Not everyone is calling it “Black Friday”. For Euros who opted out of the US in ’06 and mighta started believing that coulda been a wrong decision, it was “White Friday”.

The DOJ’s virtual handcuffing of Full Tilt and PokerStars two weeks ago not only neutered two industry giants (who made billions in North America while others sat on the sidelines), but also supposedly leveled the playing field worldwide for US-abstainers who supposedly found it harder to compete in Europe or anywhere against companies benefitting from the vast liquidity American players provided.

Thus the inaugural iGaming North America conference in Las Vegas next week is kicking off their new-era industry confab with a special session called Assessing ‘Grey Friday’ and the Expected Fallout … get it? Black + White = Gray Grey.

Should be interesting to hear from gaming industry insiders who’ve never appeared on Poker After Dark or in Day 1 chip counts speaking about “the road to regulation”, as per the theme of @iGamNA‘s shindig.

Check out the lineup here. You’ll see both Stu and I are serving on panels. @GamingCounsel‘s gonna be schoolin’ about Canada …

… while I’m a panelist for the closing session:

There’s no live-stream as far as I know, but I’ll be sure to report back as influential industry experts (and a token blogger) assess the important questions moving forward … for me probably starting with, do I need to get a tie?

This week the Entities are joined by Lance Bradley, Editor in Chief – Bluff Magazine and Canadian as they explore all things poker with a special emphasis on Canadians in Poker. Jess Wellman provides the poker headlines and Stu Hoegner phones in with an up date of the Harry Reid poker bill. All this and a giant inflatable beaver. For more information, show notes and an upcoming schedule, go to http://thisweekin.com.

Detailed episode highlights at WCP.
Released Dec 08, 2010

Stuart Hoegner is quickly becoming something akin to the Joe Navarro of online-centric, international casino and gambling law. Though I’m sure @GamingCounsel on Twitter would never claim to be anything close to an @Kevmath for poker-related legal and legislative matters, this independent barrister and solicitor (they say things funny in Canadian) has in due process become a go-to voice of info about the latest legal and political shifts affecting 10s of millions of people in our multibillion-dollar industry.

While in town a few weeks ago, he sat for an episode of Jon Friedberg’s UTG, where they tackled some challenging questions for the Poker Industry as a whole in these undeniably tumultuous legal times — for anything connected to online gambling:

(Here’s a link if you’re having probs with the player as I am: http://tinyurl.com/2dkv9jj)

Ahh, remember how cute it was when Poker’s primary response to any insinuation of illegality was simply: “Whatever, game-a-skill.”

GamingCounsel has also become a regular guest on a podcast called CEM Audio Edge (Casino Enterprises Management), where he has broken down in great detail for CEMers matters of Canadian gaming code as well as effective use of Twitter:

Speaking of laws and Twitter, while we’re at it here are some quick story-worthy links — all ganked highlighted from @GamingCounsel’s feed:

Legal Briefs

State of Maine seems ready to expand gambling beyond parimutuel horse betting with a new “racino”.

Alderney (Full Tiltville) pushing propaganda to maintain its relevance as international online gaming regulator.

Isle of Man (PokerStarzistan) hosting frigid online gaming summit in November.

New Jersey Senate passes billto revitalize state gaming industry with boutique casinos.

Also …

The New York Times acknowledges that Big Casinos are finally on board with online gambling.

And a NYT piece about the continuing recession in Vegas.

Lastly, for now, (GC’s got plenty more) … The Economist on sports betting, athlete salaries, and match fixing.