Black Friday and its aftermath have had quite an impact on the growth of poker and the US gambling market, poker in particular. The regulations which forced some of the biggest poker sites to leave the United States caused numerous problems, financial and otherwise, for sites and players who depended on the poker income. But it also left a big gap waiting to be filled once the required regulations are passed and the climate becomes more favorable. During the last year or so, things started to change for the better from that perspective, with a couple states passing acts and…

Several years ago, a work colleague instructed me to use the phrase ‘gaming’, and not internet gambling when discussing our organization’s work on federal gambling policy.  She believed that term better reflected the breadth of the issue and, to a certain extent, minimized the negative connotations associated with “gambling.”  Twelve years later, I’m not sure that works anymore. First of all, if I began this column discussing “gaming” issues, you might think I’m referring to introverted teenagers hiding from the sun in front of their Xbox consoles. Second, it doesn’t really matter whether “gambling” has a negative or positive connotation….

US Poker – The dust has settled from the 140th Kentucky Derby. California Chrome celebrated in the winner’s circle on Saturday. Bettors that picked California Chrome to win took home $2.50 for every $1 bet.  Many other wagers were placed on the annual betting tradition. Churchill Downs held a large portion of the action. Win, place and show bets saw a 17.5 percent hold. Exotics had 22% taken from the prize pool. This was up from 16 percent and 19 percent in 2013, respectively. Churchill Downs booked $186.6 million in bets on Saturday across the entire race card. Winning bettors…

PR Newswire – The Stossel Show, which airs on fox news, brought on Bitcoin Center NYC Policy Associate Naomi Brockwell to talk about how Bitcoin has revolutionized online betting — and made an activity that is illegal in most of the United States accessible to American bettors. Brockwell states, “The way that the ban on internet gaming is enforced is that the government actually targets the intermediary, the financial institutions, that process the payments to the online gaming sites. What’s amazing about bitcoin is it is a peer to peer currency so it doesn’t actually use any of these financial…

Daily Mail – Sixty minutes later Daniel Tzvetkoff and a cohort of high rollers and hangers-on were partying in the Palm Hotel’s Playboy Mansion Suite. Tzvetkoff swigged Cristal champagne straight from the bottle and lounged in the infinity pool. Naked girls snorted cocaine off each other’s breasts and invited him to do the same. Tzvetkoff was 25 years old. He could have anyone he wanted at the click of his fingers.  He flew by private jet, drove Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Ferraris and more and his property portfolio was worth millions. And on that September night in Vegas, 2008, he…

US Poker – Neteller has become the first ewallet available in the Nevada regulated online poker market.  It was introduced by WSOP.com today.  At this time, it is only available as a deposit option.  That will change in the near future when it will also be available for withdrawals.  Players would then be able to receive payouts to a debit card that would be accepted by ATM machines and merchants all over the world. Neteller is already available as a banking option for regulated gaming sites in New Jersey.  WSOP.com is among the merchants that currently accepts it there. Neteller…