Lee Davy brings you his usual round-up of the week’s poker news stories including: a regurgitated online poker bill for California, a confused bunch of Mexican grinders, a Betfair-less online poker industry in New Jersey, and much more.
The biggest news story of the week was the creation of a new proposed online poker bill in California. Its called The Internet Poker Consumer Protection Act of 2015, or AB 9 for short, and it’s been prepared for a new legislative session by the Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gatto.
The bill is a regurgitation of a previous bill concocted by 13 of the state’s federally recognized state tribes (12 since the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians defected to the dark/light side delete as appropriate); the contents of which have gone down like a lead balloon in the PokerStars corridors of power.
The rehashed version of the bill includes new wordage that effectively translates to: “Any company that acquires an online poker room called ‘PokerStars’ for $4.9 billion will not receive an online poker license to operate in the state of California.”
Stars and their coalition of Cali card rooms and friendly Indian tribes, issued a statement that frowned upon the proposals.
“As a coalition, we are committed to working with legislators and our other partners in the gaming community to pass Internet poker legislation in 2015 that establishes a vibrant, competitive marketplace, provides superior consumer protections, and ensures that the state receives a reasonable return.
“We are convinced that the various interests must work together if we are to be successful in establishing a well-regulated environment and the best-in-class Internet poker industry for California.
“Unfortunately, AB 9 is a rehash of previously unsuccessful proposals. Any bill that seeks to establish artificial competitive advantages for some, while denying Californians the best online poker experiences, will only serve to divide the community and will be opposed by our coalition.”
One suspects the fight to find acceptable online poker regulation in California is going to be bloody, messy, and most of all, extremely slow.
Betfair Leave New Jersey & Yahoo Shuts Down its Online Poker Room
If PokerStars is going to impress the naysayers in California, one suspects they are going to have to do it by proving their point in New Jersey first. That market got a little smaller this week after the UK betting exchange Betfair followed Ultimate Gaming out of the New Jersey cyber doors after pulling the plug on their operation.
After only raking a 2014 profit of $50 you didn’t need to understand Newton’s theory of whatever it is to see that this was a dead duck. The site was pulled on 1 Dec 2014, but the casino side of things still continues to operate, and generated $856k revenue in October.
Betfair weren’t the only online entity to close their poker room this week. The masterminds of all things Internet have decided to close their online poker room one month after opening. Reasoning is sketchy, but most fingers seem to be pointing at dodgy security issues as the primary call for closure. Classic Yahoo Games, which as been operating for 15-years, has also been pulled over the same security concerns. Neither site was operating a real money business, although it’s widely reported that Yahoo do want to get involved in this part of the business when the appropriate window presents itself.
Mexican Grinders Getting Worried
More news that makes you think you are in the assassination business, and not one that revolves around a game of cards, after Latin American news outlets started to leak confusing reports concerning the passage of new online gambling legislation in the land of chili and big hats.
Mexico became one of the most sought after destinations after the smart asses in the States decided to ban online poker. It’s cheap, beautiful weather, and a short flight back home. Perfect. Or perhaps not? The confusing reports are suggesting that the Mexican lawmakers may ring-fence online poker play to Mexico only. This would involve the creation of a .mx player pool, meaning PokerStars grinders based in Mexico wouldn’t gain access to the rest of the world’s liquidity.
I used the word confusing twice in that paragraph, and with due course. Although the liquidity issue was raised in the news stories I read, none of it really came from reliable sources. However, if it is true, it will be another hammer blow to the bollocks for the loyal US grinders who are slowly running out of places to play.
Facebook Abusers Should Get Worried
The next time you frape your mate and publish a post saying he likes to fuck chickens thing again. An Australian poker player has successfully sued four other poker players in a defamation case that has netted him $350,000.
Nicholas Polias took $130,000 from Andy Hun Wei, $125,000 from Tobin Ryall, $50,000 from Sandy Jan, and $35,000 from Rhys Gould, after the four helped spread the message throughout social media that Polias was not one to be trusted.
The trouble started after Polias shared a room with Ryall during a trip to Las Vegas. Ryall left $2k on a table in the room and when it went missing he blamed his roommate. Polias protested his innocence, and after the money was later found stuffed inside a cuddly toy, Polias assumed that would be the end of that (after all it wasn’t his fault the cuddly toy ate the $2k right?).
Ryall posted defamatory comments about Polias on his Facebook wall. These comments were then spread by the aforementioned accomplices, including further accusations that Polias had also cheated in The Star Casino, Sydney.
The pair were asked to take down the posts, they refused, and Polias sued them for $350,000. He won. We are not sure what happened to the cuddly toy, but believe he has been signed up to the star in the next episode of The Price is Right.
