A few click-worthy items populating browsers throughout the poker world this week:
The WSOP-Europe is kicking off right about now — with a £2,500 HORSE event. Then comes £5,000 PLO and £10,000 No-Limit Hold\’em. Remember, that\’s $20,000 to US Americans.
Ahh, London …
PARTYGAMING\’S stock has been sinking. And upon reporting half-year earnings last week, the company that was minting more money than they knew what to do with a year ago is operating in the red.
PartyGaming also made a pretax loss of $32 million on revenue of $212.5 million, down from revenue of $662 million before the U.S. clampdown a year ago.
Maybe we just miss the good-ole-days with some good-ole-friends (half of whom no longer work for Party), but Pokerati says Party is still a BUY! (The Motley Fool agrees.) We first thought that, of course, shortly after the stock plummeted to 26. We acted on it at 36, then thought it again at 56. Currently trading at about 28.5.
Meanwhile, PartyGaming continues to seek retroactive amnesty from the US DOJ for its execs.
The BRITS are having to come up with corporate policies these days to deal with online gambling in the workplace. Uncertain waters … but depending on how the cards fall, its theoretically possible that multitabling while on the clock could get you some paid leave.
Gah, you just gotta love the LIMEYS. Their government is also funding a program to teach tight play and bankroll management — \”responsible gambling\” they call it.
All this coincides with some new gambling laws that went into effect September 1 across the UK.
With companies from GIBRALTAR now allowed to advertise in England, PARTYPOKER (and PARTYBETS) will be turning 70 official UK soccer clubs\’ websites into affilliates. But footballers better not be punters … an unusually bad game could land players who bet on their own action in jail for two years.
In and outside of TORONTO, police seem to be in the midst of a POKER CRACKDOWN that seems all too familiar \’round these parts. NEW JERSEY police doing the same thing.
Only difference was in DALLAS it made for good TV. (Old article, but one I just stumbled across, and found interesting in light of the Dallas SWAT poker raids.)
In MISSOURI, where what appears to be a $20 (w/ rebuys) barbershop tourney has the barber headed to an actual trial, facing felony jail time.
USA TODAY has an article about how fraudsters are using bots at online poker sites not to beat the game, but to launder money by programming them to PLAY badly. A little confusing, but read the comments for how poker players respond to any anti-poker propaganda written by someone who may or may not understand how internet poker works.
An editorial in NEW YORK NEWSDAY about how it\’s time to regulate online poker. This viewpoint has little to do with your rights to play, but the legitimacy of the WTO if the United States doesn\’t either re-legitimize online poker or ban all forms of online gambling, including what\’s currently allowed under the UIGEA.
The claims against the US from the European Union and Antigua and Barbuda exceed $22 billion. Japan, Canada, Macau, Costa Rica and India will each be asking for a few billion as well. So far the US hasn\’t put up much a defense beyond \”not paying.\”
In other legal issues, Bodog lost a PATENT INFRINGEMENT lawsuit … and their domain! Try it yourself … Bodog.com no longer exists. Now you gotta go to newbodog.com.
Apparently the HOLLYWOOD Set is still learning to love poker — as actress JESSICA BIEL found herself pulled into a game — reportedly with pros, but whom I don\’t know — at the opening of the Ivy Hotel in SAN DIEGO. The girlfriend of JUSTN TIMBERLAKE is new to poker, and started out doing really well before she lost all her chips.
Did you know Jennifer Tilly is 48-years-old? Never woulda guessed it. She\’s about to turn 49.
Oh, speaking of Hollywood … almost forgot to drop a name. Robert Wilonsky — the only Batface home gamer with his own Wikipedia entry — has started a new gig on national TV, filling in for Roger Ebert on Ebert & Roeper for the rest of 2007. Very cool! Congrats, Big Bob. With all his exposure to C B A-list actors, I wonder why he hasn\’t learned how to pretend he doesn\’t have a really big hand sometimes when he does. Click the pic for a funny-ish Robert Wilonsky highlight reel.
One year after the poker laws in this country changed … TODD BRUNSON gets on the anti-UIGEA soapbox. From his efforts to be an ambassador:
By the way, if you work for the Treasury or Justice Department, or any gaming control commission, please disregard that comment about \”anyone with a brain.\” I realize that it\’s the politicians who are passing the laws, and you guys are just doing your jobs (and doing them well) by enforcing them. I also realize that you guys are much more powerful than a poker player, and could crush me like a bug. Please don\’t hurt me.
