April and May 2012 US State Poker Updates
- Lock Poker and Cake will form the Revolution Network tomorrow. There will be a 6 hour downtime. Word is they will only be blocking Utah…Kentucky will be safe to play from. Should be interesting to see if they can create a poker network with a sizable amount of traffic. The current US accepted poker sites are really lacking in numbers.
- The newly formed Revolution Network which was formed after the purchase of the Cake Network by Lock Poker will be adopting a new State by State ban. Lock was previously on the Merge Network. This newly found freedom will allow them to stop having to block 7 states. I have been told they will now only block Utah and Kentucky. This also means that previous Cake and Cake skins will be Mac compatible via Locks new poker software. I was told not to publish the 7 state ban removal but it was leaked on 2+2 so it’s public knowledge now. The Network change will happen the end of this month.
- There are quite a lot of conflicting stories surrounding Full Tilt and Poker Stars right now. The most recent ones would be that the DOJ will issue a full statement by the end of May (rumors are of a May 23 announcement) about FTP and Stars. This would include re-payment details to the US and all world players. The conflicting stories, which I don’t find reputable is that the recent backed taxation of Stars by Spain for $257 million is putting burden on Stars’ FTP deal. The deal should already be complete so I don’t see this as being any sort of issue, that and the amount is not substantial, and is also unrelated. The MAIN deal with the DOJ and players money should be complete. Lastly, news of what I call ‘bribe’ money to the DOJ will allow Stars and Tilt to accept US players upon licensing in the USA. Therefore, one would expect a Wynn deal to take place…
- New Jersey and California are taking steps to block sites such as Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, Carbon Poker or other major brands that took bets from US players after the 2006 UIGEA. Aside from this being clearly a chop at future competitors by land based casinos, it could pose a threat to the Full Tilt Poker / Poker Stars deal.
Also, online poker via state by state channels is expected within 10 months according to Nevadas Gaming Control Board.
- Update from a 2nd hand source about major ex-US sites: “Heard that PStars/Tilt/UB/AP went in front of judge in New York….had all their shit sorted out…but then the District Attorney from Kentucky showed up and had their hand open asking 125 million from each site and if they don’t fork it over, they are going after domains to seize them…..“
- Bwin / Party Poker have signed a 10 year agreement with California’s tribal casino, United Auburn Indian Community. If internet poker is legalized in California and the tribe can secure a license Bwin/Party will be the software providers for the tribe.
- The buyout of the Cake Poker Network is official. Lock Poker will buy them and start “Revolution Gaming”. From the sound of the email, they are trying to fill the void of Full Tilt Poker but instead of “Face” pros they are using their online pros as a potential launch pad.
- According to gambling911, LockPoker will be leaving the Merge Network to acquire the Cake Poker Network. No official release or details have been given.
- A blog called Diamond Flush is reporting an email sent out by Bernard Tapie, ex-buyer of Full Tilt Poker. In the email he offers ex-Full Tilt employees to start a new poker room. In order for the room to get the green light by Tapie, all employees have to agree to work for him. In this deal, the people who have funds would be allowed to get their money back as long as they played on their site. This is one of the most far fetched plan I’ve read in a long time, and it goes to show that most people have NO IDEA how hard it is to start a poker room. In the email he wrote it said they would be the biggest poker site in 7 months. No chance. On the other side of things, Poker Stars has yet to release any committal statement about Full Tilt Poker.
- Here is a brief rundown on the States issues that went on during the month.
+ Massachusetts is looking at adopting 3 licensed online poker sites within their State only.
+ Utah, the state with zero gambling within their State is urging Congress to keep online gambling as a State by State issue and to not allow Federal interstate gambling.
+ New Jersey passed online gambling and is now waiting approval by the governor which is expected in June.
+ California has not partnered with any Nevada licensing groups, and as it stands plans on conducting their own intrastate online poker with no States as partners. California would only be allowed to accept online poker, no other forms of gambling due to disputes with the tribal casinos. A spokesman said, “you can’t make everyone happy” referring to the ones who will benefit the most from online gambling. Here’s a thought, how about you do what’s right and just give the people what THEY want.
- Some issues I brought up in a forum was the price Poker Stars was rumored to be paying for Full Tilt Poker, $750 million. The French investor was only going to pay $80 million the day prior. Why the massive difference? One is Tapie had no plans on paying back US customers, if he did it was going to be pennies on the dollar. That would be $330 million right there. That makes $410 Stars would be paying, so where’s the other $340 out of the $750 million going? Straight to the Department of Justice. According to word spread, this is what Stars is paying to the DOJ to be on ‘good terms’ with them upon opening to the US market. Remember that Isai Sheinberg was indicted, so was Party Poker founder Anurag Dikshit. They simply paid the DOJ money and were off the hook. Nothing like good old fashioned bribery by our government.
- Just a heads up if you play on the Merge Network and get dinged $25-$50 for a fed-ex cashout it appears for now at least that Lockpoker is no longer charging for Fed-ex withdraws. On a test last month it only took about 8 days for the check to arrive. Still only a max of $3k.
- The subsidiary of Full Tilt has withdrawn their application for “orinic” aka the new Full Tilt Poker. If the Poker Stars rumors are true this would make sense as Poker Stars is licensed in the Isle of Man, not Alderny where FTP was applying. One thing that stands out about this sale to Stars is the price, $750 million. Considering the Tapie deal was to buy it for $80 million, I just don’t see why Stars would pay 10x that amount for essentially just poker software. On top of the $750 million they would be paying $330 million to the players. So a billion dollars for a bankrupt poker company? Doesn’t make much sense.
- Full Tilt Poker has been rumored to be purchased by Poker Stars. The Bernard Tapie deal is dead in the water. All players are expected to be paid back in 100% full. No final statements have been released but it seems very likely this is the case.
- Poker Players have been seeing an “online status” at the homepage of Full Tilt, unfortunately upon trying to download the software it is still not possible. Let’s hope they operate everything correctly by using revenues generated to pay back ALL players in full, otherwise I see Full Tilt fading into the boneyard of has been poker sites.
- Twoplustwo members have uncovered some documents that show Bernard Tapie under registration and license of the company under “New Full Tilt LTD. Also, pokerscout is report an 80% decrease in online poker play in the USA from one year ago (black friday). I’d believe that number to be quite skewed as many non-US players were at FTP and Stars and the 80% doesn’t calculate that it seems.
- (Update: Software is back and running). The “maintenance” that Betonline was doing appears to be much more than that. They are switching software networks completely, leaving the once Action Poker Network. No release has been established as to where they will go but from bits and pieces it doesn’t look like the site will be Mac compatible. Let’s hope not!
- Betonline has reported they will have downtime for the next 3 days minimum. It is not suggested you play at this time because of disconnections.
- PAS has reported their withdraw time findings and I have also updated our current speeds for sites listed on our website. Overall everyone has improved with the exception of Betonline who seems to be had some difficulties last month. Carbon Poker is still extremely slow (Merge Network) while Lock Poker (also Merge Network) continues to process at a much faster rate with their off network cashier.
- Somewhat expected was an email I got yesterday from a guy from Playersonly/Sportsbook.com. They had stopped advertising to the US market to portray they were no longer accepting US players, but in reality they didn’t. Needless to say the email said they are looking for more US players. This is good for the Merge Network as it will increase their size of bad players.
- Its been a slow month but there have been rumors of Full Tilt poker seeking employees. We’ve waited this long, what’s another month or two or…It’s just a shame Full Tilt Poker can’t let their ex-customers know what’s going on with their money. If the new owners wanted to ruin the brand even more as each day passes, they’re successfully doing so.
