STORIES WORTH WATCHING

#1. New Jersey – With a weekend deadline for potential licensees to announce partnerships, expect a flurry of activity – and possibly even the announcement of a casino sale agreement – in the next few days. Keep a close eye on Station / Ultimate Gaming, who have hinted they’ll be live in New Jersey at launch, and also the Trump properties.

#2. DiCristina – The general sense of observers is that the DiCristina hearing went well for poker players. Read a synopsis of the hearing at TwoPlusTwo (start at post #18) and at Diamond Flush, and then read Grange’s sober assessment of exactly what impact a favorable ruling would have on the legal status of online poker in the United States. There is no firm timeline for a decision, which could come as early as this week.

#3. Sheldon Adelson – The LVS CEO raised the hackles of online poker players with an opinion piece at Forbes  slamming online gambling regulation and a follow up interview with Bloomberg. Expect more information / insight in the days to come into why Adelson is choosing to publicly attack an industry he once embraced at this particular point in time – and perhaps another blast from Adelson.

… + THE WEEK THAT WAS

• John Mehaffey issued a warning regarding play on the Revolution (Lock) Poker Network.
• PartyPoker removed benefits for high-volume players without notice.
• CalvinAyre.com explored the complicated question of Playtech’s potential in the U.S. market.
• Swedish state gambling operator Svensa Spel refunded around a half a million USD to players who were victims of an alleged bot ring. Background on the story from PokerFuse here.
• Zynga bolstered their real-money gambling team by acquiring Spooky Cool Labs.

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OPR OUTPUT

On this week’s Rabbit Hunt, Mark and I cover Adelson’s slam of online poker, WSOP happenings of note and the DiCristina hearing.

And here’s the latest installment of OPR’s comprehensive Online Poker in the States, providing regulatory updates for all relevant states in the U.S..

PICKS

#GoodRead – Kim Lund articulates the Migratory Patterns of Online Poker Players in an interesting piece over at QuadJacks.

@Follow – Great land-based casino coverage from David McKee over at @StiffsGeorges.

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Get in touch

Chris Grove / [email protected] / @OPReport / Google + / Skype: chrisgrove404