of Oregon may force poker rooms across the state to close if it passed.

Currently in the draft phase, the bill seeks to amend the State definition of ‘social gaming’ which, in its current form, would affect all games of poker that are not played outside of religious, charitable or fraternal organisations. This means normal poker rooms that are run as a business may be at risk if the bill gains any traction and widespread backing.
The bill has support among some members from both major parties in the Oregon State Legislature, with Republican Party members and the House of Representatives Speaker, a Democrat, announcing their desire for it to pass. The Speaker, 46-year-old Tina Kotek, recently likened poker rooms in Oregon to the American casino heartland of Las Vegas.
A number of clubs exist throughout the state, situated in the northwest of the country. Most are concentrated in the state’s largest city, Portland, with at least nine known poker rooms operating there according to the Pokeratlas website. Poker rooms also operate in at least ten other Oregonian cities and towns including Albany, Lincoln City and Salem.
The state has also played host to major poker tournaments in the past, a recent example being the DeepStacks Poker Tour PacWest Poker Classic in February.  While the bill still appears to be in its very early stages, poker room owners and players all over Oregon will likely be watching closely to monitor what progress, if any, it makes in the Legislature.
 
Author: Ekaterina
29 . 04 . 2013 y.
Casino Legislation Push In Japan Boosted

 Legislation to legalise casinos and live gambling, which would likely include poker, may be put forward in Japan’s parliament later this year.

It comes as an influential pro-casino lobby group in the country names a member of Japan’s governing party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), as its leader and political face of the group’s push for change. Hiroyuki Hosoda is a long-time member of Japan’s House of Representatives, having first been elected to the house in 1990. 69-year-old Hosoda holds some degree of clout in the LDP, having been the Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Government, a highly prestigious position, in the mid-2000s.
While Japan is known for having traditional, conservative views with regards to most social issues, the lobby group may get some traction if it can pitch its desired reforms as having an economic benefit. The Japanese economy is notorious for having stagnated since the 1990s following a rapid and impressive economic ascendency following the Second World War.  
Gambling is prominent throughout Japan, even though it is technically illegal. The country has been described as the largest casino and gambling market in Asia after Macau, with the potential for an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars to officially exist. This could prove to be a point that may entice others in Japan’s parliament to agree to the legalisation of casinos in the country.
Another point that may entice gambling and casino reforms to occur in Japan is the growing popularity and exposure of poker among Japanese throughout the nation. It largely comes following the performances of a number of Japanese players on the global professional poker stage in recent times, performances which are beginning to be noticed by their countrymen.
One such player is Naoya Kihara, who captured headlines in June 2012 as the first ever Japanese winner to win a Gold Bracelet in the World Series of Poker. Kihara took out the Pot Limit Omaha Six Handed event at last year’s WSOP, earning himself $512,029 in the process. The Tokyo native’s victory did not go unnoticed in his country, and he has since become a notable advocate of casino legalisation.
Another Japanese poker player succeeding on the world stage is Yoshitaka Okawa. In January, just seven months over Kihara’s WSOP win, Okawa won the largest tournament in the Macau Poker Cup, the Red Dragon Main Event, topping a 532-player field to take out HK$1,123,000 (around US$144,880). Kihara and Okawa’s victories in such short succession are likely to further spur the growth of poker in their country.
A bill for the legalisation of casinos may be tabled in September, following an election of Japan’s upper house which is set to occur in July.
Author: Ekaterina
29 . 04 . 2013 y.
Playtech Seeks to Expand Business After Strong Earnings

 Playtech has made several strides over the past two years to bolster its business and expand into new regulated markets. Its efforts have paid major dividends and the software company is seeking to build upon this success.

The software giant posted a 16% increase in the first quarter of the 2013 fiscal year with a total €102.5 million in revenue. Playtech’s online gambling division posted a 28% increase from 2012 Q1 by generating €44.1 million, which represented nearly half the earnings of the company. In addition to the online casino revenues, the company’s support services division posted a small 2% increase from last year’s figures.
Within the online gambling division, the sports book sector was the most successful venture for the company. Revenues for the sportsbook increased by 128%  to €4.6 million and saw a strong contribution from its mobile offering, Mobenga. Online bingo was also considered a success for the first quarter with revenue increases of 9% to €4.4 million.
Despite the overall success in the online gambling division, poker revenues continued to decline with an 18% drop from 2012 Q1 figures to €4.4 million. This trend has been a bit troubling as the online poker division saw an 18% decrease in revenue in the fiscal year 2012. Although the company has seen a steady decrease in revenue, the iPoker network has continued to be the gold standard for network poker in Europe and generally holds the second or third spot in Poker Scout rankings. The online poker division hopes to see increases in its revenue following the inclusion of Ladbrokes, which is considered a major skin.
In addition to its European business, the Asia-Pacific region continues to be a solid contributor to the company’s growth. Playtech has also initiated talks with regulated states in the US in order to enter the soon to debut market. Nevertheless, the European market still maintains the majority of the business and the company hopes to expand upon its presence.
Playtech has already made some recent business deals to maintain that stronghold on the European market. It recently sold its 29% stake in William Hill Online for £424 million. Also, the company recently agreed to a licensing deal with Ladbrokes, which will see the Gibraltar-licensed company use Playtech’s technology and marketing services.
CEO Mor Weizer has stated that the company plans to seek alternative strategies to increase revenues and expand its business to the global market.
"With the completion of the sale of our stake in William Hill Online, we are focused on exploring strategic alternatives that will enable us to continue the growth and development of the business,” Weizer stated to eGaming Review Magazine.
Playtech has a bright future and it hopes to grow stronger.
Author: Ekaterina
26 . 04 . 2013 y.
Billionaire Declines Ambassador Role Over Poker Ring

 A prominent New Yorker picked by US President Barack Obama to be the next US Ambassador to France has abruptly turned down the post due to asserted ties to the recently uncovered high-stakes poker ring.

Fifty three-year-old billionaire investor Marc Lasry was originally offered the prominent post by the President. Lasry made no secret that he was highly interested in being the top US representative in France, even planning to move his family to the country. However, the Co-founder of the $12 billion Avenue Capital investment firm declined the offer after his friendship with an accused senior figure in the ring, Illya Trincher, came to light recently.
Born in Morocco and raised in the US state of Connecticut, Lasry is known for being a major supporter and financial supporter of the US Democratic Party. Former US President Bill Clinton is one of his best friends and he raised just under $1 million for President Obama’s re-election campaign last year.
Lasry also has a passionate hobby in poker, having professed a love for the game due to the mathematical aspect and the fun of playing it with other people. He is known among a number of high-stakes poker players in the Big Apple for playing for high amounts of money that has been said to occasionally run into the millions.
The father of five also hit the poker news waves in 2011 after he and larger-than-life tycoon Donald Trump stated their intentions to launch an online gambling joint venture. It is currently unclear whether or not these plans are ever set to go ahead in the future.
Lasry’s withdrawal from the ambassador position is certain to cause some embarrassment to President Obama, given the context of the situation and Lasry’s heavily support of the Democrats. However, the extent of Lasry’s involvement with the recently busted poker ring is not yet known, which means there is unlikely to be any major consequences for the President.
Author: Ekaterina
26 . 04 . 2013 y.
Zynga Announces First Quarter Profit

 Online social gaming service Zynga has announced a $4.1 million profit in the first quarter of 2013.  While the news was welcomed by those at the company, it came as a surprise due to the dwindling number of people playing the games on Zynga’s service. Analysts even predicted the company would actually lose over $27 million in the quarter.

But Zynga’s top brass worked hard to ensure this would not happen.
They were able to turn things around largely due to aggressive cost-cutting endeavours undertaken in recent months. As part of the measures, at least eleven games offered by Zynga were shut down in December and January. The company also saved on costs by removing a number of its games from app stores and laying off a number of their employees.
Among the games offered by Zynga is Zynga Poker, which has the distinction of being the first social game offered by the company. Zynga also boasts that its poker game is the biggest free-to-play online poker service on the planet, the fourth most popular game on Facebook, as well as a top-10 grossing game in the Apple App Store. Zynga Poker does not seem to have been affected by any of the company’s cost-cutting initiatives.
Despite the surprising profit, the company seems to have a cautious outlook on the situation ahead. The company’s CEO, Mark Pinkus, has already predicted a significant decline in second quarter bookings and expects Zynga to lose between three and four cents per share in the next quarter. This would be in contrast to Zynga’s one cent per share profit it achieved in the first quarter.
Author: Ekaterina
25 . 04 . 2013 y.
Chinese police solve ‘poker card’ murder mystery

 A 24-year-old man from Anhui Province was arrested in a garment factory in Jianggan District in Hangzhou after confessing to killing his 19-year-old girlfriend, surnamed Cheng.

Police say the suspect, surnamed He, killed Cheng in a fit of jealousy and dumped the body in Yuhang District in Hangzhou. At the time of the murder, police found three playing cards, the Five of Spades, King of Spades and Jack of Diamonds. In search of information from the public, police published details of the murder and the cards online, leading to widespread speculation that the murderer was a serial killer with a poker obsession.
According to China Daily, police received almost 2,000 pieces of information daily from online sleuths and other interested parties. But, in his testimony to policy, He said the poker cards fell in with the body purely by accident.
Police said He met Cheng on an unnamed online game site in December and the pair became lovers shortly after. However, Cheng kept in contact with another man which sent He into a jealous rage. After killing her, he hid her body in a cardboard box sealed with tape, but had no idea the cards would fall in with her or that they’d cause media headlines.
“I saw the media reports after the discovery of the body. I remembered that the poker cards were in the drawer. Since I hit her with the drawer, the cards must have fallen at that time or she grabbed them during our fight,” He told police. “I was nervous after I killed her. I wrapped her in a quilt and put her in the box.”
In the end, the poker cards turned out to be a red herring. As China.org reports, police apprehended the man after receiving information from a supermarket owner who said a man with He’s description had bought tape in his shop recently.
Author: Ekaterina
25 . 04 . 2013 y.
Atlantic City’s Borgata casino ready to welcome online gambling

 During a conference call with investors, the hotel’s chief executive officer, Keith Smith, said Borgata will quickly introduce online betting once New Jersey officials finish the regulations.

“We intend to be among the first to offer online gambling in the state of New Jersey and are confident the Borgata brand will allow us to capture a substantial share of this lucrative market,” said Smith, as reported by the press of Atlantic City.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed legislation in February 27 legalising online gambling in an attempt to help the state’s struggling casino industry and generate casino tax revenues. At the moment it’s the most populous state in the US to give the green light to online gambling and follows similar moves from Delaware and Nevada.
Other states, such as Pennsylvania, are pencilling similar laws.
The push to legalise online gambling isn’t only happening at state level, either. Reuters reported in March that the federal government is also considering similar legislation.
“I think the states’ passage gives some incentive to the federal government to act,” said Representative Joe Barton last month. Barton introduced an online poker bill in 2011 that failed but he plans to introduce a new bill this spring.
"Whether you're for or against Internet gambling," said Barton, "you don't want 50 sets of state laws. You want uniformity."
Borgata’s Smith would not give any estimates as to how much he believed the hotel and casino would benefit from the new laws, although he agreed that New Jersey, as a whole, would generate internet gambling revenue from $200 million to $1.2 billion each year, as has been predicted by gambling analysts and industry experts.
Addressing fears that online casino games and online poker would have a detrimental effect on the existing casinos in Atlantic City, Smith said that there was little chance that internet gambling would “cannabilise” business for the casino. In fact, he believes that the casino’s ability to offer these services would increase the number of visitors.
Smith added, “We think it’s going to be a great addition to our land-based platform.”
Like many casinos in the area, Borgata has been struggling in recent years with declining vistors, competition from neighbouring states and a string of bad weather events such as hurricane sandy.
The hotel and casino’s parent company, Boyd Gaming, isn’t fairing much better. According to the Wall Street Journal, Boyd, one of Las Vegas’s oldest gambling companies, reported a first quarter loss this quarter of $7.2 million. However, despite the loss, overall revenues were up 16% from the previous quarter leading to a massive 24% jump in the firm’s share price.
Author: Ekaterina
25 . 04 . 2013 y.
“Technical Difficulties” Paralysed PokerFest III

 bwin.party has blamed technical difficulties for the failure of PartyPoker’s annual PokerFest III tournament series to start as advertised on Sunday.

Events 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the series were abruptly suspended, then cancelled.
Contrary to previous reports, Event 2—a $2.5k guaranteed event with a 20 “PartyPoints” buyin—did run, as did the last event of the day, Event 6.
In a statement issued to pokerfuse, PartyPoker blamed technical problems “which we were unable to resolve at the time.”
The email announces that the $250k guaranteed tournament scheduled for Sunday May 12—a week after the series ends—will have its guarantee increased to $350k “to supplement for the cancellation of event 1.” Event 1 had a $350k guarantee for its $215 entry fee.
The rest of the tournament schedule is expected to run as planned. Yesterday’s four events all ran without technical difficulties.
Author: Ekaterina
24 . 04 . 2013 y.
pages: << 1 ... 69 70 71 72 73 ... 80 >>
  • 1669

  • 1816
  • 1537

  • 1543

  • 1549

  • 1546

  • Getting Started Poker in 4 steps

    Step 1 Step 2
    Step 3 Step 4
Sportsbook
Live betting
Mobile betting
Freeroll Tournaments
Poker
Casino
Bonuses