This week’s gambling news finds that the loosening of restrictions on Las Vegas casinos has several (MGM properties) making the decision to return to 24 hour, 7 day a week service. Meanwhile, the Virgin Las Vegas Hotel and Casino has set a new opening date, and even some Las Vegas shows are reopening with the expanding capacity limits. We also say goodbye to Full Tilt Poker, as PokerStars is closing the brand.   Hello, friends! Thanks so much for joining me on another edition of This Week in Gambling! And hey, couldn’t we all use some good news right about…

It took Chris Ferguson about seven years to issue a 42-second video apology for the Full Tilt Poker fiasco. Hopefully he wasn’t working on writing it the entire time. Regardless of his motivations, the poker community responded harshly to his attempt at reconciliation. This summer will mark Ferguson’s third year back at the World Series of Poker, after he took several summers off after the Full Tilt scandal. The government said that Ferguson allocated himself $85 million in distributions for his work at the poker site, while about $160 million in U.S. player deposits went missing after the platform shut…

Former Full Tilt Poker executive Howard Lederer issued an apology for the events that led to the poker site failing to have funds on hand to pay all its players in the wake of 2011’s Black Friday. Lederer, in part, said “I take full responsibility for Full Tilt’s failure to protect player deposits leading up to Black Friday.” In the wake of its domain being seized by the U.S. Department of Justice in April of 2011, Full Tilt was not able to refund all account balances because of a failure to segregate operational and player funds. PokerStars went on to…

The final days for Full Tilt poker are officially upon us. After announcing back in February that Full Tilt would be “pooled together” with fellow Amaya Gaming online brand PokerStars.com into one product, the company announced last week that May 17 will be the official date. The Full Tilt communications team stated that Full Tilt players would be e-mailed directly regarding personal information on how the merge will affect them specifically, “which depends on a variety of factors, including their jurisdiction and the status of their PokerStars account (if any).” The statement went on to say that, “in many cases,…

Amaya Gaming’s PokerStars brand has become the latest operator to withdraw its services from Portugal. This week saw the PokerStars Partners Team issue emails to its Portuguese affiliates, instructing them that Stars’ affiliate program “will no longer accept players from Portugal until further notice.” The email warned that “all marketing materials (banners, links, etc.) and marketing efforts should cease immediately.” The decision also applies to Amaya’s Full Tilt brand. Portugal is in the process of implementing its new online gambling regime, which came into effect on Monday, June 29. Operators interested in obtaining new Portuguese licenses are withdrawing from the…

Full Tilt, an Amaya Inc. brand, today launched www.fulltilt.dk under a license from the Danish Gambling Authority, giving Danish poker and casino players access to Full Tilt’s global player base. Residents of Denmark and Greenland are now able to access the thrill and excitement of playing on Full Tilt against players globally, using software from one of the most innovative online poker sites in the world. The Danish license is the fourth license obtained by Full Tilt since its 2012 re-launch, alongside licenses issued by the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Malta, and underscores the brand’s commitment to responsibly…