Online poker news
The UKGC (United Kingdom Gambling Commission) has released a new version of its technical standards for the online gaming industry. These standards are not yet final, but it is expected that the ultimate version will resemble this one very closely, if not exactly. The new standards hit on many of the most talked about issues… Read more »
This is why we can’t have nice things. The Party/Borgata Garden State Super Series V (GSSS V), the most aggressive tournament series the network has offered to date, was scheduled to conclude this weekend. It did conclude, but not in the way management would have hoped. The GSSS V was announced as the largest online… Read more »
In the current world of poker sponsorships, the well seems to be quite dry. Compared to the burgeoning period from 2004-2010 when sponsorships were handed out like Snickers bars during Halloween, the last five years has actually seen a significant decline in the number of sponsorship deals handed to top pros. It may not be… Read more »
More than a week ago, the already on life support Equity Poker Network (EPN) and its flagship site, Full Flush Poker, went offline. They have yet to return. In the meantime, the network’s players as, has happened too many times in the history of online poker, are left holding the bag. Nothing is official, but… Read more »
Online poker room partypoker announced on Friday that is has signed Australian Jackie Glazier as its newest sponsored pro. Glazier wore her team colors for the first time this weekend at the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Melbourne stop at the Crown Casino. In the notice posted on partypoker’s blog, Glazier said I am proud to… Read more »
While its owners have not issued an official public announcements, reports in the poker media during the past week indicate that the Ongame Network will be shutting down on October 15th. The Ongame Network’s roots date back to well before the poker boom, but after peaking in 2008, the network had gradually declined to irrelevance.… Read more »
The trend in online poker is to make the poker rooms more friendly to recreational players, largely at the expense of high volume, grinding pros. In October 2015, partypoker introduced “Phase One” of its attempt at “leveling the playing field.” Yesterday, the poker room announced its next steps in what it says will “….improve the… Read more »
PokerStars announced today that it has added a number of “Win the Button” tournaments to its schedule, building on the success of this poker tournament variation in the online poker room’s sponsored live events. The Win the Button format has appeared now and again online, but has generally just been one of those one-off, fun,… Read more »
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) announced yesterday that it has entered into an agreement with Continent 8, LLC, a data center located in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake, Canada, that will prohibit any online gambling sites operating through that data center from taking wagers from customers in New Jersey and the United… Read more »
For better or worse, affiliates have long been an integral part of the online poker industry. They help attract potential customers to the online poker rooms and often, in turn, provide additional rewards to the players. Some even go so far as to go to bat for their players should there be a dispute with… Read more »
The online gaming news in New Jersey normally revolves around big-time names like PokerStars, 888, and WSOP.com, but residents of the state now have a new option for their internet gambling needs (wants?): PlaySugarHouse.com. The SugarHouse Casino is a brick-and-mortar gaming joint in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, situated on the Delaware River about an hour or so… Read more »
Swedish gambling company Betsson announced last Thursday that it has acquired Lithuanian gaming firm Lošimų strateginė grupė, UAB, which trades by the better known name, TonyBet. TonyBet is mainly a sportsbook, operating both online and through 20 physical sports betting shops in the country, though it does have a small online poker room, as well.… Read more »
Hearings have begun in Quebec to discuss the insider trading case involving former Amaya CEO David Baazov and thirteen of his associates, which include family, friends, and business colleagues. According to CTV News Montreal, two days of hearings in front of a financial sector independent tribunal began on Monday. Baazov has been hit with a… Read more »
The GGNetwork, an online poker network licensed in Curacao and the Philippines, has struck a deal with internet gaming provider, the Tain Network. This is GGNetwork’s first “major” European partnership, as it is primarily Asia-facing. The most interesting part of this is that it marks the return of online poker to the Tain Network. The… Read more »
In what will probably raise the ire of the online poker community even further, PokerStars has announced new guidelines that will go into effect in 2017 for their VIP program. Amaya Gaming, the ownership behind the number one online gaming site in the industry, announced these changes in an e-mail to players on Friday. “In… Read more »
In May, the Canadian province of Québec passed its budget bill, Bill 74, which is normally very boring to the average person, but this bill contained a twist that outraged a lot of people. Bill 74 authorized the province to require internet service providers (ISPs) to block any online gambling site that was not licensed… Read more »
When online gambling became regulated in New Jersey, part of the deal was that four annual reports would be produced with the goal of “examining the overall impact of Internet gaming and problematic patterns of play and the relationship to the state‐wide prevalence of problem gambling.” The second of the four studies, conducted by the… Read more »
In August, 888 Holdings and The Rank Group were unable to convince William Hill to join forces with them to form a new mega-gaming firm. Now, 888’s Chief Executive is insistent that his company and Rank are not about to merge sans Will Hill. The week after the second of two proposals from 888 and… Read more »
After more than a decade of negotiations that have, to this point, proven fruitless, the Caribbean countries of Antigua and Barbuda are preparing to enact their rights to “even the playing field” with the United States over its stance regarding online poker and gaming. Earlier this summer, the governments of Antigua and Barbuda received an… Read more »
In a press release on Friday morning, the powerhouse online gaming company Amaya Gaming – the owners of PokerStars, among other things – released their pertinent financial data for the second quarter of 2016. At the same time, the company quietly announced a change at the top of the company, removing the ‘interim’ title from… Read more »
Professional poker player Doug “WCGRider” Polk embarked on a bankroll challenge this week. These types of challenges are nothing new – plenty of players have tried them – but they are still a lot of fun. Polk began his Sunday, attempting to grow an online poker bankroll from $100 to $10,000 in the appropriately named… Read more »
I news out of nowhere, Bovada, the world’s largest offshore poker site that accepts U.S. customers, announced Tuesday that it has sold its poker operations to the little-known Ignition Casino. In an e-mail to customers, Bovada said: We have important news we want to share with you. Bovada Poker has been acquired by Ignition Casino.… Read more »
Well that was fast. Less than a week after we posted an article about the fourth iteration of a tentative schedule for the 2016 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), PokerStars has unveiled the final, official schedule for the massive tournament series, set to run September 4th through September 26th. And massive is an… Read more »
About two weeks ago, gambling firms 888 Holdings and Rank Group confirmed rumors that they were teaming up to put in a bid for rival William Hill, the largest gambling concern in the United Kingdom. On Tuesday, it was announced that they not only had, in fact, put in a formal offer, but that William… Read more »
The transition from summer to fall typically means a couple of things, at least here in the United States: the kids go back to school (by the way, my kids started back to school this week, the first week of August – how insane is that?) and American football starts up again! Yay! But poker… Read more »
