Poker Central partners with the independent film production company, Greencard Pictures to create another PokerGO Original: Stories From The Felt. A six-part series exploring the games’ incredible stories.

The lady working behind the Deli in Vons asks me what I would like?

“What do you have for vegans?”

“Do you eat cheese?”

New Jersey is making a second run at convincing international online gambling operators to share liquidity with their counterparts in the Garden State.

Late last week, New Jersey State Sen. Ray Lesniak (pictured0 introduced S3536, which would “under certain circumstances” lift the state’s requirement that all online gambling operators taking money from New Jersey gamblers locate their servers within the geographical confines of Atlantic City.

S3536 claims that “the largest share of online gambling revenue comes from Europe,” which is “growing at a faster rate than the rest of the world.” As such, permitting select online servers to be located outside Atlantic City “if necessary to facilitate the conduct of international wagering, would increase the economic benefit of Internet gaming to Atlantic City and to this State.”

Lesniak originally vowed to introduce his bill this summer, after New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement director David Rebuck admitted that the server location requirement had proved the main sticking point in deterring international operators from taking the proposal seriously.

Quebec securities regulators have shed more light on their insider trading case against former Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov.

On Sunday, the Globe & Mail reported that the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) had accused Baazov, fellow Amaya exec Benjamin Ahdoot and financial advisor Yoel Altman of conspiring to pump up Amaya’s stock ahead of the company’s 2014 purchase of the Rational Group, the parent company of online poker giant PokerStars.

The G&M reported that AMF’s original trial book dated May 15, 2017 indicated that Baazov and his co-accused had expressed concern regarding a one-third slump in Amaya’s share price following a disappointing earnings report in April 2014. In a bid to boost the price, the accused agreed to a major buyback of Amaya shares.

The AMF claims to have emails indicating that Amaya transferred C$1.4m to Diocles, an investment company controlled by Altman, who used the money to buy up Amaya stock while subsequently billing Amaya for ‘consulting services’ in the same amount. Adhoot transferred C$200k of his own money to Diocles, which was similarly reimbursed.

Hopes for legal sports betting in the United States got a boost on Monday as New Jersey argued its case before the US Supreme Court.

Legal sports betting supporters are feeling good about the reactions of a majority of the Supreme Court justices after hearing arguments for and against overturning the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which limits single-game sports betting to the state of Nevada.

In case you’ve been re-enacting the movie Castaway for the past few years, Monday’s hearing considered New Jersey’s multi-year quest to overturn PASPA and permit sports betting at Atlantic City casinos and state racetracks. The state lost numerous lower-court rulings before the Supremes agreed in October to hear their appeal.

Opposing New Jersey are the US Department of Justice, the White House, the four major pro sports leagues and the NCAA. However, some of these leagues – most notably, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball – have since softened their original anti-betting stance, but still oppose New Jersey’s appeal due to their desire to see Congress impose a nationwide betting regulatory environment.

Online gambling affiliate marketing firm Catena Media has boosted its geographic reach via a major German market acquisition.

On Monday, Catena announced that it had reached a deal to acquire the affiliate-related sports betting assets of Baybets Ltd, including 50 separate websites – among them, sportwetten.org and sportwette.net – most of which focus on German-speaking sports betting markets.

Catena said the deal will cost the company €26.5m upfront, half in cash and half in newly issued Catena shares (the latter being subject to a 24-month lock-up period). There’s also the possibility of maximum additional earn-out payments of €63.5m if the Baybets assets reach certain performance benchmarks over the next two years.

The deal is expected to close mid-month, after which Catena will immediately begin integrating the Baybets assets. Baybets’ current complement of 23 Malta-based staffers will also be making the transition to the Malta-based Catena Media’s Sports division.