No details, and no confirmation … but who wants action!?!
CalvinAyre.com is saying that the Cereus Network — the beleaguered yet thriving online poker+blackjack collective — is shutting down their office in the Kahnawake territory. The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, of course, roughly 18 square miles located just outside of Montreal, has long been a refuge for online gambling sites operating literally outside the reach of US law. It has been the home of Ulitmate Bet (now UB) since 2001 and Absolute Poker since 2003.
No clue at present what this would mean if true, nor what might be the implications for representative players such as Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, and Trishelle Cannatella. Maybe it\’s simply a matter of Cereus COO Paul Leggett just responding to Daniel Negreanu\’s call for him and his business to take a hike?
It\’s also possible, of course, that maybe their lease was just up, and they found a sweet new pad with a view of the St. Lawrence River?
We\’ll surely see in coming days and weeks. But I\’m at least 90 45 72 percent sure that such a move isbig deal in some capacity, and it coincides with more lawuits Pokerati hasn\’t even told you about. I literally can\’t keep up with all the shizznit heading toward various fans at this moment. I\’m trying though … Stay tuned today, tomorrow, and in coming weeks to learn about more business and legal matters that may well affect operations at the 2010 WSOP and beyond.
UPDATE: Plausibly connected … @KevMath (of course) tips me off (and the folks at 2+2) to a letter from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, dated May 10, 2010, acknowledging a \”memo of understanding\” between them and the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. Alderney is the small British dependency in the Channel Islands that currently licenses and regulates Full Tilt.
To be sure any seismic shifting and associated problems are not all about the WSOP, they just happen to be rearing their heads at and during it, because that\’s how Big Poker works, with so much related to poker becoming apparent in Las Vegas during June and July more so than at any other time and place.
So what\’s next? I know a few posts we\’ve got cooking that some might find interesting … and a few other things I am hearing about that may or may not check out to be valid. I\’m not talking about a Poker Apocalypse, mind you; just the possible small little implosion of the current (American) poker world as we know it, specifically the online poker world. Different. But clear and progressively escalating signs of an industry doing as Vegas has always done, repeatedly, for nearly 20 years.