Author: John Mehaffey

Barton Online Poker Bill Representative Joe Barton (R-TX) introduced a new federal online poker bill this week.  The bill is titled the Poker Freedom Act of 2013.  The bill only regulates poker.  Unlike the failed 2012 Reid/Kyl bill, it does not address online casino games.  They would be left up to the states just as […]

All of this week’s regulated poker news came out of New Jersey.  PokerStars lost its second court challenge related to its failed bid to acquire the Atlantic Club casino in Atlantic City.  A judge ruled that Atlantic Club may sell to another buyer as PokerStars missed its deadline to purchase the casino in April. Four […]

Kentucky Settles with Bwin.party Kentucky released its claim on the Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars domain names last week.  This week it settled with bwin.party to cover losses by its residents on Party Poker and related gambling sites.  Bwin.party agreed to pay Kentucky $15 million.  This money will go to the State’s General Fund.  Kentucky […]

Sheldon Adelson Once Again Speaks Out Against Online Gambling This Weekly Roundup starts with a bizarre opinion piece published on Forbes.  The article was written by the CEO of Las Vegas Sands, parent company of the Venetian.  Mr. Adelson ranted about his opposition to online gambling in all forms, calling it fool’s gold, a cancer […]

Two major stories hit the US online poker industry this week.  Both involved the largest online poker room in the world. Mark Scheinberg Settles for $50 Million Mark Scheinberg accepted a civil settlement with the US Department of Justice this week.  He agreed to pay $50 million to prevent any future penalties.  The deal was […]

Federal Online Gambling Bill Introduced A federal bill that would regulate online poker and casino games was released by Representative Peter King (R-NY) this week.  While online poker players are excited about the bill, states and politicians are less than enthusiastic.   The bill leaves enough to be desired at every angle, even for those wishing […]

WSOP Download Available The WSOP.com download is now available. The games are play money for now as the software is being tested. There is a Windows version available at this time. There was also a Mac version but there was an unfortunate bug that allowed a small number players to download the Mac version and […]

The biggest news this week came from an online poker network that closed over five years ago.  In 2008, Tusk Investment, which included 28 Microgaming skins, closed without notice.  Players were not paid.  The liquidators announced this week that players, affiliates and vendors would receive between $.13 and $.16 on the dollar on funds owed […]

Pennsylvania appears to be the favorite to become the next state to legalize and regulate online poker in the country. Five bills are pending in the state legislature. Most would legalize and regulate poker and casino games over the Internet. Players would be required to open the account in person at an operator’s live casino.  […]

There have been many big stories in the past week in the online poker world. More proof surrounding the Ultimate Bet cheating scandal surfaced. A bad business decision by Ultimate Poker related to this was changed. A large iPoker affiliate is under investigation for allowing US players to access the network. PokerStars also lost their […]