Rival Gaming Casinos No Longer Allowing Canadian Players.

In a short press release that was issued to both players and affiliates, Rival Gaming casinos will no longer be allowing Canadian citizens to play on Rival-powered online casinos.

It was a sudden move that was brought upon by the Canadian government’s continuing power push to ban certain online gaming sites from all areas in and around Canada.

Tens of thousands of surprised Canucks found the following statement that was issued via email by Rival Gaming casino websites (the one below was from SlotoCash):

“Dear SlotoCash player,

Unfortunately as from 1st February 2009 all Rival powered casinos will no longer accept residents of Canada.

The decision was made by our Software Provider “Rival Powered Gaming” due to pressure from their Canadian suppliers to cease accepting Canadian residents .”

It is unclear whether this decision will remain permanent or be a case similar to Doyle’s Room Poker, which had left and come back to the United States several times before jumping ship from the Merge Network and finally switching to a more USA-friendly network in the Cake Network earlier this year.

Canucks and Americans are welcome at Sportsbook.com, PlayersOnly, and SuperBook!

Vote For The Legalization of Online Poker TODAY - Vote for CHANGE Now.

Citizens of the world have been given an unprecedented opportunity to influence the actions of a President Elect’s first four years in office. President-Elect Barack Obama has launched a platform on ‘Change.gov’ where anyone can propose an action (or cause) for the new Presidential administration to take.

Once proposed, people can vote the cause up or down. The promise is that whichever causes get the most votes will become priorities for the incoming Obama administration.

One of the causes getting the most votes is to legalize and regulate online poker to help the economy through tax revenue from online poker sites.

As of this writing, the “Boost America’s Economy with Legal Online Poker” is hovering around the 5th - 10th place cause by number of votes.

We, the poker players of America, need every vote. And in this election, every vote counts. Vote for legalizing online poker at the citizensbreifingbook.change.org website.

The “Boost America’s Economy with Legal Online Poker” cause is summarized on the Change.org website by the following:

Let online poker players in the United States play legally and without fear of prosecution. Reform the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act to exempt poker, a game of skill, from the law. Boost the economy by letting American companies and Ameican players make money and pay taxes instead of sending online poker businesses offshore. Protect online poker players by regulating the industry to ensure that no one is ever cheated.

There are currently over 1,300 comments as well, most of which are in strong favor of legalizing online poker. There is no reason why a free American citizen cannot play their favorite online poker download for a couple of bucks in the privacy of their own home when it perfectly legal to go to the local card club or casino and do the exact same thing in person.

One comment that summarizes the whole of argument rather succinctly is made by “dboy”:

This is win/win, the government can stop attempting to limit the freedoms of americans to spend their time and money as they please, and in return gain billions per year in tax revenue.

Even if you are against poker, no one is forcing you to play, but you will benefit from the taxes collected from those who do.

Poker is a skill game that is NOT played against the house, so there are also many skilled americans who earn additional income from it and the government should not be trying to take that away.

We have to realize that gambling is never going away, and we must also realize that it is better to regulate it than to prohibit it (because prohibitions do not work).

If you care about American freedoms; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and all that jazz, then get over to the Change.org poll and vote Yes! for online poker.

Casino Affiliate Programs - Where to Find REAL Certification?

Casino Affiliate Programs and the word ‘certification’ is thrown around way too often. When people think of the word ‘Certification’, they think of safety, honesty, integrity. The problem, in the casino affiliate world, is that certification is typically bought and paid for. The largest affiliate forums in the industry ‘certify’ programs only when they pay big bucks for that certification. Unfortunately, in those cases, certification means nothing. In fact, it has more potential to hurt the affiliate than to help.

Affiliate Guard Dog is the only organization on the internet that provides a true certification for casino affiliate programs. In AGD’s Casino Affiliate Forums, an affiliate can quickly see which programs are certified and which have predatory practices. The determining factors are very simple: 

• They MUST pay their affiliates on time
• They MUST have timely communications with their affiliates

The Casino Affiliate Forums at AGD are the place to get unbiased and HONESTLY certified casino affiliate programs. You can get yourself informed today and find out which are the best programs to be associated with, which affiliate sites have established records of paying their players and promoters on time, and have frequent discussion on which of these places are on the up and up.

PartyGaming Founder To Pay $300 Million Penalty.

Anurag Dikshit, the co-founder of PartyGaming, has been agreed to pay $300 million to United States authorities after agreeing to plead guilty to an illegal internet betting charge in which he was arrested for by U.S. Department of Justice officials a little over 2 years ago.

PartyGaming is a UK-listed online gambling company where Dikshit owns 27 percent of its shares. Dikshit will be appearing in the Southern District Court in New York to plead guilty to breaking a law under the Wire Act - which forbids any offshore company from taking U.S. wagers across state lines. Dikshit is expected to co-operate with the United States Department of Justice.

Since Dikshit went to authorities on his own accord he is hoping that the Department of Justice will be lien ant and not ask for jail time. With the current charges against him, Dikshit could face two years in jail as no plea bargain was agreed upon.

This a giant step in online gambling as many will be waiting to see what is done to Dikshit and what the Department of Justice recommends be done. Those interested in running online gambling businesses such as Party’s or sites such as Players Only Poker in the United States will have an idea of what might happen if they pursue the market.

PartyGaming’s other co-founders, Russ DeLeon and his wife Ruth Parasol, own fourteen percent of the company and have yet came forward to settle. PartyGaming was very successful over the past three years in online poker and the company has been negotiating with the Department of Justice for some time now, along with other online companies.

Insiders say that DeLeon and Parasol believe the new administration for the White House will possibly regulate online gambling so they are holding out on that hope. Others say the Dikshit could not take the pressure anymore and wanted to be done with the matter even if he is forced to go to jail.

PartyGaming sent a statement to the stock exchange earlier this week that read:

“The Company’s discussions with the DoJ have made good progress and it is currently negotiating the final terms of a possible settlement with the DoJ”

“Whilst these discussions are at an advanced stage, the terms of any settlement have not yet been finalized and there can be no guarantee that an agreement will be reached between the company and the DoJ.”

UltimateBet and Absolute Poker Form the New CEREUS Poker Network.

On November 25th, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker joined together as one poker network called CEREUS. The transition is complete after many months of hard work and dedication from Tokwiro Enterprises.

It was announced back in July that the two poker rooms would be joining both of their skins into one, but the launch itself was delayed by a legal battle between Excapsa, the former owners of Ultimate Bet.

Cheating controversies have affected both online poker rooms and Tokwiro inherited the scandal when they purchased the business. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission stated in a November press release that Excapsa had to pay Tokwiro $15 million that would be used to “refund players who were affected by the cheating scandal that Tokwiro inherited when it purchased the business from Excapsa.”

This battle had held off the launch but now that it is settled, players can now enjoy the combined power of both poker rooms. CEREUS has a common platform that was built from scratch to offer players from the sites more features, larger scale tournaments, large Bad Beat jackpots, better guarantees and promotions - and most importantly, enhanced security.

Players are sure to be concerned about security measures after the cheating problems both site have incurred in the past. The owners have worked hard to ensure their players safety and meet all of their concerns. In a recent press release by CEREUS, the company stated that the following:

“delivers a secure, responsive and flexible online poker gaming experience to members of the UB and AP communities. The new poker platform is backed by leading technology and a 24/7 Security Center to deliver a watertight gaming experience for everyone at the tables.”

With both poker rooms joining together, CEREUS will become the 3rd-largest online poker room on the internet. Players can still play on their existing sites by simply logging in; the only change that should be seen is the larger number of players online.  You can also get Absolute Poker Rakeback or Ultimate Bet Rakeback through qualifying sites.

Doyle’s Room Leaving U.S. Market - AGAIN.

I just received a fun little message from DoylesRoom.com Support earlier this evening stating that the mega-popular poker room is leaving the United States market….for a 2nd time! UGH!

After taking a few month hiatus back in 2007 and jumping ship (the first time) due to UIGEA problems, Doyle’s Room furiously jumped back onto the U.S. scene again with revamped software and a lot of great tournaments and cash games. There was much renewed hope they would be sticking around for good this time, and that it might even set a precedent for other poker rooms to follow suit.

Unfortunately, it looks the party is once again over for them as their software provider over at MicroGaming just recently announced earlier in the week that they were exiting the U.S.A. after aggressive actions being sought by the Kentucky court systems to ban online gambling in their state.

The good news is they might be coming back for a 3rd go-around - but most likely with a different software provider and a new look.

The Cake Poker Network is one of the top companies on their list as far as software goes, but also in the mix are Merge Gaming and a handful of other smaller providers. However, only time will tell folks.

The Professor will keep you updated on this interesting story as it develops.

Here’s the official press release they sent out to affiliates of the room like myself, enjoy:

DoylesRoom.com has been informed by its software provider that effective Monday November 10th, 2008; they will no longer be accepting any new players from the United States of America. Existing players from the USA will not be affected by this and will be able to continue playing; therefore, all affiliate revenue generated by these players will be honored. This measure does not affect affiliates located in the USA.

Based on the above, DoylesRoom.com has decided to continue its marketing efforts in the USA and the rest of the world, and to this end we are quickly working towards migrating to a new software platform that will support our efforts to provide security and stability to all USA players and affiliates. Once we migrate to this new platform, our retention department will contact all those new players that tried to join during this transition and help them access the account they attempted to create and by doing so, all affiliate tracking codes will be still attached to each players’ account.

Currently, we are negotiating with multiple software providers. As soon as a decision is made, we will send you another email with all the details.

Microgaming Network Abandoning The United States Market.

One of the largest and most well-known gaming companies in the world has officially announced it is leaving the once fruitful U.S. market to focus on its international bases. The Microgaming Network -which is home to poker sites such as Doyle’s Room, Unibet, and GNUF - looks to be folding to pressure brought upon by the Kentucky court systems that have recently been involved in trying to confiscate over 100 of the top gaming domains in the industry and BAN online gambling in the Bluegrass State.

Although the ruling has been delayed and many of the rooms involved in Kentucky’s lawsuit have either placed IP-bans on their citizens or just voluntarily handed over their domains, a big network like the one Microgaming runs did not want to see any possible legal ramifications that might be brought upon them if they remained in the U.S.A. They have seen the troubles the United States government brought upon sites like Party Poker and eWallets like Neteller and thought it would most likely be wiser to bow out completely rather than take the multi-million dollar risk.

With a new President being recently elected in Barack Obama, many in the gaming community are hoping for a swift Democratic response to not only the Kentucky situation, but also to the UIGEA laws that went into effect in 2006. Any pending overturns of that ban might see a lot of networks such as Microgaming possibly re-enter the U.S. market, as well as assist in ushering other popular rooms like Party Poker, 888, and BetFair back into the supposed “Land of the Free.”

U.S. Economy Woes Hit Harrah’s and WPT Enterprises Hard.

The recent economic downturn in the U.S.A. has hit two of the biggest gambling companies in the industry particularly hard. Analysts knew revenue would be down for Harrah’s Entertainment and WPT Enterprises (home of the World Poker Tour), but they didn’t expect it to be down THIS much.

3rd quarter reports revealed that Harrah’s 2008 revenue was down over 19% compared to the same time in 2007. That calculates out to be nearly $130 million in losses the company has incurred due to the economical crisis the United States has experience in the past few months. Hundreds of layoffs are expected in the coming weeks, and with the slow season coming up for the casino industry, revenues are not expected to get better any time soon.

The same earnings reports also revealed that WPT Enterprises, home of the World Poker Tour, has been hit particularly hard as well from the U.S. financial disaster, with revenue dropping 39% alone in 2008. While it’s nowhere near the revenue-hit that Harrah’s experienced, it was still just another sign that the WPT is still not heading in the positive direction it had hoped to be heading in 2007, when revenue was on the up and up.

PPA Butting Heads With The State of Kentucky.

Poker Players Alliance Makes Stand Against Governor Beshear.

The Kentucky government is in for quite a fight this week over its plan to take control of 141 of the biggest online gambling domain names in the world. The suit, which was filed by lawyers representing the “Bluegrass State” just several days ago, states that they wish to not just ban online gambling within their jurisdiction, but they also want to have the domains transferred over into their possession to be sure they get their wishes. The plan has been met with a ton of resistance by many pro-gaming advocates, none of which get any bigger than the Poker Players Alliance.

According to a newly-rising poker news outlet, the PPA had filed an Amicus Brief (known as “Friends of the Court” in simpler terms) on Friday to let their own case be known that the order put forth by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear is beyond its jurisdictions and absolutely unenforceable. The order that was put into motion by the PPA says that domain name disputes go much broader than what state law can possibly enforce, and that online gambling companies that aren’t ran within those state lines aren’t subject to mediation by any local U.S. judge.

There has been no clear-cut decision yet in the case, and it is uncertain when they’re might be one. However, any verdict that might allow such big websites as PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker to relinquish their domain names could set a HUGE precedent down the line when it comes online poker regulation. If a state government can stick their noses into something that isn’t even operated in their own state, let alone their own country, then who’s to say that other states won’t follow suit?

The situation, albeit a very young one, is already causing quite a buzz in the industry, and it is something we here at Gambling101.org will be following very closely over the next few days.

CardRunners and Stox Poker Form HUGE Alliance.

Popular Training Sites Merged Together.

A big announcement was made today regarding CardRunners and Stox Poker, two of the biggest Poker Training websites in the world. It was revealed that both of these giants will be merging their two brands together to form one of the biggest alliances this particular niche has ever seen.

The merge was announced just as membership for both of the sites had been hitting all-time highs all throughout 2008, and CardRunners co-founder Taylor Caby couldn’t be any happier about the move.

“We’re delighted to add breadth and depth to our poker training resources while delivering a decisive competitive advantage to more than 14,000 members,” said Caby. “Members now have two separate platforms to choose from as well as a no-sign up fee option which many customers have requested. Whether you are new to poker or playing nose-bleed stakes, we’ll make sure you’re ready with the top resources behind you.”

The merger also means added value for any new customers looking to improve their game as well. Effective immediately, both of the sites will be waiving the signup fee (normally $99) and also be giving a nice monthly discount on top of that. This will definitely rival any current deals sites like PokerPwnage and RealPokerTraining have to offer from their own companies, so it’ll be fun to monitor them in the future to see if they might make any similar moves to compete with CR and Stox.

As of right now, members of RPT and Pwnage have declined to comment on the recent announcement. I hope to talk to “HerschelW” of PokerPwnage soon enough to get some added insight on what this might mean for the poker training world and how it may affect any future business.

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