Poker Loses Again

With Thor Hansen’s cancer diagnosis still ringing in our ears, the poker fraternity has been dealt another crushing blow with the news of Nikolay Evdakov’s untimely demise. The Russian pro is most famous for his endeavours at the 2008 World Series, where he set the record for most cashes in a single WSOP by notching up 10 money finishes. It’s a record that stands as a testimony to his legacy. He is survived by his wife and children. [Gipsy Team]

888 Hit the Jackpot 

Time to draw ourselves out of this funk and poker players only know of one way to salve an aching heart: Cash! Online gambling providers 888 have plenty to go around, having announced a 28% uptick in revenue for Q4 2011. The future looks rosy for 888, thanks to their deal with Caesar’s Entertainment. Through subsidiary Dragonfish, they furnish Caesar’s with the official WSOP online poker site. When Nevada finally gives the go ahead to intrastate online poker, chances are 888’s star will continue to rise. [Guardian]

Missives From a Ringer 

Get on a plane to Macau, find the poker table with the most money on it, squint a bit, and you can pretend that it’s 2006 all over again. Poker’s most famous grinders have been gorging themselves on the action in China’s special administrative region for the past few months. Familiar names like Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and Patrik Antonius have all been playing, but have otherwise kept schtum about the game’s details. Not so Gus Hansen, who has been providing daily blog updates on the highs and lows of his multi-million dollar sessions. Yesterday’s entry indicates that – shock! – Hansen has been playing a few too many loose hands, so you might want to get reading before The Great Dane goes busto. [Gus Hansen]

Popstar Becomes a Poker Star 

Hey Americans. Are you aware of laddish popstar Robbie Williams? Back in 2000-ty something he set off for the colonies, hoping to make his fortune, but after becoming addicted to various naughty substances, arrived back on the mainland to rejoin with former cohorts Take That. Now, for the glorious next stage of his career, Robbie has decided to open an online poker site. I expect it to quickly fade into insignificance, but given that it annoyed someone in our nation’s flagship bigotry newspaper, the venture has definitely proven its worth. [Bluff Europe]

I must now return to my eternal vigil. I’ll be back next week, summoning up more poker news than you can possibly handle. Bring a friend.

Though I’m sure plenty will disagree with the above analysis, I’ll take the upward Super Bowl trend for Nevada sports books as a win.

Meanwhile, semi-related but not really, Delaware is looking into how the new DOJ Wire Act interpretation (heralded by online poker types) could actually help the state offer more-better sports betting options to the masses via the internet.

Hard to tell if this game in Northeast Harris County was truly a family poker night in a residential neighborhood or underground poker room … but either way, sad as it is in the face of death and painful injury, you gotta believe there is more to this story:

In a story that ran on April 15, 2010, Johnny Hughes told a San Antonio newspaper that the violence in Texas poker rooms was reaching a fever pitch — quite different (and potentially more deadly) than the fights and robberies he had witnessed over the previous 50 years of playing un-legalized Texas poker.

I think we’re up to at least five deaths by gunfire in Texas poker games now, over the past few years.

But what stands out most to me is a line from one of the opponents of any measures for California to finally get serious about regulating online games within their own borders:

“We don’t want to see any of it,” said pastor James Butler from the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion. “Pretty soon they’ll have an app that will allow you to connect instantly to a casino or a gambling site. Want to lose your home? We have an app for that,” Butler said.

Emphasis added. Not sure if we should tell the fine pastor that they already do have such an app — all over the UK to be sure, and in Nevada you can bet sports for real money anywhere you want using your Droid or iPhone with Leroy’s App. (It just turns off when you get to the California border — amazing that crazy technology these days!)

OK, I shouldn’t mock … because we all remember the saying from the days leading up to the UIGEA: “click a mouse, lose your house.” That language stuck in the anti-gambling forces rhetoric for years, pretty much until Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) tried to take it to a new level by claiming 1/3 of all college students who tried online gambling attempted suicide. That, of course, didn’t stick … and since then pro-online gambling forces have made tremendous inroads, with a message that has been quite refined since online poker’s post UIGEA starting point, which pretty much was: WTF?

But don’t expect the opposition to remain stagnant. The closer we get, the more you can expect them to up their game, if not simply because mainstream media often call various sources to get more than one side of a story … and because election years generally tend to be good fundraising periods for people in the morality business.

You can tell Mr. Butler is currently workshopping the opposing message:

“Is there going to be a guarantee that anyone in California who receives social assistance will be banned from those sites? Or will basically the California citizens be subsidizing somebody else’s gambling behavior?” said Butler.

Fascinating point, actually. We are talking more than 2 million people in California, mind you, receiving some sort of government aid. So should we strengthen online gambling bans (against all) to make sure those on the public dole can only play games meeting standards of appropriate bankroll management?

PokerStars did not comment on plans for what could’ve been had the US government allowed them to make food stamps redeemable for T$ and/or VIP swag.

I haven’t quite yet figured out if and how this is different from an IPO. But I do know these sorta things don’t happen in a vacuum. And considering the last time Caesars — soon to be better known on NASDAQ as CZR — looked serious about going public was the last time they had reason to believe passage of online poker legalization was imminent (Dec 2010) … uh, um, gahhh! So much going on, so many old docs to look at, so much for Kevmath to hopefully fact-check … my head is spinning with the possibilities! (And I can only wonder who Barack Obama met with on the side when he visited Las Vegas long enough to stay the night in the suburbs a couple weeks ago,)

Probably not a bad time to remember that Caesars was a public corporation (called Harrah’s) that went private almost immediately after passage of the UIGEA, controversial legislation that leveled the impact of the biggest online poker sites in the world (at the time).

Read below for an official press release.

Caesars Entertainment Corporation Publicly Lists Its Shares

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Caesars Entertainment Corporation (“Caesars” or the “Company”) announced today that its common stock was approved for listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “CZR” and its offering of 1,811,313 shares of its common stock was priced at $9.00. Gross proceeds from this offering will be approximately $16 million before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and expenses.

Caesars also granted to the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 271,697 additional shares of its common stock at the initial price less underwriting discounts and commissions.

In addition to the shares to be sold by Caesars in this offering, shares held by certain existing investors representing approximately 27.8 percent of the Company’s issued and outstanding capital stock have also been registered for resale, of which approximately 18.8 percent are now freely tradable, with the remainder becoming freely tradable 180 days after completion of the offering described above.

Credit Suisse and Citigroup are acting as joint book-running managers and representatives for the offering, BofA Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank Securities are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering and KeyBanc Capital Markets, Lebenthal & Co., LLC, and Ramirez & Co.,Inc. are acting as co-managers for the offering. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the prospectus related to the offering may be obtained, when available, from: Credit Suisse, Attention: Prospectus Department, One Madison Avenue, New York, New York, 10010, or by telephone at 1-800-221-1037, or by email at newyork.prospectus@credit-suisse.com; or Citigroup, Attention: Prospectus Department, Brooklyn Army Terminal, 140 58th Street, 8th Floor, Brooklyn, New York 11220, or by telephone at 800 831-9146 , or by email at batprospectusdept@citi.com.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). A copy of the registration statement can be accessed through the SEC’s website. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Caesars Entertainment

Caesars Entertainment Corporation is the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment provider and the most geographically diverse U.S. casino-entertainment company. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, more than 73 years ago, Caesars has grown through development of new resorts, expansions and acquisitions and now operates casinos on four continents. The company’s resorts operate primarily under the Caesars(R), Harrah’s(R) and Horseshoe(R) brand names. Caesars also owns the World Series of Poker(R) and the London Clubs International family of casinos. Caesars is focused on building loyalty and value with its guests through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. Caesars is committed to environmental sustainability and energy conservation and recognizes the importance of being a responsible steward of the environment. For more information, please visit www.caesars.com.

This release includes “forward-looking statements” intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements contain words such as “may,” “will,” “project,” “might,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “would,” “estimate,” “continue” or “pursue,” or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. In particular, they include statements relating to, among other things, future actions, new projects, strategies, future performance, the outcomes of contingencies and future financial results of Caesars. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events.

Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties that cannot be predicted or quantified and, consequently, the actual performance of Caesars may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following factors, as well as other factors described from time to time in the Company’s reports filed with the SEC (including the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” contained therein):

the impact of the Company’s significant indebtedness;
the impact, if any, of unfunded pension benefits under multi-employer pension plans;
the effects of local and national economic, credit and capital market conditions on the economy in general, and on the gaming industry in particular;
construction factors, including delays, increased costs of labor and materials, availability of labor and materials, zoning issues, environmental restrictions, soil and water conditions, weather and other hazards, site access matters and building permit issues;
the effects of environmental and structural building conditions relating to the Company’s properties;
the ability to timely and cost-effectively integrate companies that the Company acquires into its operations;
the ability to realize the expense reductions from the Company’s cost savings programs;
access to available and reasonable financing on a timely basis;
changes in laws, including increased tax rates, smoking bans, regulations or accounting standards, third-party relations and approvals, and decisions, disciplines and fines of courts, regulators and governmental bodies;
litigation outcomes and judicial and governmental body actions, including gaming legislative action, referenda, regulatory disciplinary actions and fines and taxation;
the ability of the Company’s customer-tracking, customer loyalty and yield-management programs to continue to increase customer loyalty and same store sales or hotel sales;
the Company’s ability to recoup costs of capital investments through higher revenues;
acts of war or terrorist incidents, severe weather conditions, political uprisings or natural disasters;
access to insurance on reasonable terms for the Company’s assets;
abnormal gaming holds;
the potential difficulties in employee retention and recruitment as a result of the Company’s substantial indebtedness, the ongoing downturn in the gaming industry, or any other factor; and
the effects of competition, including locations of competitors and operating and market competition.
Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date made. Caesars disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated, or if no date is stated, as of the date of this press release.

But what about the rest of ‘em?

You can currently find Jerry Yang, the 2007 WSOP’s biggest winner and #20 on the all-time poker tournament money list, bussing tables while commanding an otherwise lackadaisical staff (according to Yelp) at Pocket 8s Sushi & Grill in central California. Um, pass the yum-yum sauce?

Via Pokerati’s resident Vegas grinder-thug @AndrewNeeme:

Poker Fish: You wouldn’t believe how many of Jerry Yang’s relatives are always hitting him up for free sushi.

There we go. Not one paragraph in and I’m already enjoying a new vitality. The chocolate macguffin remains wrapped in its brown paper bag and yet I’ve remembered what it is I love about writing. Sometimes we just need a little encouragement. Well, now that I’ve dealt with that personal crisis, pull yourselves together and lets get on with the news.

The Aussie and the Ivey

Yes, that’s a Christmas pun. So what? I’m recycling. Besides, I’m sure plenty of us media types put a resurgent Phil Ivey in our letters to Santa. After finally emerging from a cash game in Macau hiding, Ivey arrived at the Aussie Millions to play in one of his first major events since Black Friday. As if to make everyone else look like rank amateurs, Ivey waltzed into his most profitable month of tournament poker. After tumbling out of the $100k event, Ivey won his buy-in back by finishing 12th in the Main Event and then grabbed another $2,000,000 for winning the 16-player $250k tournament. Some guy called Oliver Speidel won $1.6m in the Main Event, but his name does not rhyme with ‘cor blimey’ so nobody cared. [Wicked Chops]

The French Channel

The Frenchy bit of Canada and the part of the British Isles closest to France have enshrined a new era of cooperation. The duo have agreed to routinely share information and expertise relating to online gambling regulation. Ontarians don’t have anything to actually regulate yet, but plans are afoot for a province-wide service later this year.

A little to the Southwest of Alderney sits another British Crown Dependency. Back in 2008, Jersey announced that it was providing egaming licenses, just like its little brother Alderney. Their overtures had not attracted any big names until Playtech took the plunge earlier this week. It’s not exactly clear what Playtech will do with their new license, but my guess is that it has something to do with wagering money over the internet. [Gambling Kingz] & [iGaming Business]

Gaming Gongs

“Oh my god! Are you the Galaxy Macau Integrated Resort?! Winner of the 2012 International Gaming Award for Casino/Integrated Resort of the Year? Can I get your autograph?”

That’s the sort of attention the Galaxy Casino is going to have to put up with from now on. Crazy people asking buildings for autographs. Signature hunters will have better luck with Sam Trickett, who was announced as Player of the Year at the European Poker Awards. Other prizes went to Ilari Sahamies, Natalia Nikitina, and Bertrand Grospellier. [European Poker Awards] & [International Gaming Awards]

Poker’s Impending Loss

Finally, something very very sad. Thor Hansen, the doyen of Norwegian poker, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. A veteran of Vegas casinos, the 64-year-old has two WSOP bracelets to his name and more than a few friends in the poker community. Hansen will long be remembered as pivotal figure in the growth of the European game and an inspiration to the Norway’s new poker generation. [Card Player]

Nothing funny to say after that. See you next week.

Below is our second DC Update for 2012 available exclusively to 2012 PPA members.  Because we’ve received so many questions from members about PokerPAC and how and why it’s important in our fight for the game we love, I’m providing this week’s DC Update with a bit of background on PACs generally, and specifically why PokerPAC is so important.

PPA DC Update | February 1, 2012 | Bryan Spadaro | Poker Players Alliance

While I am not technically a lobbyist for the PPA, I am excited to write this week’s insider piece to our membership.  This week’s piece is about Political Action Committees, or PAC’s, an area in which I have expertise.

As the Republican primary race continues into 2012 you’ve undoubtedly heard a lot about PAC’s and Super PAC’s, and the role they play in deciding the outcome of these primary races.  A bit of history first.  PACs were first created under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. A PAC enables likeminded individuals to voluntarily pool their financial resources in order to contribute to candidates running for federal and state offices.  This allows corporations and associations, who are barred under law from using their own business (corporate) funds, to create a connected entity that can raise and then disperse funds to candidates they want to support.  This is exactly what PokerPAC is, the connected PAC of the Poker Players Alliance.

One of the questions I hear most about PACs is “where does the money go?” Well, as PPA’s PAC director, I can say, contributing it is a lot easier than raising it.  First, it is important to know that every dollar PokerPAC raises is contributed to candidates and campaigns that support the rights of poker players.  No money PokerPAC raises is used for overhead, salaries, compliance, marketing, etc., 100 percent goes toward the fight for our game.  Another way to answer the question is to look back to the 2010 elections, and explain some of the ways we spent PokerPAC resources.  In the 2010 cycle, PokerPAC endorsed 58 candidates.  1) In many cases, we contributed money directly from the PokerPAC to the campaigns of our endorsed candidates.  This is most common and perhaps most effective way we can support a candidate. 2) Also, in every PPA-targeted race we sent an endorsement email to all PPA members living in the district (or state) letting them know why we support the candidate and encouraged the local poker players to support them too.  These “in-kind” emails cost money and a small percentage of PokerPAC resources went to pay for these endorsements.

In a few cases the PokerPAC went “All-In” for candidates. 3) In Nevada and Colorado, two of the closest Senate races of 2010, the PPA supported candidates who were strong supporters of your poker rights and their challengers were opponents of your freedom to play online poker.  Leading up to Election Day we hosted events for the candidates so the poker community in that state could meet them and learn about why they deserved a poker player’s support.  4) PokerPAC also used resources to run online advertising and phone calls letting poker players know to support our candidate.  In both races we won!  And both Senators have acknowledged PokerPAC’s role in helping them win their races.  That is about as good as it gets for a PAC Director like me: to know that the actions we took had a direct, positive, and tangible effect on a very important outcome.

That is why we ask for your support of PokerPAC, and why it is so important to go beyond your $15 annual PPA membership.  I hope you found this piece to be interesting and informative, and as always, if you have any questions, please send them to email@theppa.org, and we will be happy to answer them for you.

Thanks again for your 2012 membership.  If you haven’t done so already, please consider becoming even more involved with the PPA by becoming a contributor to PokerPAC, the PPA’s political action arm.

Proud to Play,

Bryan Spadaro

Disclaimer: You can only contribute to our Political Action Committee if you (i) are a United States citizen or landed immigrant (e.g., hold a green card), (ii) are over the age of 18 years, (iii) are a member of the PPA, and (iv) are not a government contractor. You can only make contributions from your personal funds; you may not contribute corporate funds or funds from other prohibited sources. Contributions are not tax deductible. You must also provide where indicated your full name (i.e., first name, middle name or initial and last name), your mailing address, your occupation, and the name of your employer.

And we have a bonus late episode — the Micros’ pitch for people to vote for them in the 2011 Bluff Readers Choice Awards, where Rose, Chase, and Tommy somehow got lumped in with all the podcast/video/live radio newsy shows (in the category The Poker Beat always dominated) and cleaned up.

Enjoy, if you haven’t already.

And if online poker isn’t gonna be at least a bullet point to the national conversation now … well then, really, perhaps poker players will be getting exactly what we deserve?

This Saturday, February 4, 2012, the Nevada Republican Presidential Caucuses will be held throughout the Battle Born State. These caucuses will elevate Nevada into the national political spotlight, with all four candidates making appearances in the state in the next few days.

Governor Mitt Romney

It is important that Governor Mitt Romney, who has a commanding lead in electoral votes, hears from you today that he should support your right to play on safe, U.S. regulated online poker websites.

Let’s welcome him to the Battle Born State with an overwhelming response in support of federal licensing and regulation of online poker in the U.S. There are two quick and easy ways to send your message to Governor Romney.

Facebook: You can click here to go to his Facebook page and send him this fully editable message:

Governor Romney please support my rights to play online poker on U.S. regulated websites. Supporting U.S. regulated sites is the only way to protect consumers, prevent fraud and generate billions of dollars in new tax revenues without raising taxes! Supporting federal regulation of online poker is smart public policy.

Twitter: you can reach him via Twitter by sending him the fully editable message below:

@mittromney Fed efforts to regulate online #poker is smart public policy. Stand with me in protecting consumers and personal freedoms!

Don’t forget, the other three candidates’ opinions matter too. You can send them a Facebook or Twitter message as well by following the links to their respected social networking pages.

Senator Rick Santorum

Senator Rick Santorum does NOT support your freedom to play online poker in the U.S. To watch his interview on Face to Face with Jon Ralston were he clearly states his opposition to federal regulation of online poker click here.

Facebook You can click here to go to his Facebook page and send him this fully editable message:

Senator Rick Santorum please support my rights to play online poker on U.S. regulated websites. Supporting U.S. regulated sites is the only way to protect consumers, prevent fraud and generate millions of dollars in new tax revenues without raising taxes! Supporting federal regulation of online poker is smart public policy.

Twitter Click here to send him a fully editable message below:

@RickSantorum your non-support of a reg U.S. online #poker market only hurts consumers and families & goes against principles of freedom.

Congressman Ron Paul

Congressman Ron Paul is a long time supporter of your rights to play online poker and currently is a co-sponsor of H.R. 2366, Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act, which is pending before congress.

Facebook You can click here to go to his Facebook page and send him this fully editable message:

Ron Paul, THANK YOU for supporting my right to play on a U.S. based regulated online #poker site!

Twitter Click here to send him a fully editable message below:

@RonPaul THANK YOU for supporting my right to play on a U.S. based regulated online #poker site!

Speaker Newt Gingrich

Speaker Newt Gingrich has yet to announce his policy on whether he supports regulation of Internet poker. The PPA has reached out to his campaign and will notify you when we learn of his opinion.

Facebook You can click here to go to his Facebook page and send him this fully editable message:

Speaker Newt Gingrich please support my rights to play online poker on U.S. regulated websites. Supporting U.S. regulated sites is the only way to protect consumers, prevent fraud and generate millions of dollars in new tax revenues without raising taxes! Supporting federal regulation of online poker is smart public policy.

Twitter Click here to send him a fully editable message below:

@newtgingrich Fed efforts to regulate online #poker is smart public policy. Stand with me in protecting consumers and personal freedoms! 

With the political spotlight shinning bright on Nevada for the next few days we, as dedicated poker players, need to make sure that the presidential candidates understand that our right to play poker should not be impeded upon. Together we can make a difference. Take action today!

Proud to play,

Lupe Soto
Nevada State Director

• Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” campaign to stop gay teenagers from killing themselves
• Russia’s Wintertime Spring to prevent Vladimir Putin from regaining power
• The Occupy (New York) movement spreading worldwide

Though personally I see Occupy ultimately going the route of Woodstock ’99, overall it’s a good crowd for poker to be runnin’ with. And that sorta social climbing didn’t come because of a Guinness World Record, crazy prop bet, or even a celebrity charity tournament; being on the national radar (in the right way at the right time) comes because of consistent and steady efforts to awaken the right people to what really is total government bullshit! political injustice.

Aside from making industry lobbyists flush, the governor claimed the Full Monty approach to gaming would generate $1 billion in economic activity. Of course estimated gaming-related revenues have to be taken with a grain of salt. In the fictitious town of Lake Wobegon, all the children were above average. When it comes to gaming revenue estimates, every state and municipality assumes an above-average piece of the pie, ignoring the expansion plans of its neighbors. Read More States Betting on Casino Gambling for Jobs, Revenue.

Not everyone stands to gain. NY currently has nine Indian casinos, five of which are run by the Seneca Nation. The Seneca have a 21-year agreement that gives them exclusive territorial gambling rights. After Cuomo’s speech, they wondered if their gambling treaty would end up being one more “broken promise.” Ouch.  You can read more about their anxiety: Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Gambling Push Opposed by Native American Tribes. 

Atlantic City can’t be too happy about Cuomo’s plans. It is already seeing some of its gambling revenues poached by Pennsylvania slot parlors and NY’s Racinos. But apparently Las Vegas is putting on a good front. This week, Howard Stutz writes, Gaming’s Spread No Threat to Strip.

New Yorkers will undoubtedly get an earful about the societal costs associated with the expansion of gaming. In fact, it has already begun. The New York Post op-ed page is one of the first to ante up with The House Loses.

The biggest potential winner will be Genting New York, a subsidiary of the Malaysian Genting Group. Genting recently opened the racino at Aqueduct raceway in Queens, NY. The company has committed $4 billion to build a new convention center on the site, betting it will be able to combine it with a full-fledged casino operation. It should come as no surprise that Genting greased the skids a little before the announcement of Cuomo’s State of the State address bestowing the virtues of the new convention center and expanded gambling. For the details, read Bloomberg’s Genting Almost Doubled New York Lobbying Costs Before Cuomo Plan. 

It may take awhile before New York can pass a constitutional amendment to expand gambling. My guess is that will be just fine with gaming lobbyists.

The Facebook-facing poker site’s interest might seem reasonable in light of the Department of Justice’s recent re-interpretation of the 1961 Wire Act, limiting the scope of its prohibitions to sports betting. But there is also a more cynical interpretation of Zynga’s announcement.

With its stock price languishing after its initial public offering, Zynga needed a growth storyline that shareholders might believe. I could write more about why Zynga’s announcement may be more of a semi-bluff than a made hand, but an online gaming insider has done that already. Bill Rini asks Zynga Ready For Real Money Gaming or Trying to Hide Failures? 

The veiled implication is Wynn’s sizable donation might have been less than philanthropic – bordering on a ”pay to play” ante to retain favor in the world’s most lucrative gaming destination. (The competing Las Vegas Sands’ Macau operation is currently under DOJ and SEC scrutiny for possible infringement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as referenced here in a Wall Street Journal blog.)

Wynn claims Okada’s lawsuit is just a smoke screen to mask the fact that Okada had been working behind Wynn’s back to develop a casino in the Philippines. You can read all the tawdry details in A Partners’ Fight Erupts at Wynn.

How will it end? Perhaps better than Steve Wynn’s marriage. After all, Wynn recently told the press, “I love Kazuo Okada as much as any man that I’ve met in my life.”

Wynn shares have since recovered from the drama at the start of January, but still have a ways to go in 2012 before reaching 2011 highs.

Millions of Aussies

Stereotyping Alert! I’m sorry about this. As an Englishman, I am legally required to bring up barbies, funny accents, and convicts any time anything Australian comes with 4 feet of me. It’s a bother, but what can you do. Those British pros down at the Aussie Millions must be having a torrid time, the place is crawling with them. Even the Canadian Daniel Negreanu is obsessed with their the eccentricities.

Thankfully the Aussie Millions Main Event is currently providing an excellent distraction. For example, despite the fact than an antipodean gentleman currently sits atop the Day 2 standings, the world’s loudest nation has been characteristically hogging the limelight. First up, American Dan Smith won the 22-man $100k High Roller event for $1,000,000. Then Phil Ivey, who can make headlines by just turning up, went and put himself second in the chip count at the end of Day 2. [Poker News Report]

Bwin Bust-Up in Porto

Enough of that Southern Hemisphere nonsense, time to head back to Europe. More specifically to Portugal, the land of cocks. Their government has bowed to pressure from local casino operators and decreed that Bwin’s sponsorship of Portuguese football is illegal. The ruling stems from the fact that, as an external operator, bwin.party are subject to no regulations and pay no taxes in Portugal.

Bwin claim that the ruling contravenes EU free-trade laws, but have agreed to acquiesce to the command for now. As lucrative as Portuguese sports sponsorship is, panic may break out if the same idea occurs across the border in Spain. Bwin are the shirt-sponsors of Real Madrid, arguably the most popular soccer team in the world. [Card Player]

Bet Fairly at London 2012

If I leave my flat, wander out on to the street, and look to the North East, I can see the Olympic Stadium glowering above the rooftops. I’ve spent the last two years watching it progress through various stages of construction and with the big event just a few months away, other spheres of Olympic influence are making their final preparations. In the online gambling world, Betfair have teamed up with the International Olympic Committee to monitor suspicious betting activity which might indicate a rigged event. [USA Today]

South Korean Supercasino

The unfurling success story that is Macau is bound to inspire many imitators. First in line are South Korea, who plan to build a $3 billion dollar casino resort right next to their busiest airport. The Incheon International Airport Corp. hopes to shamelessly pray upon frazzled businessmen staggering out of long haul flights, by ushering them into land of flashing lights, comfy beds, and empty wallets. Hey, if it worked for China, it can work for you! [Yahoo]

Team Poker at the Pleasure Beach

And finally, a British city most famous for its tower is hosting a cool team poker event. With backing from lovely poker gent Neil Channing, the Team Poker Tour UK allows Brits to compete in small teams, with the top 3 aggregate squads taking the biggest chunk of the prize pool. It’s worth noting that Dan emailed me to specifically to flag this up and I really can’t figure out why he’s so interested. [Team Poker Tour UK]

I’m going to do my best to stay put from now on, so look forward to your regular dose of Wider World next week. Until then, do whatever the nurse tells you to and everything will be just fine.

A middle-aged local approached the Treasure Island poker room supervisor early Sunday evening, inquiring about how many hours he had played.

“I want to make my $50,” he said.

At the start of the year, the room announced its latest promotion on signs around the casino, flyers outside the room’s entrance, and business cards on the supervisor’s counter — “GET PAID TO PLAY POKER!”

The 8-table room at TI pays back players with money collected in the rake. For every 10 hours of play (up to 60 hours), a grinder can earn as much as $599 in extra cash each week. This good-for-players promotional trend is catching on around Vegas. Whether it’s called “rakeback” or advertised as an hourly rate, it pays close to a minimum-wage job.

A similar promotion started last month at the Tropicana offering players as much as $10 per hour for play between 11a and 7p. The Trop, which re-opened their new room on that infamous poker date of April 15, 2011, and recently re-coined it the “Jamie Gold Room”, has their $80-a-day rakeback as one of several promotions going in an effort to keep players in the seats at all hours.

Poker room operators say they want to keep the rakeback promotion going as long as they can. Many players love the idea of topping off their stack at the end of a long grind. But that can’t continue if the bulk of players simply auto-fold for 8 hours, hoping to collect their $80 payment each day. And if you swing by the Tropicana room regularly, you might see a few of the same faces doing just that.

Poker room supervisor Andy Cobb told me the other day that management altered their raffle ticket promotion to boost pots. He said the room had been losing money when too many people played uber-tight and the pots didn’t get big enough for the house to take a full $6 rake (half of which goes back to players).

Live Rakeback: the Fine Print

NOTE: All hourly benefits mentioned here are for cash games only, and are current as of press time.

Treasure Island: Earn $50 for 10 hours, $125 for 20 hours, $200 for 30 hours, $300 for 40 hours, $400 for 50 hours and $599 for 60 hours. A player’s hours are tracked between 12 a.m. Sunday and 11:59 p.m. Saturday each week. They can pick up their cash at 10 a.m. on Sundays, and have 30 days from the time it was earned to collect.

Tropicana: Payments received at cash out. You must play betwen 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. to earn rakeback, and you must play at least 3 hours to earn any extra cash. For the first 3 hours, you’ll get $15. At 4 hours, you earn $28, at 5 hours, you earn $45. Play 6 hours and collect $10 per hour.

Palms: Payments made Mondays at 11 a.m., with 24 hours allowed to collect. Those who play at least 13 hours but don’t make the top 10 are entered into a drawing, in which 5 people win $100 each.

Wynn: Beware of your time at the table and grab your cash whenever you hit 25 hours. You must collect your money by March 15.

As a former full-time player himself, Cobb says he relates with the grinders, and wants to keep the players happy.

“You need that extra equity of something when you’re playing 1/2 or 1/3,” Cobb said of the rakeback promotion. “If you’re trying to build a bankroll, it’s a big deal.”

Farther north on The Strip, Wynn is offering it’s Winter Rakeback Promotion through January 31. For every 25 hours of play, you can earn $50.

With 26 tables, Wynn’s poker room is the largest we know of that offers rakeback. There’s a $4 max rake, the lowest among the rooms offering such promotions, and they also offer tournament entries and cash prizes for those who play the most hours.

How they rake ‘em

TI: House takes $1 at $10, $2 at $20, $3 at $30, and $4 at $100. With the money returned to players, $1 is taken at $10 and $2 is taken at $30.

Trop: For every pot, the house gets $1 at $10, $2 at $30, and $3 at $50. Money paid to players is collected at $1 per flop, $2 at $20 and $3 at $40.

Palms: House takes 10 percent per pot up to $4, plus a $2 jackpot rake.

Wynn: $4 max rake, with $1 taken for every $10 up to $40 in 1/3 games. In 2/5 games, the house collects $1 at $10, $2 at $20, $3 at $50 and $4 at $80.

On Flamingo Road, the 6-table Palms poker room launched a promotion this month where players can earn $8 per hour and get paid weekly. But there’s a catch: the max one player can earn each week is $300 (lowered from the original cap of $599). And the room only pays out $3,000 weekly in rakeback. During the first week, they paid the 10 players who played the most hours.

(Full disclosure: The Palms poker room hosts a weekly Pokerati half hold’em and half Omaha hi game. Come work on your PLO and take a stab at me or my editor — preferably my editor.)

Every serious player wants to maximize his hours, and a little cushion certainly helps. I plan to hit them all, and see if I can’t bring in some $1,400 extra dollars a month while working on my ideal strategy for game-selection.

And you gotta think Obama probably got briefed as the DOJ officially changed its position on the Wire Act, September 23rd — the first day of Fall, and the same day the DOJ labeled Full Tilt Poker a Ponzi scheme and took all of Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Rafe Furst’s money. But why then did the ever-PR-conscious DOJ wait some 60 business days later until December 23rd — the quietest media day of the year — before telling the rest of America about the Executive Branch’s significant change of digital heart?

I suppose it might not even matter at this point; SOPA and PIPA have been tabled for now, Megaupload has been slapped hard with the same government quarantine the Feds beta-tested on online poker sites, and Kim Dotcom is in jail awaiting a fate that Full Tilt and PokerStars lawyers say he coulda avoided simply by changing his name to Kim Dotnet!

OK, maybe I get a little factually carried away sometimes jest … but John Pappas has a serious message for the President — essentially a 22-second synopsis of all those emails and tweets from the Poker Player Alliance’s 1.2 million members, and a plea for “common sense public policy” on the eve of what could be Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address.