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On Monday, 888 Holdings and The Rank Group announced that they made a second proposal to acquire William Hill. William Hill announced, in turn, that it has rejected the offer. The “Revised Proposal” comes just six days after the initial proposal from 888 and Rank. Both bids had two pieces: cash and stock. The new… 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 »
Sunday’s Hall of Fame Game between the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts may have been canceled, but the daily fantasy sports (DFS) football season for New Yorkers has not. New York DFS fans can breathe a sigh of relief, as Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill on Wednesday that legalizes the games in the… Read more »
Caesars Acquisition Corp. and Shanghai Giant Network Technology Co., Ltd. announced Saturday that a consortium of Chinese firms has acquired Playtika, the social and mobile gaming division of Caesars Interactive Entertainment, Inc. (CIE). The deal, which was rumored to be in the works less than two weeks ago, is worth $4.4 billion. According to a… Read more »
UK-based Rank Group and Gibraltar-based 888 Holdings confirmed rumors this weekend that they have teamed up in talks to acquire competitor William Hill, the largest gambling company in the UK. No financial numbers have been made public. Both 888 and Rank issued a statement today, which reads, in part: 888 Holdings plc (“888”) and The… Read more »
For American sports fans, this time of year is the doldrums of the sports calendar. The professional hockey and basketball seasons just ended (college seasons ended a while ago), college football is two months away, and the NFL season is more than two months away. Right now, it’s just baseball, which is cool and all,… Read more »
The World Series of Poker has opened the public nomination process for the Poker Hall of Fame class of 2016. Fans can visit wsop.com to submit a nominee along with a brief explanation of why that player is deserving. After the nomination window closes, the nominees will be vetted and the top ten will be… Read more »
Merge Gaming has stopped accepting new U.S. players, according to players and two site representatives. The U.S. country option was removed from the new account form last week at Carbon Poker, PlayersOnly, Sportsbook.ag and SuperBook. The decision affects the poker platform, casino games and sports betting products. The policy may not be a permanent one,… Read more »
New York has been the most hostile battleground in the daily fantasy sports (DFS) wars in the United States, but if recent reports hold true, it appears that there may at least be some positive momentum for DFS in the Empire State in the near future. According to LegalSportsReport.com (LSR), a new DFS legalization and… Read more »
Governor Phil Bryant signed SB 2541 Thursday, officially legalizing and regulating daily fantasy sports (DFS) in the state of Mississippi. Mississippi is the fourth state to approve of DFS this year, behind Indiana, Virginia, and neighboring Tennessee. The bill took a roundabout way to become a law. In March, the bill, called the “Fantasy Contest… Read more »
A bill that would legalize and regulate daily fantasy sports (DFS) in the state of Colorado has passed through both chambers of the state legislature and is now on to the desk of Governor John Hickenlooper for final approval. The bill, HB 16-1404, was introduced in the House of Representatives on March 24th and made… Read more »
Daily fantasy sports (DFS) leaders DraftKings and FanDuel have withdrawn from another state, as Idaho’s Attorney General Lawrence Wasden declared DFS illegal. He is the 11th state Attorney General to decide that DFS constitutes illegal gambling. The two fantasy sites were to be gone from the state as of Sunday, May 1st. In a press… Read more »
There was some serious jumbling of the standings in the Global Poker League’s Week 4, as we are still early enough in the season that any hot or cold week by a team can result in major changes to the standings. The Montreal Nationals continued its weekly trading of the top spot with the New… Read more »
I got into the poker industry and the writing part of it, specifically, by a happy accident back in 2005. In the eleven years since, I have generally been able to write what I want on my own terms. There have been those rare times, however, when I have been told to stay away from… Read more »
These sorts of stories seem to play out way too often. Online poker room goes out of business, customers are left holding the bag. In the ongoing case of Europoker.com, though, the story is slightly different. Europoker’s ownership actually has the ability to pay out player deposits; it is the extra goodies that are at… Read more »
Week 2 of the 2016 Global Poker League begins today with another four six-handed Sit-and-Go’s on tap. As will be the case every week of the regular season, the Eurasia Conference will go first with tourneys at noon ET and 1:40pm ET, followed by the Americas Conference at 3:30pm ET and 5:10pm ET. The New… Read more »
This weekend marks the end of the college basketball season and with it, the end of college sports contests on daily fantasy sports (DFS) sites DraftKings and FanDuel. The two DFS leaders announced Thursday that after Monday’s championship game of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, they will cease offering contests on college sports. Gambling on… Read more »
On Friday, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed her final regulations for the daily fantasy sports (DFS) industry in her state, making it the third state to implement DFS regulations. All three have happened very recently, with both of the others – Virginia and Indiana – passing their regulations this month. Healey initially proposed DFS… Read more »
David Baazov, the president, CEO, and board chairman of Amaya Inc., the parent company of PokerStars, has charged by Quebec’s Autorité des marchés financiers (the “AMF”) with five securities fraud charges related to Amaya’s acquisition of PokerStars parent company, Rational Group, in June 2014. The AMF began its investigation in late 2014, an investigation which… Read more »
On Monday, DraftKings, FanDuel, and the New York State Office of the Attorney General announced that they have reached a settlement in the legal battle over daily fantasy sports (DFS) in the Empire State. In exchange for the two DFS leaders withdrawing from the New York market until at least September, NY AG Eric Scheiderman… Read more »
There are thousands of you out there in the interwebaverse who get tucked into bed every night, cozy and content in the knowledge the Full Tilt funds you once had frozen after Black Friday are now safe and sound in your bank account (until an international hacking syndicate takes down the U.S. banking system, resulting… Read more »
A ridiculously trivial legal case hit another milestone last week as the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled against two café owners who were arrested back in 2007 (yes, we’re going back almost a decade) for running a €10 re-buy poker tournament at their establishment. Richard Blaas and Rene Kurver owned the Amsterdam’s Café de Viersprong… Read more »
The Georgia Attorney General’s office has determined that daily fantasy sports (DFS) are illegal in the state, that according to a letter from Deputy Attorney General W. Wright Banks, Jr. to Georgia Lottery Corporation Senior Vice-President and General Counsel Joseph Kim on Friday. Kim had previously requested clarification of Georgia gambling law, asking if DFS… Read more »
On Friday, February 5th, sports fans in the United Kingdom joined those in the United States and Canada in having access to daily fantasy sports (DFS) leader DraftKings. DraftKings originally applied for a gambling license back in June 2015 and was awarded the license in August. At the time, the company said that it anticipated… Read more »
The Los Angeles Times is fully aboard the online gambling train, publishing an editorial Saturday in which the Times Editorial Board calls for the regulation and licensing of all internet gaming sites. Daily fantasy sports are the hot topic nowadays in the online gambling (or skill game, depending on your position) arena and several state… Read more »
