GVC Holdings’ PartyPoker brand is taking further steps toward improving its online poker ecology, including anonymizing player hand histories.

On Tuesday, PartyPoker announced a further round of changes to its cash game rules, following up on changes made in October 2015. Those changes included masking the names of opponents until players were seated at their table and the first hand was dealt, as well as prohibiting players from downloading and saving hand histories.

The new changes, which take effect Oct. 5, reverse the prohibition on downloading hand histories but, while a player’s own screen name will remain visible in these downloads, opponents’ names will be listed anonymously (Player 1, 2, 3, etc.). Players will retain the ability to view hands played, win rates and such, but cannot automatically compile detailed stats on a specific opponent.

PartyPoker’s hand history switcheroo will be less effective than the fully anonymous poker tables pioneered by the Bodog Poker Network’s Jonas Ödman in 2011, but PartyPoker’s recreational players will have reason to feel slightly more safe from the network’s data mining predators.

Casino operator Caesars Entertainment has rolled out a new policy that links comped drinks to how much a customer spends on gambling.

On Wednesday, Las Vegas media outlet KTNV reported that Caesars had rolled out a new comp drink monitoring system at all its Nevada properties. The automated system, which was field tested this summer, means gamblers will now have to spend big to drink for free.

The new setup involves a lighting system connected to the backs of video poker machines (customers can’t see them, but bartenders can). The light is blue to start, but the light switches to green if a customer wagers a certain volume over a certain period of time. Failure to sustain this wagering level means the light switches to red.

The new system means Caesars’ wait staff and bartenders have little discretion in terms of deciding who gets free drinks, with the exception of Seven Stars and Diamond tier loyalty club members. For everyone else, from this point forward it’s green light go, red light no.

Anyone who doubts the clear quid pro quo between US politicians and their corporate money men need look no further than the latest federal effort to ban online gambling.

Last week saw the introduction of S.3376, a placeholder bill filed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that seeks to roll back the 2011 Department of Justice opinion that said the 1961 Wire Act applied only to sports betting, which paved the way for states like New Jersey to launch intrastate online gambling markets.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Cotton’s bill appeared shortly after Las Vegas Sands boss Sheldon Adelson wrote a $20m check to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC with ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Adelson’s donation represented 71% of the total funds the super PAC raised in the month of August. News of the donation came via a filing with the Federal Election Commission on Sept. 20, just one day before Cotton filed his S.3376.

Online poker giant PokerStars is making its popular Win the Button live tournaments a regular feature of its online poker palette.

The Win the Button format allows the winner of each NLHE hand to assume the dealer button for the next round, allowing that player to make the final decision in each betting round. The format has proven popular at live poker events and was tested earlier this month in Event 59 of the World Championship of Online Poker.

PokerStars will offer 11 daily Win the Button tourneys, with buy-ins ranging from $2.20 to $162. There will also be two ‘majors’ each Saturday; one with a $55 buy-in and a $25k guarantee, while the other will feature a $5.50 buy-in and a $5k guarantee.

Meanwhile, PokerStars’ New Jersey-licensed site has announced the richest ever online poker tourney yet to be conducted in the Garden State’s regulated online market. The New Jersey Championship of Online Poker (NJCOOP) will run from October 15-31 and feature a total guarantee of $1.2m across 43 events.