Police in Idaho were tipped off that there was a wagered poker game that was in operation every week that would be conducted by 20 players who were buying into the game for $20 each

Acting on the tip, the police headed to the Twin Falls Senior Center, surely this had to have been a wind up? The police had to act on the tip and so placed monitoring onto the centre on a weekly basis.

Monitoring of the building seems to confirm the information that was provided to them and they bust into the centre to investigate further.

On entry of the building, they found that there were 20 pensioners who were seated within a poker game, revealing that they were infact wagering funds for entry into the game, something that is illegal in Idaho. Read the rest of this entry…

A few entrepreneurs have decided to let real-money online poker rooms’ battle for legalized online poker, while they use the loopholes that have allowed Brick & Mortar poker events to take place for years.

One of the biggest of these legal online poker sites is PurePlay, which instead of asking players to risk money at their own discretion charges a monthly fee to compete at its tables. Players pay a $25 monthly membership fee, and are able to play in PurePlay’s tournaments that award cash prizes. Since the money awarded is from membership fees, and also advertising, PurePlay can state that its members are not risking their own money! Quite the loophole!

PurePlay claims it has 2.4 million members, which at $25/month equals a lot of money, and makes the site extremely attractive to advertisers Read the rest of this entry…

The government of Norway has taken a controversial step by creating a new law that essentially makes processing payments for online operators based outside of Norway a crime.

The law requires payment processors to verify that payments in relation to Norway can only be processed for valid operations licensed in Norway. Before the law was made official, there were protests stating the law does not conform with European Union regulations which state that member nations do not require domestic licensing if another member has already licensed the operator.

Whilst Norway is not part of the European Union, it does come under the European Economic Area which means it must abide by internal market regulations. This has not stopped Norway Read the rest of this entry…

Iowa officials are trying to rush through a legal bill that will see the state being able to allow poker tournaments, something that the states financial experts have looked over and come back with the conclusion that the passing of the bill will bring an estimated $80 million in revenue.

Statistics that have been researched surrounding the game show that an estimate 80,000 players play their poker on a poker website online.

The aim for the state would be that they would be able to have the bill passed which would allow them to provide a safe online poker environment for their citizens.

A representative for the Iowa state highlighted the concerns that they have at present, highlighting that playing online poker offers a high volume of risk for the people of Iowa as well as saying that the current happenings were “Illegal”. Read the rest of this entry…

Last year I wrote how the PPA had gone into the lion’s den and set up shop at CPAC, a conference for conservatives to sound off on their ideals, and despite the inherent difference of opinion, there was apparently enough headway made that the PPA is making a second trip.

Online poker is a divisive issue in the conservative movement: On the one hand most conservatives rail against the vice of gambling –which the uninformed quickly lump poker into—while at the same time they are against government intrusion on personal freedoms. Read the rest of this entry…

One of the last bastions for US poker players has apparently been closed off. MasterCard has decided to block all online poker transactions from US players. The move is likely spurred by UIGEA legislation being enacted in June –unless the government overturns the legislation before then—and other payment processors having been brought to court and fined by the US government.

This marks the second time MasterCard has taken such action; after the first instance online poker sites changed their codes in order to process MasterCard deposits. However, this time it appears the online poker world is going to press on without MasterCard, as many online sites have removed MasterCard as a deposit option. Read the rest of this entry…

First there was Pennsylvania, then there was Delaware, and now Maryland legislators have introduced their own bill to legalize and regulate table games throughout the state, including poker.

The movement has caught fire since the recession hit, and states started looking for new ways to generate revenue. States that already offer casino games have gone so far as to bring up the possibility of legalizing and regulating the online poker industry at the state level.

Maryland’s bill, House Bill 608, would allow places that currently hold Video Lottery Licenses to add table games, such Read the rest of this entry…

It has come to the attention of the media that online poker rooms that are based within the United States of America are having an increased amount of difficulty with the processing of deposits made by their members from their credit cards.

The issues started to happen when the UIGEA was passed in 2006 and since that point, the online poker sites have been finding that more and more of the major credit card issuing banks are rejecting funding to be sent to the site in order to fall into line with the UIGEA.

This has meant that players are having to find alternative methods of placing their deposit into the sites in order to get their funds into their playing account.

The knock on effect of these issues has seen a number of players having to seek Read the rest of this entry…

In 2009 poker players were shocked to find their withdrawals from numerous poker sites bouncing and being rejected. It turned out the federal government decided to seize over $30 million of cash-outs that were processed through Account Services payment processor. The seizure caused the biggest uproar in online poker history, and had many players Read the rest of this entry…

After Pennsylvania’s legislature passed a bill to license and regulate table games –poker, blackjack, roulette, and so on—Delaware’s House of Representatives has put forth a similar bill.

The bill which passed the House Gaming and Pari-mutuels Committee would add card and dice games to Delaware’s Slots Casinos, which currently offer slots, wagering on horses and football Read the rest of this entry…