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November 22, 2013

Will Nevada Internet Poker Make It Out of the State or Not?

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 2:58 am

The state of Nevada wants to offer its online poker to other players in other states, but that is a hard a row to hoe, it seems. Even so, Nevada gaming regulators are not giving up. Recently, the state Gaming Control Board held a meeting that went into ideas on how companies may be able to offer progressive jackpots to players who live across state lines.

International Game Technology and Bally Technologies, which happens to be the state’s largest slot machine manufacturer, asked the Nevada Gaming Commission if it would change its regulations so as to allow multijurisdictional progressive prizes. According to A.G. Burnett, the Gaming Control Board Chairman, he agreed that adoption of the amendments could be seen as a good first step heading toward acceptance of online poker across various state lines.

The governor of Nevada, Brian Sandoval, has already signed legislation that was approved in the 2013 Nevada Legislature’s session that would pave the way for drafting regulations that would allow online play by those who live outside Nevada. As it is now, people are allowed to play online poker as long as they are inside the state’s borders. To date, Station Casinos is licensed operating an online poker site and is doing this through the Ultimate Poker brand. Many other companies are working to get licensing as well. So far, Station has not said just how much revenue it has been able to earn, but some suggest that the company is doing just fine.

Back in July, the Control Board said it had gross earnings for the month that totaled some $12 which is an increase of 3.4 percent over July of 2012. The Control Board said that it is not able to breakdown how much of that came from internet play until it has at least three licensees. This is done to keep Station’s winnings as confidential as possible. It was reported though that poker winnings have passed revenue that was generated by bingo, keno, pai gow poker and sports and race books.

While there is much to do to get access across state lines, one thing that must be done is for the governor to work out agreements with other states. Also they must work on developing the technical specifications that would be needed to handle cross state play. In order to do this, the governor says he needs the Gaming Board to set up regulations. He says his talks with other states have been productive. He just needs to have the regs in place to more ahead.

It may be a while before Nevada lawmakers get into any real action on this issue. There are some who believe that cross state play will be more trouble than it is worth. There are others who feel that it will be too expensive to get all the tech in place to handle such a complex venture as cross state poker play and then there are those who simply do not know what they want just yet and are waiting for more information.

May 30, 2013

Lock Poker Losing Pros Over Cash-out Controversy

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 5:46 am

It is no secret that Lock Poker has been in the news recently over its cash-out policies, or lack thereof, some might say. The online poker site has been under heat for many months now over its long wait period when it comes to sending cash-outs to its players. In some cases, the wait has been as much as five months for some US players. To make matters worse, the site has offered little in way of explaining itself.

As if that were not enough, in April, the site put into place a new cash-out policy that forbids players from taking cash-outs if they have transferred money to other players or received money from other players. The site went so far as to cancel pending withdrawal requests, even those that had been in the process for months.

Lock Poker sent out a short, and not at all helpful, email telling their customers that winnings derived from transfers are no longer eligible for payout. That was the jist of it and nothing else.

As one might imagine, this caused an uproar with the site’s players as well as the site’s professionals who are members of the Lock Poker Elite Pro team. These pros represent the site at both live tournaments and online events. Some of these pros have been drawn into the fray when rumors went out that they were getting huge salaries that were being paid by monies that were suppose to be used for cash-outs. Because of this, Paul Volpe, along with several other Lock Poker Elite Pros put out recently that they, too, have been having to wait for their pay. They were not given any priority when it came to payments.

Other speculation is that the site has become insolvent, but that it is still taking deposits from new and old players. So far, the company is hesitant to make comments about the allegations.

Recently, Paul Volpe and Chris Moorman decided that they were not going to renew their contracts with Lock Poker. This, of course, means that these two will no longer be sponsors or players on the Lock Poker Elite Pro team.

Even though Volpe and Moorman plan to leave the site’s association, others have elected to stay. Some of Lock Poker Elite Pro members who will stay have put out statements of their own which can be found online. These include Matt Stout, Melanie Weisner, and Brett Jungblut. Each has spent time addressing the site’s issues and generally saying that they had no knowledge of the site’s financial woes or knowledge of its payment processing problems.

It is not entirely clear at this time what will happen in the near or far future in terms of players getting their cash-puts or whether or not the site can weather this very ominous storm that it has found itself in. One thing is sure, however, this is one of those gambling issues that will not go away on its own. Further details will be reported as they come out.

May 24, 2013

2013/2014 Schedule for WSOP Circuit Just Announced

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 5:37 am

Loyal fans and many players have been awaiting the release of the the World Series of Poker 2013/2014 circuit schedule. This time there will be 22 stops included on the world-famous poker tour. The new lineup shows that the tour is planning to return to several popular locations that were played in the past. Two new Ohio stops have been added and one stop in Montreal, Canada. It was also announced that all stops will have 12 events and that the winner of the Main Event, as well as the Casino Champion, will automatically earn bids into the forthcoming National Championship. The biggest change to the schedule is that the National Championship will happen in Atlantic City at Caesars Palace.

Some of the old favorites that were mentioned as being on this year’s circuit include well-know venues such as Harrah’s Tunica, Horseshoe Hammond, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Harrah’s New Orleans as well as Los Angeles’ The Bicycle Casino.

As mentioned above, there are some new stops on the tour this time around. The two new Ohio stops will include one in Cincinnati that will take place during the early part of the season and a second stop in Cleveland in March.

You may recall that last year, the tour included a visit in Vancouver which took place in the River Rock Casino. This year the tour will also stop in Montreal, Canada in the middle of November.

Also mentioned above was the fact that the tour will have 12 ring events that take place over a 12 day period. This is the same as it was in the past. There will also be a variety of non-ring events. WSOP announced that the point system that has been used in the past for qualifying at-large players to compete at the National Championship has not changed this year. However, it was also announced that WSOP is planning to award an additional six seats through their WSOP.com online promotions. This will reduce at-large bids to only 50. Complete details of the new schedule can be found online.

Here is the schedule for the World Series of Poker 2013-2014 Season:

2013

August 8-19 Foxwoods Resort Casino

September 5-16 IP Casino Resort & Spa, Biloxi

September 19-30 Horseshoe Cincinnati

October 3-14 Horseshoe Southern Indiana

October 17-28 Horseshoe Hammond, Chicago

October 24-November 4 Harvey’s Lake Tahoe

October 28-November 8 River Rock, Vancouver

November 7-18 Horseshoe Bossier City, Louisiana

November 13-24 Casino Montreal

November 29-December 9 Harrah’s Atlantic City

December 5-16 Harrah’s Rincon, San Diego

2014

January 9-20 Choctaw Durant, Oklahoma

January 23-February 3 Harrah’s Tunica

February 6-17 Palm Beach Kennel Club, Florida

February 20-March 3 Caesars Palace, Las Vegas

March 6-17 The Bicycle Casino, Los Angeles

March 20-March 31 Horseshoe Cleveland

April 3-14 Harrah’s Cherokee, North Carolina

April 10-21 Horseshoe Council Bluffs, Iowa

April 17-28 Harrah’s Philadelphia

April 24-May 5 The Lodge Casino at Black Hawk, Colorado

May 8-May 19 Harrah’s New Orleans

WSOP National Championship, Caesars Atlantic City, Dates to be announced as soon as they are determined, sometime within the few months.

April 12, 2013

Online Poker Bill On Hold, Federal Action Expected

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 2:47 am

Online poker has been waiting in the wings for a number of years now. It has long been thought that an online gaming bill would have no problem passing in Las Vegas, and is also very close to passing in New Jersey as well, as long as a few considerations can be made to avoid another veto from Gov. Chris Christie. However now, in Las Vegas, online poker bills have been placed on the temporary hold, and it appears that federal action is expected by most. Nevada did recently passed their own online gambling law, the congressional delegation has made it clear that they are looking to get a bill done on a federal level, so that they can be more confident with moving forward with their current plans. The group is looking to avoid passing their own bill, and setting their own laws, only to have the investment be a waste if federal legislation quickly follows.

Online poker laws have come under fire Nevada recently. Oftentimes, the congressional seat within Nevada would state that they would move to get online gambling quickly done during their term, only to backtrack once they were attempting to win votes for an upcoming term. This makes the fact that the online poker building stalled in the congressional voting phase not all that surprising, and actually almost expected by many. It will be interesting to see if it is ever able to be quickly pushed through, without interference.

The hope was that the federal government would pass a bill regulating online poker, and rendering all other forms of Internet gambling to be illegal. Of course, there was opposition to this measure, on both sides of the ticket. Some did not want online gambling to become legal in any form, including poker. Others wanted there to be a broader spectrum of games available online, and to lessen the prohibition of different gambling ask online.

However, the window for them to get a bill such as that passed is quickly closing, and partisan disagreements at the federal level make it almost impossible to have any sort of confidence in a bill getting done. It is thought by many, that if action is not being taken on the bill by June or July, running it through the various subcommittees that would have to have a look at the bill before having a go of for general vote, and get it put in front of the Senate, it would take far too long to expect the bill to get done at any time in 2013.

As many as seven states have considered implementing their own measures which legalize gambling within their state. Many think that states will be allowed to open their own online gambling websites, reaping the benefits of the tax dollars that will be produced, only by individuals that are citizens within their own state. It will be interesting to see if the states begin to pass their own bills despite the fact that many are waiting for federal legislation, or to see if federal legislation begins to pick up the pace, and regulated online poker becomes a reality.

March 26, 2013

Only Big Companies Getting Into Online Gambling

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 2:34 am

If one thing is become clear, it’s that only big companies are going to be allowed to take part in the online poker industry, that has been emerging in Nevada over the course of the last year. So far, total of 19 companies have been approved to run online poker and other gambling operations, while most of them are some of the largest companies that the area has to offer. Very few small companies has even been considered, and none have received their license at this time. This shows that the laws do not open the floodgates for online gambling, and instead only allowed if you companies through.

In order to get a piece of the industry, tech companies, software development companies, and other entrepreneurs are going to have to utilize relationships with existing casinos and resorts in order to be considered. The goal of this approach is not to allow fly-by-night individuals to gain access to the license, and instead to ensure that the companies that run the system are never long haul. This, plus the fact that it is going to provide a huge boost to the Las Vegas economy, and since gambling is their main draw, it only seems logical to limited to their biggest companies.

A number of tech companies have been eager to join the online gaming fray, teaming up with some of the larger casinos and resorts on the Las Vegas strip. You need to acquire a $500,000 operating license in order to even be considered. After that, there are other restrictions such as the number of rooms at your hotel can have, whether or not it has a 24 seven restaurant, bars, and the size of your casino or are also taking into account when you apply for the license. This limits the number of companies that can apply, in most companies that are eligible are interested in getting into online poker.

These companies are the largest companies that have invested in the state, and for that reason they have been rewarded with licenses to offer gambling on websites. Some of the arguments for this approach are the fact that existing casinos can be trusted and have a precedent set through their years in Las Vegas. There are also big, brands that are known around the world and instantly recognize which gives them a better chance for success. This, combined with the fact that previous to this, a legal online gambling companies had been profiting from the industry, leaving Las Vegas with no way to get involved. Online gambling is certainly going to be the way of the future, but just how long it is going to take in order to become normalcy is not yet known.

It will be interesting to see how everything pans out. As of right now, Nevada and New Jersey are going head-to-head attempting to be the first states to gain access to online poker, before federal legislation is handed down, which is expected to take place at some point in the near future. It is not currently known the federal legislation will come in 2013, but almost certainly 2014.

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