Not so pokery but when you think about kinda-sorta it really is … Nevada Gaming put out their latest sports betting data on Super Bowl wagers, showing $94 million bet in Nevada’s 184 sportsbooks — significant growth over previous year(s) … with the house actually finishing $5 million on the upside (suckers) this go-round. Though GOPers who just rolled through Las Vegas might want to believe otherwise … some economists (aka my old roommate Sang, who happens to be uber-conservative but otherwise really smart) believe this could be yet another indicator of Vegas recovery, fortuitous for a national economy likely to follow.

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.

We spend so much time reading about poker legal developments here at Pokerati that we sometimes forget to share the relevant news before the cycle turns to something else … and then I complain that our readers here aren’t as smart anymore as they used to be? It doesn’t take a JD to see the flaw in my logic there. Thus, here’s a much-needed batch of recent highlights and hedlines to keep the incessant but important buzz in context … a semi-special link-dump, btw, brought to you by our new-good friends at LegalPokerSites.com:

First UIGEA Conviction in the Books The DOJ logged their first win on UIGEA charges — making the supposedly weak law thus far undefeated — against online sportsbook operator Todd Lyons. His arrest back in May 2010 shoulda been a big warning sign to American online poker operators (and players?) — and Full Tilt specifically — that the DOJ was coming to get them! [CalvinAyre.com]

First Black Friday Trial Date Set John Campos and Chad Elie, the Utah banker and PokerStars payment processor indicted for their role in online poker criminal activity, have a trial date in March … creating a tangible timeline for Black Friday cases and added pressure on the big fish the DOJ really wants — Isai Sheinberg, Ray Bitar, and Scott Tom. [Legal Poker Sites]

MGM Sues Poker Domain Squatters Just as Caesars sued (and won) to obtain the domain WSOP.com, MGM has filed suit to repossess the domains mgmpoker.com, bellagiopoker.com, luxorpoker.com, mandalaybaypoker.com, and ariapoker.com. Apparently the casino giant thinks they’ll have need for them soon. [VegasInc]

Barton Says Online Poker Bill Still Alive This Congress Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) gave a luncheon keynote at the DGLP, where he spelled out how his online poker bill is moving forward as a piece of stand-alone legislation and/or still could be absorbed into some omnibus bills. Pretty straight-forward, honest-sounding stuff as Barton even talks about his own live real-money play and admits to multi-accounting for play money on PokerStars. [Pokerati Soundcloud]

Adelson Balks at Readiness for Online Poker The poker masses got spun into a tizzy after Vegas politico Jon Ralston “reported” that Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson has been buzzing around DC that he is morally opposed to online gambling … and that age-verification technology isn’t ready yet. Ralston concludes that this could kill online poker’s chances in Congress as if Adelson alone is more powerful than the combined forces of Caesars, MGM, Steve Wynn, Station Casinos, Boyd Gaming, Michael Gaughan, et al. Quick to cry, some poker players have begun calling for a boycott of Venetian Poker. [Las Vegas Sun]

Nevada Regulations Almost Ready While so many chatter about complex details of future online poker, the Nevada Gaming Commission and State Gaming Control Board seem to be the only ones systematically moving forward with thorough, enforceable rules and regulations for online gaming. In one of the biggest overhauls to state gaming regs in history, they just released a whole bunch of revisions for licensure and suitable ownership that Big and Small casinos alike are paying close attention to. [gaming.NV.gov]

Fry Howie? Funny/sad, shortly after Black Friday I thought we might be seeing T-shirts that said “Free Howard!” not “Fry Howard!” But loyalty can be a fickle bitch when you eff up with someone else’s money. Hence this flash creation for players wishing to express their personal outrage against Full Tilt and Howard Lederer violently. [PokerListings]

UB Player Database Leaked Lots of offline debate over how and why nearly 3 million poker-player IDs leaked out. Work of a disgruntled employee or scuttling the ship before UB ultimately hits sea-floor? And will there be more such pressings of self-destruct? [Haley's Poker Blog]

Rest o’World: Cyprus on Crackdown, South Africa’s Open-Market Mind, German Pre-unification Some of the other key political moves from the rest of the world, as the future of legal online poker (and gambling) actively takes shape … the mediterranean island that isn’t Malta doesn’t have moral opposition, they just want their cut (kinda like Kentucky) … while South Africa continues its progressive-minded movement from staunch opposition to tolerance to active support of online gambling … all while the German province of Schleswig-Holstein’s acceptance of new online poker rules is so big it actually moved some major market needles. [Legal Poker Sites]

Nevada Gaming continues their overhaul of state regulations in preparation for online poker plus casino games and maybe some day, eventually, sports betting. The Gaming Control Board (GCB) will hold a workshop in Las Vegas (livestreamed to Carson City) on September 26, where they’ll be taking the pulse of public sentiment about where to draw the lines on matters that could directly impact many who work in the poker industry.

What’s on the agenda shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise … licensing, affiliates, online operations, suitability, regulatory fees, technology standards yadda yadda … but does give a few clues about big decisions being considered for who may or may not get to make money off of all things online poker in the future:

More…

The State of Nevada continues to move forward in preparation for monitoring satellites on WSOP.com federal legislation that may or may not fully legalize online poker and/or slots. The Nevada Gaming Control Board put out drafts of certain amendments to state gambling regulations yesterday that look to accommodate fully legalized online poker.

These regulatory revisions come as a Nevada law passed and signed earlier this year mandates … and just a sidenote LOL to think that PokerStars was paying some of the lobbyists who helped push it to passage. (Can we say somebody got played?)

These proposed new rules cover procedure for applying for a license, establish the scrutiny licensees and their b2b providers and other affiliates will face (and a one-year appeal process for those who get denied), sets a standard for tax rates to be set by a state gambling authority, and limits legal wagers to poker — differentiating poker from other games not because of skill but because it’s played against other players, not the house. There’s also something in play for what it means to transfer ownership of an unlicensed business as one applies for a license.

We’ll have to address later state vs. federal licensing and regulation, and how those two could or could not work together.

The above proposed regulations go up for public comment next month. Today — in a meeting moved from Carson City to Las Vegas — NGC (Nevada Gaming Commission) and GCB (the state Gaming Control Board) considered proposed amendments to Regulation 4 on matters of “suitability” … i.e. who can do business with licensed operators. Google Translate doesn’t yet have a setting for RegulatorSpeak, so I’m still trying to figure out what it all means in practicality for different companies and individuals … but I’m pretty sure Ray Bitar won’t be working for Caesars anytime soon, though I’m not sure if Chris Ferguson ever might-could get a non-poker job at a casino as an entertainer who cuts fruit by throwing cards.

Other poker and more-than-poker amendments working through the regulatory approval process in Nevada cover mobile-gaming technology, server location requirements (they no longer have to be on premises), interactions allowed on interlinked slot machine systems … and sets up a system for regulators to communicate with online gaming providers via email. You can track the progress of NV regulation drafts here, and see what language ends up in effect here.

See also:
Nevada casino regulators propose new rules for Internet gambling should US legalize it [Washington Post]

It really would be kinda selfish to hoard all the knowledge in poker, let alone any insight gleaned from all the uninformed and/or misinformed Twitter-fueled forum banter. Things are moving so fast these days in poker it’s hard to keep up, let alone have time to post after filtering through the muck. Actually, that probably explains the continued love/hate in poker for QuadJacks … accuracy shmacuracy, if there’s new hubbub in poker, Zac and Marco and crew are on top of it, and occasionally the middle of it — with informed insiders and ignorant blowhards alike contributing — while SrslySirius makes a rap video.

But a few recent stories of particular significance that might otherwise get buried amid PokerStars/WSOP/WPT press releases, 2+2 NVG threads, and the mashup of Jungleman cheating buzz:

Ring-fenced funds: Full Tilt debaucle explained
ALDERNEY
Check out this story in Poker Player Newspaper about a regulatory matter of new relevance called “ring-fenced funds”. It helps one understand a little better why Full Tilt found themselves in tighter straits than PokerStars post-Black Friday (even though PokerStars is the big boy the DOJ most wants) … and leaves one to wonder why senior executives and on-duty attorneys representing both Party Gaming and PokerStars flew in from Gibraltar, Israel, and the United States to observe the proceedings firsthand. Perhaps they thought they were coming in to witness an execution?

Online gambling goes national
WASHINGTON DC
Big talk all over the internet about a piece in the New York Post that points out how stars seem to be aligning for online gambling legalzation in the US — from the Kyl/Reid letter requesting DOJ assistance in squelching offshore operatives and state initiatives alike, to a Boehner aide taking on a VP role with the American Gaming Association, to a warming friendship between House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Venetian pooh-bah Shelly Adelson.

It all supports my belief that online gambling will indeed be a national issue in coming months (assuming people behind a rumored Senate bill want it to be). There’s no mention, however, of the player-friendly Barton Bill, nor much anything about poker specifically — the writer talks of “gambling” — which suggests this story could be a plant by media operatives for the AGA, who we know, of course, represent Big Casinos and likely have Harry Reid’s office on speed dial. It also supports contentions that the effort to bring back online poker (thanks PPA and Joe Barton!) will likely become a push for full-on legal online casinos as bills move forward.

Nevada regulators prepping for Poker+ …
LAS VEGAS/CARSON CITY
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to many, Nevada Gaming authorities are in the midst of sweeping changes to state regulations — with very specific language updates on matters of foreign partners, “suitability”, server location, mobile gaming platforms, slot machine networks, money transfers, tax collection, you name it … The new rules currently taking shape in Nevada touch on just about every issue brought up in the online gaming political sphere over the past five years. Whether revolutionary or standard as far as procedure goes, if you really wanna know what the future of online gambling (and therefore poker) will look like — and/or place your bets on who the corporate winners will be* — follow the public work of the Nevada Gaming Commission and State Gaming Control Board here in coming weeks.

* for entertainment purposes only: smart bet is Caesars, William Hill, and Cantor-Fitzgerald.

Play Late!

ACTION ALERT: Pokerati Game — 1/2 NLH/PLO — gets underway tonight at 7pm! Goes until whenever …

The fully licensed and regulated prop bets available in Nevada sports books for the November Nine are out. And this go-round seems much more sensible than their pilot WSOP wager offerings.

Punters here will now legally be able to bet on:

The Winner
Top Two Finishers

Click here to read official notice of the newly allowed wagers. I’m guessing it didn’t look good for the WSOP to be championing monster prop bets that existed in a “gray area” of Nevada Gaming regulations? Or they were simply pissed that so many of these wagers were going to Bodog? Or they wanted to provide November Niners an ability to hedge their bets. But unlike the case with Pete Rose, it doesn’t necessarily seem like in poker, that betting on one of your opponents will automatically keep you out of the Hall of Fame.

You can’t really claim to set the “gold standard” for gambling regulation if your licensees still have to submit their reports via fax. Thankfully, as Harry Reid’s home state of Nevada gets its regulations in order to accommodate online poker and probably more — not to mention the new NV law allowing them to regulate future legal online gambling… the Nevada Gaming Control Board just made a rather major shift not just by allowing email submissions, but requiring them.

Seriously, this shift into the 21st late 20th century dramatically alters daily activity in every Vegas casino with a poker room … Wonder if Nevada Gaming learned about this “email” tactic on their junkets to Alderney.

The Alderney Gambing Control Commission — which will be making its own determination on the fate of Full Tilt Poker later this month — partnered with Nevada regulators in January, shortly after the Reid Bill somehow didn’t pass.

Marvin in Somewhere — shoot, I forget where he’s from, but somewhere in America, I know — writes in to complain:

I’m watching the “Live” ESPN coverage and it sucks. It’s like it was before the cameras. Not only don’t we see all the hands, but we don’t know whether the better has the “Nuts” or is bluffing. Since they are afraid of people telling what the other players have, how about a one hand delay?

Marvin, Marvin, Marvin … c’mon, can’t you see the positives at all? This is semi-monumental … not the kinda Poker TV you see on Versus, ya know? Though not perfect yet, they gotta start somewhere, right? You bring up some good points that I’m sure they’ll consider in the future … but really, remember, while not necessarily “alpha” version of live coverage, it is rather “beta”.

In an ideal world — according to Pokerati — all cards and chips would be RFID’d worldwide and you could watch all poker anywhere in any place at any time, as live as possible as permissible by gaming jurisdiction, and decide for yourself whether or not you wanna see hole cards. (I tend to enjoy guessing sometimes.) With super-duper extra-HD All-360 technology, of course … on my iphone should I so choose. But we’re just not quite there yet!

From the Rio sportsbook: For people not glued to Twitter, "live enough" coverage is ... um ... not too different from reruns usually airing on screens in many sports bars.

Not sure how it would work with exposed hole cards and future "in-game betting" on the WSOP. (Seen at the sportsbook in the Palms, where you can't yet bet that way.)

And remember, one other factor complicating matters here is approval by Nevada Gaming. Even just allowing twitpics in casinos and cell phones in sports books is relatively new territory for them. And there are some people who don’t believe you should be able to know a players cards a half-hour later when your buddy — or even the players themselves — can find out if that key tell thy picked up goes along with the nuts or nothing.

Click the promo banner to watch things as live as we’re gonna get them for now.

Maybe this is old news and the press release is buried somewhere in the slush pile … but it seems the WSOP has found a way to allow even more gambling, officially, on World Series tournaments. Last week the Nevada Gaming Control Board approved five separate, specific prop bets related to the WSOP. That means now any sports book in Nevada can set their own lines and take action on:

• Players from one of two groups of 13 to last longest
• Will at least one player from a box of 3 make the money
• Will a woman finish in the top 40
• Will at least one of a group of 7 men last longer than all women
• Age of the winner

Kinda a strange bunch of props imho … but hey, they do seem to support Rule #2 of Poker Life, which is, of course, “Never Stop Gambling.”

Should be interesting to see what kinda action Caesars wants to wrap around these newly approved fully legal prop bets … and what additional props show up in future lines.

All this became possible, btw, in January of this year, when Nevada Gaming approved and adopted amendments to Regulation 22, allowing the state’s casinos to offer wagers on events other than just horse races, greyhound races, and athletic events. So now, you can bet in Nevada on the outcome of non-sporting events such as The Academy Awards or American Idol … or whether or not one man out of a group of seven can outlast all women in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em tournament.

UPDATE: @OskarGarcia was all over this one last week, and noted that the Wynn became the first ever Nevada casino to offer non-sporting bets in their sports book with the above wager options on the WSOP. He also talks to a regulator who says this new practice should have big implications for betting on the November Nine.

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission has suspended the gaming license of Full Tilt Poker and Vantage Limited dba FullTilt.com. The AGCC says they must stop any and all operations from the UK Crown Dependency immediately.

Is this a final nail in the coffin for the once almighty poker dominion belonging primarily to a man named Jesus?

EGR had it first, and promises more play-by-play.

Alderney is one of three eight “white-listed” regulatory jurisdictions in the UK — along with Isle of Man and Gibraltar — meaning their licensees can advertise freely and enjoy the benefits of fully legitimate, properly taxed corporations.

Alderney also partnered with Nevada back in January — as the Nevada Gaming Control Board looked to study effective online gaming regulation and assess the suitability of 888, which partnered with Caesars for online poker operations related to WSOP.com.

No word on whether or not the WSOP plans to remove Chris Ferguson’s main event championship banner as they have with Russ Hamilton’s.

For now Full Tilt is apparently down for “scheduled maintenance” … and your money is safe and secure?

UPDATE: Here is the AGCC’s official statement.

Nevada has not just one, but three bills related to “interactive gaming” that now  have been referred for hearing in the state Senate Judiciary committee.  There are two bills related to internet gaming in Nevada being heard today 8AM PST in Senate Judiciary in Carson City labeled  SB103/SB218.  They are not specific to poker.

1) SB103 allows for Nevada Gaming Commission to establish licensing requirements/fees for “interactive gaming service providers” to act on behalf of licenses Nevada “establishments.”

2) SB218 authorizes the Nevada Gaming Control Board to setup and regulation of “hosting centers” as well as the authorization of “service providers” as amendments to NRS 463.750, with the assistance and advisement of the Nevada Gaming Commission

SB103 text at-> SB103 bill contents
SB218 text at-> SB218 bill contents

Live feed for the NV Senate Judiciary committee hearing for SB103/SB218 on 3/11/2011 in Carson City will be available here-> View (low speed) || View (high speed).

************************
These two Nevada bills are *different bills* than the one read in the Assembly yesterday.  That bill was named AB258 that is specific to iPoker, allows for potential interstate gambling, and opened to doors for prior bad-actors-of-sorts.  This bill was referred, but not scheduled for hearing in the Senate Judiciary.

AB258 text at-> AB258 bill contents

Press links for AB258
Gambling Compliance article (by @CKrafcik) -> “Nevada Rejoins Internet Poker Race”
Las Vegas Sun article (by @RalstonFlash) -> ‘As feds grapple with issue, Legislature will consider legalizing Internet gaming”
ABC News article (by Michelle Rindels, AP, @oskargarcia contributes) ->‘Nev. Bill Would Set Regulations for Internet Poker’

**************
Thanks to Chris Krafcik (twitter: @CKrafcik) and Susan Rhodes (twitter: @sdrhodes) for assistance in research and analysis.

Follow me @scarlet_lv today for live-tweet of the feed from the Nevada State Legislature.

Much more to say on this one … but a lot of moving parts to get our arms around. And I have a feeling just like I took the wrong side on any Gov. Chris Christie (New Jersey) veto bets … that I may have to eat some words muttered on this week’s episode of Rabbit Hunt.

Nevada wants in on the regulating online poker game … and introduced a bill today to do just that. But many are curious … a Caesars legal counsel seems downright irked … about how the state the Harry Reid built could be pushing an intrastate measure, when they want interstate.

OK, yeah yeah, Harry Reid didn’t build the whole state, I know. He would have to be like 140 years old for that to tbe true. But you know this kinda thing isn’t moving to the point that it did today without him having at least some finger in it. Right? State and federal are usually different … but internet poker kinda became the US Senate Majority Leader’s baby … or at least his bratty nephew.

Line it up: the pre-regulation of online poker continues … and the game is just getting extra good.

Not super-pokery, but poker players definitely like to bet on sports … and the gamble-wonky might find it interesting what the following data reveals about the economy … let alone the role of sports betting in American culture and the spread.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board released the state’s take on the Super Bowl last week from its 183 sports books. $87.5 million. Not a totally shocking number — bigger than the last two years but nowhere near the glory days of 2006 … and the state lost money in ’08. But what was surprising to me is how much Nevada won — a mere $724k … less than 1 percent of money wagered, and the second smallest amount won by the state in the past decade. I mean she-ot … that’s less than a single Phil Ivey prop bet!

Check out the stats, and discern for yourself …

I was all set this morning to write a blog entry on the continuing dispute in Kennedy & Omotoy v. Full Tilt Poker et al. (The original post by Dan Michalski was back in 2009.) This litigation is fascinating; it has bounced from state court to federal court and back to state court in California, and an update would be fun. But something else caught my eye: a public statement from the Alderney Gambling Control Commission stating that Alderney has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The statement is here.

As just about everyone familiar with Internet gambling is aware, Alderney is one of the handful of jurisdictions worldwide that actually licenses online interactive gaming, including poker. (Other such jurisdictions include Gibraltar, Malta, the Isle of Man, Antigua, and Kahnawake.) Probably the most prominent poker website operating under Alderney’s regulation is www.fulltiltpoker.com. Obviously Tilt is a US-facing site, which is interesting fact number 1. Interesting fact number 2 is that Alderney only regulates i-gaming. This makes sense. The place is a speck of an island off the north-western coast of France with a population of 2,400; it doesn’t have any bricks and mortar casinos.

The agreement between Nevada and Alderney ”paves the way for enhanced cooperation in the field of gaming regulation.” Not too helpfully, the public statement specifies that this co-operation will extend to “the areas of sharing of information, expertise, knowledge and skills as well as exchange visits and training.” I hope for the sake of the Alderney parties that the “exchange visits” are mostly one-way and in Vegas, especially at this time of year.

So the Internet gaming regulator of a US-facing poker site (that, along with all currently US-facing poker sites) has a memorandum of understanding prescribing areas of co-operation with Nevada. (Don’t parse that previous sentence too closely; Nevada may still have a problem with i-gaming operators that turned off US players back in 2006 when the UIGEA was passed and that aren’t currently US-facing.) And since Alderney only regulates Internet gaming, the co-operation must be at least partly with a view to Nevada understanding and learning more about Internet gaming. Apparently Nevada doesn’t have a problem with recognizing the authority of Alderney to regulate Internet gaming; it only has a problem with the behaviour (sanctioned by Alderney) of some of their licensees. These kinds of agreements between gaming regulators aren’t particularly new. The Kahnwake Gaming Commission has struck agreements with Alderney and with Antigua that would appear to go much further than this accord between Alderney-Nevada. But it’s still interesting that Nevada is reaching out to engage with current online regulators - even online regulators that accept US-facing licensees.

What this means for Internet poker in the US is anyone’s guess, but it seems clear that Nevada is heading for regulation at some point. Nevada regulators were going to be at the forefront of the licensing structure contemplated by the Reid Bill draft that was floating around last month. The Nevada Gaming Commission was going to be one of the leading Qualified Bodies under the bill on a number of measures. It’s safe to say that Nevada will have a leading role if poker regulation happens at the federal level in the next couple of years; federal action may actually be more likely if more and more states start regulating intrastate gaming, including poker. At an intrastate level, Nevada’s signals have been mixed at best. This kind of agreement with Alderney, however, may indicate that Nevada could be thinking about going its own way absent federal interactive gaming oversight.

Internet poker regulation in the US may be one (very small) step closer.

Check it out … with so many individual states hungry for cash, California being the hungriest, that state will definitely be taking a look at the issue until they somehow figure out a way to collect the most duckets from all those poker geeks calling California home.

The arguments themselves are nothing new — for or against — but you will notice a slight shift on the “Gogogo online gambling FTW!” side that we’re all supposed to be a part of …

Here, Patrick Dorinson, spokesperson for the Coalition of California Card Clubs and Tribes, is clearly pushing for the intrastate model, with the California Gambling Control Commission setting the rules. He addresses that critical component so matter-of-factly that any new recruits to the online poker side would hardly know this is different from the federally regulated, interstate model pushed Barney Frank, the PPA, and others … you know, what we’ve all been supporting for a long time. That one, according to statements in Washington DC congressional debate, looks to rely on regulatory standards set by the Nevada Gaming Control Board … with maybe some input from New Jersey and the Indians.

More…