The popular perception of poker includes a strange contradiction of luminous casinos and darkened backrooms. In the seventies and eighties, it was either a game you played beneath bright casino lights, surrounded by strangers and croupiers, or one in the privacy of a friend’s living room on a Friday night. In either case, poker was somewhat an exclusive club of expert players, pros, and close-knit groups of friends and coworkers. The game didn’t really gain much traction with the wider public until the early nineties, when the internet became more accessible and events like the World Series of Poker (WSOP)…

Momentum to get online poker legalized and regulated within the state of California has fallen by the wayside thanks to the legislative session ending Wednesday. Yet again, poker players have to wait until next year. There was serious progress made in 2016, as California lawmakers figured out a way to appease the racing industry and the tribes on one front by giving the former a nearly $60 million annual subsidy in exchange for not being eligible for online poker licenses. That deal was hashed out early in the year. California’s tracks already offer online wagering, the only form of online…

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…

Poker is a game of chance and the organiser of a poker tournament can be prosecuted for breaking gambling laws, Amsterdam’s appeal court has ruled in a case which stretches back nearly 10 years. Officially, the Netherlands regards poker as a gambling game, meaning the state owned Holland Casino group is the only organisation allowed to organise tournaments. The case centres on three men who organised poker tournaments in a bar in Bussum between 2005 and 2007 without a licence. Lower court judges in 2010 and 2014 agreed with the defence, which argued poker has become a different game, depending…

A Nevada judge has sentenced former Bitcoin online poker site operator Bryan Micon to probation for illegal gambling charges. On Tuesday, Clark County District Court Judge Kerry Earley handed Micon a $25k fine and two years of probation for his role in the Sealswithclubs online poker operation. The sentencing, which also required Micon to forfeit certain items seized by police, follows a deal Micon worked out with Nevada prosecutors this summer. Micon was formally charged with operating an unlicensed interactive gaming system in April following raids on his Nevada residence in February, during which the authorities seized a good deal…

In an interview on Nevada political program “Ralston Reports”, billionaire casino owner Steve Wynn touched on a number of topics concerning the U.S. gaming industry and said that he is still against real-money casino games on the Internet. “I believe that Internet gaming is not going to happen in any way that is meaningful for Las Vegas,” Wynn said. The 73-year-old said he still agrees with fellow casino owner Sheldon Adelson. The latter is trying to push an online gaming ban through Congress, but the proposal is flirting with numerous carve-outs for some forms of online gambling. Peer-to-peer online poker…