Deposits on Lock-Down
From OnlinePokerReport.com for the week of April 29th
STORIES TO WATCH THIS WEEK
#1. Lock Poker has apparently cancelled a substantial amount of cash out requests. A rep from the room blames players “abusing the transfer tool” for the cancellations. Expect the pressure to grow on Lock and its sponsors this week as the situation continues to play out.
#2. Illinois politicians, reportedly set to remove online gambling from the casino expansion bill, will now have to come up with a Plan B to regulate online gambling. With only a handful of working days in the session, I expect we’ll see either a new standalone bill this week or some further tweaking of SB1955, which has a IL Senate committee hearing this week.
#3. Massachusetts is approaching their budget deadline for FY 2014, and online poker is still part of the process. That’s after the MA House passed their version of the state budget with online poker regulation tacked on as an amendment. This week should provide some indications of the MA Senate’s attitude toward the House budget in general, and online poker specifically.
+ THE WEEK THAT WAS
- Details of tribal plans for online poker in California emerged.
- The full text of PA’s online gambling bill was released.
- Alternative poker site SkillBet announced plans to shut down.
- A law that could shutter live card clubs was introduced in Oregon.
- Nevada regulators approved the first registered hosting center in the state.
- Ohio lawmakers announced a coming crackdown on Internet cafes.
- The details of Bitar’s forfeiture agreement were released.
I also wanted to make a special mention of the PokerFusePro launch last week. They’ve put together an excellent product that will likely be of interest to most on this list – click to see more.
OPR OUTPUT
I broke down what I think are the realistic projections for year one online gambling revenues in New Jersey. And the latest edition of poker news podcast Rabbit Hunt is now available on iTunes.
PICKS
#GoodRead – PokerFuse breaks down why their subscription-based news product is worth your consideration.
@Follow – @JoeTall had some great coverage of last week’s GiGse 2013.
More from Chris Grove: @OPReport / Google +
