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Welcome to Bet Sage's
Online Gambling News Section, featuring the latest breaking
gambling industry news courtesy of
InfoPowa
News. This is your
one stop source for all
and any of the latest
developments concerning
all aspects of the
Online Gambling
Industry. InfoPowa News
are recognised as one of
the leading independent
gambling news services
in the online gambling
industry.
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Settlement with US authorities by e-wallet is going to be expensive
Press releases from the embattled Isle of Man-based e-wallet Neteller today (Wednesday) offer some hope that US players may at last see some of their funds frozen since January this year. In a settlement with Department of Justice officials, the e-wallet acknowledges wrongdoing in regard to online gambling financial transactions in the USA, and agrees to provide information to US authorities, and to a two year "probationary" period in return for deferred prosecution on federal offences. The company will have to part with a hefty $136 million cash forfeiture to the United States government.
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Supporting illegal gambling is not a business risk, it is a crime - says US official
In a press release complementing that from Neteller, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michael J Garcia said that the Isle of Man e-wallet has admitted to criminal wrongdoing and has agreed to forfeit $136 000 000 in criminal proceeds as part of an agreement to defer prosecution approved by Judge P. Kevin Castel in a Manhattan court.
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Legal uncertainties given as the reason
In a seperate press release, Neteller announced that it will no longer process transfers related to online gambling sites on behalf of Israeli resident customers.
Recent legal developments have increased the uncertainty regarding the legality around certain activities related to online gambling in the Israeli market, the company statement informs, adding that management has therefore concluded that Neteller will no longer process transfers related to online gambling sites on behalf of Israeli resident customers.
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More bad news for Isle of Man e-wallet
As the week closed there was more bad news from the besieged Isle of Man-based e-wallet Neteller plc, with the announcement that executive chairman Gord Herman has resigned "to concentrate on personal matters", and will be replaced by non-executive director Dale Johnson as non-executive chairman, both with immediate effect.
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Resident poker pro advises on changes
32Red plc subsidiary Betdirect will be working on major improvements to its online poker service in the coming weeks as part of a complete re-design of the website.
The changes are in line with the recent rebranding of Betdirect's four e-gaming products and is designed to reflect the company's philosophy of being, straight, open and fair according to a press release this week.
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But what does "GPC" stand for?
Latest arrival on the Internet poker scene is a Boss Media powered online poker room branded GPC Poker Room.com, a subsidiary of Universal Gaming Concepts Inc, a firm with 7 years industry experience which includes Global Player.com among its managed gaming properties.
The new venue will operate on Boss Media's IPN network, offering players access to competitors all over the world and around the clock. Players can take part in real money action and enjoy poker's most popular games including: Texas Hold'em, Omaha, 5 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud, backed by daily tournaments with the opportunity to win thousands of dollars or seats at major events around the globe.
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Something for everyone in new games inventory additions
Swedish turnkey provider and games developer Net Entertainment released it's latest upgrade - CasinoModule 3.8 - this week, introducing 5 new games and a range of new management capabilities.
The new games include a ground breaking fresh Blackjack with a Double Jack side bet; Mystery Mansion � a 25 pay line video slot with an enticing murder mystery bonus game; Super Lucky Frog � a 25 pay line video slot with triple jackpots; All American � classic Video Poker in a 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 & 100 hand version (all with double up) and Bonus Keno � a new version of a classic game featuring a bonus game and a progressive jackpot.
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Online gambling portfolio expanded by UK-based firm
The Great Poker League Ltd has announced the launch of a new online casino to compliment their successful online Poker League.
Branded GPL Casino.com, the new venue is a white label, no download venture in partnership with Gibraltar licensed St Minver and offers pound sterling currency financial options. GPLBingo is a sister operation.
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GBP 14.4 million the cost to government
Making interesting reading recently is the UK Gambling Commission's first annual report, which shows a GBP 14.4 operational cost last year as the new regulator geared up the transition of a more liberal gambling industry to the new Gambling Act 2005.
The cost to government could have been GBP1.7 million higher, but some of the organisation's recruitment costs were deferred.
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Shoot Em Poker debuts on Verizon Wireless
On-the-go poker fans have a new game for their cellphones following the debut this week of Best Direction Inc's Shoot 'Em Poker for cell phones, now available on Verizon Wireless.
The game has a Wild West theme that combines poker with the skill necessary to rack up the scores in a shooter game, according to the company's press release. Cards are dealt and the recipient player has the option to discard unwanted cards. Replacement cards then scroll across the screen face up for the player to try to shoot the card desired to make the best hand. Adding to the tension and immediacy of the game, a time limit is imposed for this phase of the game.
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Getting a head start on the competition
Moving fast into the new UK gambling space this week was game testing laboratory group Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) Inc and its subsidiary GLI Europe, which announced that they have become the first test and verification laboratories to be provisionally approved by the UK Gambling Commission.
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Money bubble bursts and attrition rates high thereafter
With a starter field still a-glitter with top names from around the planet Day 3 of the World Series of Poker Main Event was always going to be an exciting experience for the 797 survivors from Day 2A and Day 2B, who combined under the same roof for Day 3 on Thursday afternoon at the Rio in Las Vegas. Six former WSOP champions were still in the starter field - Carlos Mortensen, Scotty Nguyen, Huck Seed, Robert Varkonyi, Chris Ferguson, and Berry Johnston.
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Big names, fast action and high attrition as major money is awarded
Friday saw the 337 survivors from the World Series of Poker Days 1 A through D, Days 2 A and B and Day 3 in the big payouts range and eager to get started in the Amazon Room at the Rio in Las Vegas.
Top of the leader board was the daring and aggressive 22 year old Italian Internet whizz kid Dario Minieri on 2 398 000, trailed by Jeff Weiss (1 533 000) Jon Kalmar (1 410 000) another Internet player Hevad Khan (1 319 000) Kenny Tran (1 175 000) Steven Jacobs (1 127 000) and a few others in the million chip league, including Gus Hansen.
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End of the road for some truly entertaining contestants.
Some of the most entertaining players in this year's Day 5 of the World Series of Poker Main Event were among the 76 contenders who had exited the race by the end of Day 5. Of the original field of 112, only 36 go through to Day 6 and sadly some of the competition's most exciting players were eliminated.
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Over 16 hours of gruelling duelling decides the last nine
4am in the morning Vegas time, and after 16 hours of poker against highly skilled opponents, the surviving ten members of World Series of Poker Day 6 are feeling the strain, sipping energy drinks or coffee and trying to hang in to become one of the final 9 who will gather on Tuesday after a rest day to decide once and for all who the 2007 WSOP champ will be.
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A look at the nine poker players who play for poker's biggest prize this Tuesday
The survivors of the last ten days of elimination poker that have involved 6 358 hopefuls, are preparing for the climax of the $10 000 buy-in main event - the final table for the 2007 World Series of Poker. The nine players who will compete Tuesday have a rest day today (Monday) before battle is joined.
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Yang on the rampage as four players hit the rail
Temecula, California-based psychologist Jerry Yang (39) has so far dominated play at the World Series of Poker Main Event currently unfolding at the Rio in Las Vegas. Starting with the second shortest stack of only 8 500 000, he adopted an aggressive strategy from the moment former champ Jamie Gold made the "Shuffle Up and Deal" call just after noon Vegas time Tuesday, winning the first 3.43 million pot of the game.
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Huge pots, fluctuating chip stacks and fast action continue as the field narrows
At the last World Series of Poker main event in 2006, cards went in the air at 2:12pm and Jamie Gold had won it at 3:40am the next morning in a total time of 13 hours and 28 minutes. And it took 10 hours and 30 minutes for action to get down to the final four players.
At the 2005 WSOP main event the final table started at 4:47pm and Joe Hachem won it at 6:41am the next day. Total time was 13 hours and 54 minutes, and it took 9 hours and 15 minutes for the action to get down to the final four players.
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South African player receives standing ovation as he departs World Series of Poker main event final table
Piggs Peak Swaziland�s All Africa Poker finalist, Raymond Rahme has overcome all odds with his phenomenal performance at the 2007 World Series of Poker, being the first South African to not only make the final table, but to finish in 3rd position, earning himself a cool $3 048 025. The 62 year old semi retired entrepreneur from Johannesburg was the oldest player at the final table.
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$8.25 million in cash, major respect and the top 2007 bracelet go to he player who has dominated this year's final
Well after 4am Wednesday morning Vegas time this year's 2007 World Series of Poker main event final table was finally decided at hand 205, and Jerry Yang who has held onto the chip lead throughout and eliminated all but one of the final tablers, is the man of the hour.
Over the last fifteen hands, his heads up opponent Tuan Lam finally made a stand after some tight play and moved all in a total of three times against Yang. He doubled through the chip leader and won three in a row at one point. Lam was finally able to get back all the chips he lost since they began heads up play. Out of the 31 hands of heads up play at that point, Yang had won 21, harvesting a total of 88 pots. At the 3.51am mark Yang held 106.775 million chips - a new main event record, against Lam's 20.8 million.
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Details of employees requested
The online poker company 24h Poker reports that the Swedish Gaming Board has requested detailed information on all the employees of the firm working in Sweden. According to the Swedish Gaming Board, this is first step to ensure gaming related companies in the country are abiding by the law.
24h Poker has been asked to provide information to the Board immediately, regarding job descriptions, uses of the company trademark, etc. According to the chief legal advisor at the Swedish Gaming Board, Hakan Hallstedt, more companies will soon be asked to provide the same information.
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�What I have finally concluded is that this case is almost 100 per cent about the DoJ�
Antigua's legal counsel during its online gambling dispute with the United States at the World Trade Organisation has been sharply critical of American motivations and Department of Justice involvement this week.
Mark Mendel from Texas-based solicitors Mendel-Blumenfeld told iGaming Business that outdated impressions of online gambling by some in the US Department of Justice (DoJ) are behind America�s stance, adding that the position taken by the DoJ has been detrimental to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
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Daily Mail stand on gambling described as "incredible hypocrisy"
One major British newspaper, The Observer was critical of another publication, The Daily Mail this week over the new British cabinet's cooler position on the Manchester supercasino.
When Prime Minister Gordon Brown indicated last week in the House of Commons that the government may be having second thoughts about the supercasino approved by previous PM Tony Blair, the Daily Mail was voluble in claiming that it had played a role in the new approach to the issue, using headlines such as "A Very Moral Victory".
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Faster points and personal Hosts for VIPs and convenience features break new ground
PartyPoker.com has announced an upgrade that includes the opportunity to earn PartyPoints faster; a new level of service and a series of features extending the customer service experience.
The upgraded PartyPoints program gives players the chance to earn points at up to 400 percent of the standard rate, and there is potential to hit a private level beyond that. Points can be earned on any of the PartyGaming brands including PartyPoker, PartyCasino, PartyBets, Gamebookers.com, PartyBingo and PartyGammon and exchanged for cash, tournament entries and soon a series of other products and services.
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Final heads up was against "The Mouth"
Almost lost in the noise and publicity of the World Series of Poker last week was a significant tournament taking place at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, in which seriously big money was on the line.
The four day, $10 000 buy in World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup III attracted a field of 535 players that included many experienced and determined opponents, but in the end it came to a heads up between Kevin Saul and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow which despite a Saul chip lead of almost 6 million chips (8.2 million vs. Matusow's 2.6 million) generated some intense and spectator-appealing action.
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The new UK government cabinet seems to be retreating from the gambling libralisation policies of its predecessors
The new UK government cabinet of Prime Minister Gordon Brown appears to be backing away from the liberalisation program on gambling favoured by former PM Tony Blair and his supporters, according to an article over the weekend in the British newspaper The Sunday Times.
Political editor David Cracknell reports that previous cabinet plans to allow betting shops and Internet gambling websites to advertise on television and radio are set to be ditched. Former prime minister Blair and Tessa Jowell, the former culture secretary, had planned legislation that would have removed the ban.
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World Series of Poker sparks growth to gambling sites
Web monitoring firm comScore Media Metrix has released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties for June 2007. The month saw traffic increase to gambling sites in anticipation of the upcoming World Series of Poker (WSOP).
As excitement mounted for the approaching 2007 World Series of Poker, online gambling category activity increased 13 percent to 12.5 million visitors. With several online poker sites hosting WSOP satellite tournaments in advance of the main event, many sites experienced gains including PokerStars (up 17 percent increase to 1.6 million visitors), FullTiltPoker (up 10 percent to 1.1 million visitors) and UltimateBet.com Online Poker (up 16 percent to 466 000 visitors).
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Yahoo! sites remained in the top position for the month of June, drawing more than 133 million visitors.
Moving up one spot to the number two position, Google Sites attracted nearly 124 million visitors, while Apple Inc. claimed the number 10 spot with 44 million visitors as the iPhone launch bolstered traffic. Shopzilla.com Sites and Comcast Corporation each gained four spots to attain the number 32 and 35 positions, respectively. Finally, Citysearch and The Mozilla Organization both entered the Top 50 Ranking in June, each attracting more than 15 million visitors.
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Watch the Federal Register for public comment in the near future
When the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was rammed through the US Congress at a late night sitting last year, attached to the coat tails of a security Bill, there was a provision through which the Federal Reserve and the Department of Justice were tasked with coming up with enforcement regulations within 270 days (see previous InfoPowa reports)
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This time it looks as if US players with frozen funds intend to act.
With funds frozen without interest since early this year, it is not surprising that US players are fast losing patience with the Isle of Man-based e-wallet Neteller, which has still to meet its commitment to pay out players with monies in deepfreeze (see previous InfoPowa reports).
For some months many US players have gathered on a Yahoo! group message board to share information and come up with ways out of their predicament. A significant number of players have very large deposits stuck in the e-wallet, and the apparent inability of Neteller to deliver on its promises in this regard thus far has tempers on a short fuse.
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This time it's for $462 652...
Absolute Poker.com's innovative Bad Beat Jackpot continues to attract action and bail out bad beat victims, with the latest payout being to an online player who lost a Texas Hold Em hand with quad Aces, hitting the highest Bad Beat Jackpot yet and winning over $160 000 in cash.
"With nearly one million hands dealt since the last hit on July 3rd, our Bad Beat Jackpot had climbed to over $464 000," commented David Clainer, senior vice president for Absolute Poker. "Online poker players flooded the site in record numbers for a shot at winning an unfathomable amount of cash just by losing a hand."
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High-stakes women gamblers who use the Internet to wager on games win more often than men, according to a Harvard Medical School study.
The Bwin-sponsored Harvard Medical School study of online sportsbettors continues to reveal interesting and useful information on betting demographics and patterns.
The latest results released from the 40 499-person study "favour women as exhibiting more effective sports gambling behaviour than men,'' wrote Massachusetts-based author Richard LaBrie and his team of researchers. The results of the study, to be published later this year by Berlin-based Axel Springer, were carried in Bloomberg news service reports Friday.
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Caribbean nations express solidarity with Antigua and support for Frank proposal to regulate online gambling
The Conference of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), at its recent meeting in Barbados, expressed its appreciation and pledged its support for the efforts of Congressman Barney Frank and his legislation to regulate Internet gambling in the United States, says a press release this week from the orgnaisation.
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Skill vs. luck argument aired again
The Copenhagen Post reports that a Danish municipal court has ruled that poker tournaments do not contravene Danish gaming laws.
Poker is not merely a game of chance but also requires skill and is therefore legitimate competition, a municipal court in the district of Lyngby ruled Friday.
The ruling acquitted the president of the Danish Poker Association, Frederik Hostrup, of charges of arranging illegal gambling events. Hostrup had been sued by hotel and restaurant trade organisation Horesta on behalf of the nation�s [land] casinos.
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Copyright infringement and unfair competition claimed
The Hershey, Pennsylvania-based fantasy games company RotoPlay, Inc.has issued international press releases advising that it has filed suit against the British publicly listed online gambling company Sportingbet plc.
The release reveals that Rotoplay's Houston-based legal team, Goldstein & Faucett, has filed suit in case no. 2:05-CV-02761-JKG in Federal Court in Pennsylvania against competitor Sportingbet, alleging copyright infringement and unfair competition related to two of RotoPlay�s "sports lottery" games.
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