» Site News https://www.compatiblepoker.com Just another WordPress site Thu, 31 Jan 2019 20:15:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.40 Virginia Sees Surge in Sports Betting Bill Proposals https://www.compatiblepoker.com/virginia-sees-surge-in-sports-betting-bill-proposals/ https://www.compatiblepoker.com/virginia-sees-surge-in-sports-betting-bill-proposals/#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2019 20:15:26 +0000 https://www.compatiblepoker.com/?p=5057 If it doesn’t rain, it pours, and that seems to be the case for sports betting legislation in the State of Virginia. In the past week alone, no less than three bills relating to sports betting have passed the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology.

On January 24th, Democrat Senator Louise Lucas introduced SB 1126 which seeks to legalize casino games such as table, dice and slot games in the state. The bill proposes that casinos be restricted to cities that have an unemployment rate of at least 4% and a poverty rate of 20%. Each eligible city will be issued with one casino license. Sports betting will also be allowed, although there will be no provision for online gambling or wagering.  Venues will need to pay a 10% gross revenue tax, and local governments will also get a piece of the pie.

This week, two more bills cleared the Committee.

SB 1238, which was introduced by Senator Chapman Peterson, seeks the establishment of the Virginia Sports Betting Department. Only land-based sports betting will be allowed, thereby barring online and mobile betting.

A three year license, initially costing $5,000, will be issued to operators. Renewing the license will cost $1,000. In addition, operators will have to pay a 10% tax on adjusted gross revenue and the Sports Betting Department will hold onto 2.5% of that amount to defray the costs of administering the program.

The second bill introduced this week, SB 1356, also calls for the legalization of sports betting in Virginia. Senator Frank Wagner’s bill plans to rename the Virginia Lottery Board the Virginia Lottery and Sports Wagering Commission, and will allow consumers to bet on all sports except on those where teams are based in Virginia. It also allows betting on college events.

Both bills will now make their way to the Virginia Senate Finance Committee where they will be debated.

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Penn Casino Inks Deal with Kindred Group for Online Gambling https://www.compatiblepoker.com/pennsylvania-casino-inks-deal-with-kindred-group-for-online-gambling/ https://www.compatiblepoker.com/pennsylvania-casino-inks-deal-with-kindred-group-for-online-gambling/#comments Tue, 29 Jan 2019 19:06:54 +0000 https://www.compatiblepoker.com/?p=5049 Another strategic deal was signed in Pennsylvania as the state comes one step closer to online gambling. The Mohegan Sun Pocono partnered with the Kindred Group (previously known as the Unibet Group), with the latter providing the casino with online and offline sports betting products, as well as online games. Players at the Mohegan Sun Pocono will be able to play at the Unibet sports betting lounge which will be set up at the casino. In addition, players will have access to an online sportsbook and casino platform.  The deal was signed for a five year period, which will be extended for another two five-year periods if the sides agree.

The VP of Interactive Gaming at Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment, Aviram Alroy said in a statement: “We’ve aligned with one of the best online casino and sportsbook operators in online regulated markets which will allow us to offer best in class experience to our existing customers as well as attracting new ones.”

Alroy said that the introduction of the Kindred offering to the market is of great benefit to Mohegan Sun, as well as the state of Pennsylvania.

Players will be asked to open an account and register so that the casino can verify that they are 21 years of age or older. They are then able to use their mobile or web devices to place a bet through the online sports book.  Geolocation software will be used to ensure that the players are based within state lines.

Regarding the question of when the products will go live, Alroy said that Mohegan Sun Pocono, together with Kindred, was working with the Pennsylvania regulator and plans were being made to launch as soon as all sides were confident that there would be a strong offering in the market.

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Connecticut Legislators Take Another Shot at Legal Sports Betting https://www.compatiblepoker.com/connecticut-legislators-take-another-shot-at-legal-sports-betting/ https://www.compatiblepoker.com/connecticut-legislators-take-another-shot-at-legal-sports-betting/#comments Tue, 29 Jan 2019 03:51:35 +0000 https://www.compatiblepoker.com/?p=5047 After talks broke down last year to introduce a legal and regulated sports betting industry to Connecticut, new efforts have been made by eight state legislators.  The senators jointly filed a bill – SB 665 – which aims to establish a legal sports wagering framework in the Constitution State.

The eight state senators who filed the bill:

  • Mary Daugherty Abrams
  • Dennis Bradley
  • Steven Cassano
  • Christine Cohen
  • Bob Duff
  • Julie Kushner
  • Martin Looney
  • Norman Needleman

The bill will allow sports betting on certain sports events. The state legislature will be responsible for developing a regulatory framework for the industry.

The eight senators have now referred SB 665 to the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Security.

As soon as the US Supreme Court ruled on the unconstitutionality of PASPA last year, thereby opening the gates for legal sports betting across the country, Connecticut started checking its options – as did many other states. Governor Dannel Mallot did not immediately rule out the idea and in August 2018, even said that he would consider legal sports betting before he left office in January this year.  Interest groups only had a short window of time to present their proposals to the governor.

Malloy told The Connecticut Mirror at the time: “The bottom line is in the last few weeks real action has taken place. People have started to move in a direction where I think an agreement could ultimately be reached with respect to who could operate within our state, how they would operate within their state, what could be bet on, and the like. It’s possible an agreement could be reached and legislative action could be called upon. I asked them for input on that matter, whether they intend to come into session.”

However, Malloy’s predictions did not come to fruition and talks broke down soon afterwards, when an agreement with two Native American tribes could not be reached by the required date.

Now, with the opening of the new session under Malloy’s successor, Governor Ned Lamont, it remains to be seen if Connecticut will adopt legal sports betting once and for all.

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Massachusetts Governor Takes New Jersey’s Lead on Sports Betting https://www.compatiblepoker.com/massachusetts-governor-takes-new-jerseys-lead-on-sports-betting/ https://www.compatiblepoker.com/massachusetts-governor-takes-new-jerseys-lead-on-sports-betting/#comments Wed, 23 Jan 2019 11:08:22 +0000 https://www.compatiblepoker.com/?p=5041 The new Governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, said that New Jersey’s sports gambling legalization was the basis of his own bill proposed on Friday. Baker filed a bill that could legalize bets on professional sports in the state. In an interview given to WGBH’s Boston Public Radio, Baker said that New Jersey’s legislation was “the best way to frame it”.

The governor said that he was keen to place Massachusetts among the ranks of seven other states that have moved to legalize and regulate sports betting, including the neighboring Rhode Island, since the US Supreme Court’s decision last year. The higher court made it legal to wager on sports outside of Nevada, spurning many states to take their industries into their own hands.

In the radio interview, Governor Baker said about sports betting: “It’s legal, it’s going to start happening in a lot of other states… and, I think, from our point of view, it’s a conversation we need to have.”

The highlights of Baker’s bill:

  • Betting will only be allowed on professional sports – no collegiate or amateur sporting events.
  • Only adults over 21 will be allowed to place sports bets.
  • The Massachusetts Gaming Commission will oversee the sports wagering industry.
  • Operators will pay a $100,000 application fee + a licensing fee every five years of at least $500,000.
  • Online wagering licensees will pay a tax rate of 12.5%. In-person sports gambling licensees will pay 10%.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Governor Baker said: “Our legislation puts forth a series of commonsense proposals to ensure potential licensees are thoroughly vetted and safeguards are in place to protect against problem gambling and illegal activity. We look forward to working with our colleagues in the Legislature to pass this bill into law.”

 

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Poker Playing Bot Adapted for Use by the Pentagon https://www.compatiblepoker.com/poker-playing-bot-adapted-for-use-by-the-pentagon/ https://www.compatiblepoker.com/poker-playing-bot-adapted-for-use-by-the-pentagon/#comments Thu, 17 Jan 2019 20:28:47 +0000 https://www.compatiblepoker.com/?p=5036 A poker bot created by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University has now been adapted for an unlikely project – to serve the US military.  The bot, named Libratus (meaning ‘balanced’ in Latin), attracted world attention when it soundly beat four leading poker players at no-limit Texas Hold ‘em games in 2017. At the time, this was seen as a milestone in Artificial Intelligence development, mainly because the bot needed to be able to calculate some information what wasn’t visible. The bot won some $1.8 million in play money from the poker players by calculating how they may respond to its decisions, and was even able to bluff and develop betting strategies.

Now, the technology used for Libratus to beat the poker players – known as computational game theory – has been adapted for government use. The professor who led the Carnegie Mellon U project, Tuomas Sandholm, created a startup called Strategy Robot with the objective of using the same technology for the Pentagon to use in war games and simulations to explore military strategy. Strategy Robot inked a two-year $10 million deal with the US Army last year. The will support a relatively new military unit called the Defense Innovation Unit.

The developers are keeping mum on the military projects that Libratus will work on, for obvious security reasons. However, it is known that the bot can make suggestions regarding where to place military units for example.

According to an article in Wired, “pro pokers who took on the bot found that it flipped unnervingly between tame and hyper-aggressive tactics, all the while relentlessly notching up wins as it calculated paths to victory.”

The article quoted Prof. Sandholm as saying: “That opens yourself up to a lot of exploitation, because the real adversary may not play according to your assumptions.”

A second startup, called Strategic Machine, has been founded – also based on the bot’s technology – which is being used in commercial settings.

 

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New Jersey Breaks Online Gambling Records in December https://www.compatiblepoker.com/new-jersey-breaks-online-gambling-records-in-december/ https://www.compatiblepoker.com/new-jersey-breaks-online-gambling-records-in-december/#comments Tue, 15 Jan 2019 20:29:45 +0000 https://www.compatiblepoker.com/?p=5034 This week, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) published the revenue generated by the state’s online gambling market in December. It showed that the last month of the year broke all records for 2018, with licensed online gambling operators generating revenue over $29 million – an impressive 40% increase year on year. The numbers include online casino and online poker revenue.

Until the December numbers were out, it was thought that November would be the highest revenue generating month of 2018, but it was then announced that December’s online total reached $2 million higher.

More good news came from the online poker sector which saw an improvement compared to the previous month’s numbers. Analysts agree, however, that there is still much room for improvement.

Other highlights of the December 2018/full year 2018 report were as follows:

  • The online casino sector contributed significantly to December’s numbers, showing 45% growth to $27.2 million.
  • The full year 2018 online revenue growth was just under $300 million – a 21.6% improvement compared to 2017’s total.
  • Overall, online poker fell 11.8% in 2018 to $21.4 million.
  • The online casino platforms belonging to the Golden Nugget group did exceptionally well as usual, with revenue of $10.2 million in December. Overall, in 2018, the Golden Nugget’s online gambling revenue improved over 50% compared to 2017’s results to $104.85 million.
  • Total gaming taxes were $21.8 million (8% of taxable casino gross revenue, 15% of online gaming gross revenue, 8.5% on casino and racing sports betting gross revenue and more).

Sports betting analyst for PlayNJ.com, Dustin Gouker lent his two cents on the sports betting sector in New Jersey.

“New Jersey’s strong month actually bucks a trend seen in Nevada, where sports betting typically cools a bit in December,” he said. “Growth in a typically slower month crystalizes the strength of New Jersey’s growing sports betting market. The popularity of online sports betting is a chief reason, making it easier for gamblers to place bets, even as the time demands of the holiday season are in full bloom.”

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2011 Wire Act Opinion Reversed to Include Online Poker https://www.compatiblepoker.com/2011-wire-act-opinion-reversed-to-include-online-poker/ https://www.compatiblepoker.com/2011-wire-act-opinion-reversed-to-include-online-poker/#comments Tue, 15 Jan 2019 15:35:18 +0000 https://www.compatiblepoker.com/?p=5031 A new Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel opinion, written at the end of 2018 and published this week, states that the 1961 Wire Act applies to all forms of gambling that crosses state lines. This includes online lottery, online casino gaming and online poker, and reverses a 2011 opinion that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting.

The 2018 opinion states: “The Criminal Division has asked us to reconsider the 2011 Opinion’s conclusion that the Wire Act is limited to sports gambling…. We do not lightly depart from our precedents, and we have given the views expressed in our prior opinion careful and respectful consideration. Based upon the plain language of the statute however, we reach a different result. While the Wire Act is not a model of artful drafting, we conclude that the words of the statute are sufficiently clear and that all but one of its prohibitions sweep beyond sports gambling. We further conclude that the 2006 enactment of UIGEA did not alter the scope of the Wire Act.”

Analysts are scrambling to decipher this new opinion. The general feeling is that it won’t alter the scope of online gambling in the United States and that legal intrastate online gambling and online poker sites are not threatened for now. But there is now a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the US gambling industry, and some admit that the DOJ opinion may affect areas where it didn’t even intent to hit, including intrastate online casino and online poker, daily fantasy sports, online lottery sales and more.

The Department of Justice admits that it foresees legal battles if it decides to enforce the opinion, especially since its opinion is in direct conflict with some federal courts. Nor will online gambling operators or state officials take the reversal of the opinion lying down, especially since many states based their introduction of online lottery sales on the 2011 opinion in the first place.

 

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Chris Christie: Sports Leagues Don’t Deserve ‘Integrity Fees’ https://www.compatiblepoker.com/chris-christie-sports-leagues-dont-deserve-integrity-fees/ https://www.compatiblepoker.com/chris-christie-sports-leagues-dont-deserve-integrity-fees/#comments Wed, 09 Jan 2019 18:18:15 +0000 https://www.compatiblepoker.com/?p=5023 After the US Supreme Court ruled last year to overturn a nationwide ban on sports betting, sports leagues had no choice but to accept that states would be opening their markets to legal and regulated betting. Throughout the process, however, these leagues have been demanding what they call an ‘integrity fee’ – a fee paid to them in return for the use of official league data for wagering purposes.

However, the former governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie has come out forcibly against this idea and has urged state legislators to follow his suit.

Speaking at the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States Conference in New Orleans last week, Christie was adamant that sports leagues such as the NBA and NFL did not deserve to be paid integrity fees.

“We’re going to reward the people who fought us for seven years with fees that are going to diminish your margins?” asked Christie. “They don’t need it, and given their conduct over the last seven years, they don’t deserve it.”

At the same conference, Christie also came out strongly against a bi-partisan bill that was introduced late last night by Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Orrin Hatch. The bill gives the federal government the right to regulate and oversee the US sports betting market, including the set up of a National Sports Wagering Clearing House.

Chris Christie, however, believes that the Sports Wagering Market Integrity Act of 2018 is totally unnecessary.

“We do not need a federal solution to this problem,” said Christie. “States have been regulating gambling for decades without incident.”

Echoing his sentiments was the AGA (American Gaming Association) which said: “This bill is the epitome of a solution in search of a problem, representing an unprecedented and inappropriate expansion of federal involvement in the gaming industry, which is currently one of the most strictly regulated.”

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All American Poker Network Bought by 888 Holdings https://www.compatiblepoker.com/all-american-poker-network-bought-by-888-holdings/ https://www.compatiblepoker.com/all-american-poker-network-bought-by-888-holdings/#comments Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:24:05 +0000 https://www.compatiblepoker.com/?p=5020 The London-listed 888 Holdings has increased its presence in the US online poker industry by becoming the sole owner of the All American Poker Network, or AAPN.  888 acquired the network from its investment partner, Avenue Capital in a deal said to be worth $28 million.

In 2013, the All American Poker Network was set up as joint venture between 888 and Avenue Capital, with the latter owning 53%. 888 confirmed in a press release that it now owned 100% of the network.

888 Holdings said that the transaction gave the group independent control of its growth strategy in the United States. This strategy includes signing new partnerships and continuing to deploy its proprietary products and technology in new states as they regulate their online poker industries.

888 pointed out that in the past few months, it has further strengthened its position in the United States by launching 888Sport in New Jersey alongside its poker and casino brands. This marked the first time that 888 offered sports betting in the US and paved the way for the group to launch its sportsbook in other states as future regulation allows.

888 also signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with the New York Jets NFL team, marking the first agreement of its kind between and NFL team and an online gaming operator.

The CE of 888, Itai Frieberger said about the acquisition of the AAPN: “The acquisition of the remaining stake in AAPN is an important strategic step towards 888 achieving its exciting long-term potential in the US. Taking outright ownership of AAPN gives 888 additional operational, technological and commercial flexibility to develop innovative and exciting new partnerships and launch in new states – through both B2B and B2C channels – as and when future regulation allows.”

“This acquisition places 888 in an even better position to take advantage of the significant growth opportunities in the US and create additional value for our shareholders,” he concluded.

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What are the Chances for California Online Poker in 2019? https://www.compatiblepoker.com/what-are-the-chances-for-california-online-poker-in-2019/ https://www.compatiblepoker.com/what-are-the-chances-for-california-online-poker-in-2019/#comments Mon, 31 Dec 2018 19:03:06 +0000 https://www.compatiblepoker.com/?p=5018 Another year has passed without us seeing any progress in California achieving its dream of a legal online poker industry. It is now more than a decade that poker players in the Golden State has been pushing to fulfill this objective with no success.  And while many are hopeful that 2019 will see a change to the status-quo, especially with so many other states going ahead with the expansion of their own online gambling industries, others are convinced that California will continue treading water this year as well.

Why is it so difficult for California to move forward when it comes to online poker? After all, we are talking about a potentially lucrative industry, considering that the state’s population is three times larger than the combined population of Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada – three states that have already established legal and regulated online poker.

Its size, however, is probably what is holding California back. There are simply too many stakeholders who want to grab a part of this elusive industry and the irony is that nobody is getting anything out of it.

Everyone seems to be blaming everyone else. When asked to give a statement to OPR, the president of the California Gaming Association, Kyle Kirkland, says that California is home to more online poker players than anywhere else in the world, and the state was offered an opportunity to generate safe and legal online gaming and also much needed tax money.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “some tribal gaming advocates could not reach agreement on how online poker would be administered and regulated. As a result, legislators moved on to focus on other priorities.”

“In effect, these conflicting self-interests in California’s tribal gaming community resulted in the loss of safe, regulated entertainment, well-paying jobs, and millions in tax revenue that would have benefited all Californians.”

Another one to shed some light is Richard Schuetz, an industry expert who once served with the California Gambling Control Commission.

He explained that there are three gaming interests in California: The tracks, the card rooms and the tribal casino interests.

“Any of these groups can slow down or stop a gaming initiative,” he said.

The bottom line is that the tribal casinos are powerful enough to stop any advancement in online poker legislation as they see it as a threat to their own monopoly on the state’s gambling industry.

It remains to be seen whether we will see any breakthrough in 2019.

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