PokerStars have gained the support of State Senator Ray Lesniak in their bid to obtain a gaming license in New Jersey; Rational Group have pulled out of the Skrill Loyalty Program; Pokertek have inked a deal that will see them install 60 PokerPro tables at PokerStars LIVE in Macau, and the 2014 Macau Cup schedule has been announced.
PokerStars Gets The Thumbs Up From State Senator Ray Lesniak
PokerStars should be in the game when the online gambling doors open for business in New Jersey on Nov 26, according to the opinion of State Senator Ray Lesniak.
Lesniak was speaking to PokerNews when he said, “the biggest and the bestest with the mostest is going to have a presence here in New Jersey,“ referring to the online poker giant.
The Senator was keen to stress that his views were personal, and that he didn’t possess any inside information on the potential for PokerStars to obtain a license, after the American Gaming Association (AGA) made its unprecedented petition against Stars license bid when they tried to purchase the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel back in the springtime.
“I’ve made it clear that I would like to see them in the game as long as the DGE says it’s OK, and I think it’s evolving in that way,” Lesniak said of PokerStars. “There are strong forces trying to prohibit them or at least keep them out of doing business for 3-to-5 years. I don’t think that’s in New Jersey’s best interests.”
The Borgata Casino and Spa became the first AC casino to receive its license just under a week ago, and many more are expected to fly out of the door in the coming weeks.
Will PokerStars be amongst them?
If the New Jersey online gambling strategy is to be successful, then the lawmen amongst them had better make sure they are, irrespective of the thoughts of a gambling company named after a Roman imperial character.
Rational Group Pull PokerStars and Full Tilt Out of Skrill Loyalty Program
PokerStars will no longer be participating in the Skrill loyalty points program after it’s parent company, The Rational Group, decided to opt out of the ‘loyalty points’ program of several of their third party payment processors.
This means both Stars and Full Tilt Poker (FTP) will be added to a list of excluded sites shown in Skrill’s terms and conditions; a list that currently stands at 139 sites and includes big players such as Ladbrokes, Bet365, William Hill, Betfair and Bodog.
Skrill users accrue loyalty points each time they carry out a transaction with a vendor that is not in the exclusion list provided for in the Skrill T&C, and these points can be exchanged for rewards such as cash prizes.
Pokertek and PokerStars Ink Macau Deal
The developer of automated casino games, PokerTek, has just inked a deal with PokerStars LIVE Macau that will see them install 60 PokerPro gaming positions at the PokerStars LIVE Macau card room.
PokerTek call their product the ‘world’s leading automated poker table,’ and it allows players to compete against each other in a wide variety of poker games, in a hybrid between live tournament poker and slot machine style innovation.
“PokerStars is a leader in the worldwide poker market, and we are honored to partner with them and be part of their expanding footprint of live poker rooms,” commented Mark Roberson, PokerTek’s CEO. “Macau’s a key market for the continued growth of PokerTek E-Table business. PokerStars LIVE Macau will be a showcase for our E-tables in Macau. PokerPro enables poker rooms to spread a variety of both new and existing types of poker games, creating more fun and action for the players in their poker rooms.”
PokerPro tables offer a multitude of differing poker formats and limits; are multi-lingual and manage player promotions in real time. It also offers the ability to do some pretty cool things such as check out your showdown odds, go rabbit hunting, view previous hands played, access session statistics and for all you tightwads out there, completely removes the need to tip.
20th Macau Cup Schedule Released
The PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams Macau card room is home to the Macau Poker Cup, and they have just released the schedule for the 20th installment of the exciting series, which includes a HK$8m guaranteed Red Dragon Main Event.
The event will operate Jan 10th −21st, 2014 and it will feature 12 official Asia Player of the Year events. The main event buy-in will be HK$11,000 which means they will have to pull in 800 players to avoid an overlay. Last season Terry Fan overcame a field of 891 players to take the HK$1,771,000 ($US 228k) first prize.
“After six years and 19 Red Dragon events, the Macau Poker Cup has changed the landscape of poker in Macau and throughout Asia,” said Danny McDonagh, PokerStars Director of Live Poker Operations in the Asia-Pacific. “The MPC is Asia’s biggest regional poker series and MPC20 is set to shatter all previous records.”
The 12-day festival will also feature a brand new event called the ‘Baby Dragon’ which is a HK$6,000 buy-in with a HK$1m guarantee.
The full schedule can be found here.
