Is Florida Legalizing Online Poker?
January 21, 2010
Posted by NewsBug in : General , add a comment
Here is another state that is considering and probably will legalize online poker, New Jersey and California and now Florida? Here is to hoping this will set a trend all over the US!!!
January 20, 2010 (CAP Newswire) – According to today’s Florida Times-Union out o0f Jacksonville, the Florida legislature is reportedly considering legalizing and regulating Internet poker with its borders, becoming the latest state to consider doing so.
However, putting the issue to a vote isn’t necessarily a positive development. According to the article, it could just as easily result in a total ban of the activity as a freer set of regulations.
“The Legislature could also wait to see whether Congress intends to address Internet poker, which is considered illegal in the United States but is often operated by foreign companies,” writes Brandon Larrabee in the article.
“When the feds tried to [ban Internet poker], it didn’t really work,” said state senator Dave Aronberg, according to the article. “Is there anything that Florida can do other than allowing it to occur?”
Read the full article here.
PPA is Pushing for February Markup of HR 2267
January 19, 2010
Posted by NewsBug in : General , add a comment
2010 is ramping up to be a very interesting year for the gaming community. Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-MA) Internet gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, HR2267, has picked up two more co-sponsors bringing the number up to 65. The bill was discussed on Dec. 3, 2009 in the House Financial Services Committee. This was only one week following the action delaying mandatory compliance with UIGEA, the Unlawful Internet gambling Enforcement Act.
No markup occurred during the Dec. hearing, but John Pappas, Executive Director of Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the one million member lobbying organization, says that may be just around the corner. “The big next step for us is the markup. We’ve built out who our targets are for that committee and are pursuing them. We think it might happen in February, but there are no guarantees.”
Barney Frank wants to hold a markup hearing next month on his bill, which could lead to its discussion on the House floor later in the year. It could then be attached to another piece of legislation and voted on, similar to how UIGEA got passed in 2006. John Pappas says that the key will be to keep the vote in the committee bipartisan. Pappas is also waiting for the release of information about the amount of money that could be raised if S1597, Senator Robert Menendez’s bill, the Internet Poker and game of Skill Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, is approved. Introduced in August 2009, it has yet to attract any co-sponsors.
PokerStars Online New Pro Team
January 4, 2010
Posted by NewsBug in : General , add a comment
PokerStars.com has scoured over 2000 resumes in order to field a team of online players to be called Team PokerStars online, an amateur sister team of their PokerStars Pro. They will represent the poker site at online tournaments.
From the over 2000 resumes, they have culled out the final 23 names that will make up the team. They represent 18 countries from around the world. The decisions have been made as to who will be on the team. Now it is time to see if they made the right decisions.
Here are the names of the lucky players chosen.
Andres “lobojiji ” Alisievicz , Boumaaza “Chiren80″ Bachir, Jorge “JorgeArias” Arias, Alvaro “VARICO” Blanco, Anders “Donald” Berg, Nichoel “NicP” Peppe, Keiran “K_Man2307″ Harris, Thomas “Boku87″ Boekhoff, Randy “nanonoko” Lew, Karlo “elmagopr” Lopez, Andre “acoimbra” Coimbra, Ta-Chih “socutiesf” Geeng, Grzegorz “DaWarsaw” Mikielewicz, Diego “vgreen22″ Brunelli, Andrew “Kid Nebraska” Goetsch, Steve “stevesbets” Jacobs, Martha “marene” Gonzalez, Kristian “CharismA3″ Martin, Mathew “chipstar1″ Didlick, Grayson “spacegravy” Physioc, Sebastien “Seb86″ Sabic, Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov and Amanda “ROXY24″ Thomas.
We wish all these players the very best of luck, and may the lucky stars rain down on their cards!
