American cash game player Josh Kay has won the inaugural Latin American Poker Tour Bahamas Main Event after defeating the German star Martin Finger, in heads-up action, as part of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

[Image Credit: Pokernews & Danny Maxwell]

Josh Kay is a very happy man right now.

Not only does he have $367,928 reasons to smile, but he also knows that he waded through a field of exceptional players to earn all those dollars.

Kay is the winner of the inaugural Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) $3,000 Main Event, in the Bahamas – held in conjunction with the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) – and what a victory it was.

The Michigan native is ostensibly a cash game player, demonstrated by the fact that his winning paycheck contains the same sort of numbers that his entire Hendon Mob CV has chalked up over the past six years.

On the final day of action 11-players remained from a field containing 736 entrants, and that included two former PCA Main Event champions in Galen Hall and Dimitar Danchev. Hall would fall short of the final table, and Danchev would end his run in sixth.

Lee Davy catches up on all the main headlines from a fun filled week including another PokerStars New Jersey entrance prediction from Ray Lesniak; WSOP.com & 888Poker to sharing prize pools; Steve O’Dwyer & Josh Kay winning in the Bahamas; Shane Warne leaving 888Poker; and a ton of stories from the team at PokerStars.

We’ll start Stateside, and with the New Jersey Senator Ray Lesniak. The Gypsy Rosie Lee of American online poker has once again rubbed his crystal balls. This time he believes PokerStars will receive approval to start operating on American soil by the end of March. It’s not the first time that Lesniak has drawn a date in the sand, and one believes it might not be the last. His under-estimation of the power of Sheldon Adelson’s ageing muscles is cited as the cause of his previously failed predictions.

Two outfits that are doing business in New Jersey are WSOP.com and 888Poker.com. Starting Monday the pair will start sharing prize pools in a bid to try and inject some monetary enthusiasm into an online poker market that contains as much enthusiasm as an under 14’s school disco.

“Shared liquidity will help create a better player experience that we hope will attract a diversity of players and begin to bring poker to a broader audience once again.” Said David Licht, CEO of the All American Poker Network (a joint venture between 888 Holdings and Avenue Capital).

The sites will share an estimated $130,000 in guaranteed tournaments each week.

Changes of Heart

Moving outside of the States and PokerStars shocked the poker community, last week, by reversing their attitude on two key areas of their business. The major reversal was their change of heart over their planned rake increases. You may remember that the poker community went a little crazy after Stars went public with their wholesale rake changes planned for Nov 3 and Jan 1 respectively – well they’ve changed their minds.

Richard Trigg: PocketFives Yearly PLB Winner Video

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Dan Bilzerian’s legal team advise the media that the Instagram King is keen to arrange a plea deal to avoid trial on felony charges that Bilzerian and his friend blew up a home made bomb in a Las Vegas desert.

Who am I to give Dan Bilzerian advice?

The man has a gazillion dollars, has more bit part roles in movies than a Ricky Gervais Extras character, sleeps with more women than I have cuddly toys, and owns a goat.

But if I were to give Bilzerian some advice it would be this.

“When blowing shit up in places where you aren’t allowed to blow shit up, don’t tell your millions of social media followers that you blew the shit up.”

Before the weekend broke out Bilzerian’s lawyer David Chesnoff told the press that he hoped to arrange a plea deal, to avoid trial, on felony charges that Dan Bilzerian created a homemade bomb, planted it on a tractor trailer, and then blew it up in a Las Vegas desert.

Bilzerian, and his buddy, Jeremy David Guyman, were arrested for the crime after a series of clues that Inspector Clouseau would have had no problem tracking.

THE AMERICAS

Caesars Entertainment convinced enough senior creditors to approve its bankruptcy restructuring; New Jersey reflected on its first year of regulated online gambling while Ray Lesniak promised PokerStars would hit the Jersey shore by March; Ontario officially launched its own online gambling site which made Alberta jealous; Indiana got its own sports betting legislation and the former NBA commissioner backed his replacement’s pro-betting position; the Iipay Nation filed a motion to dismiss the state’s case against their bingo site; Pennsylvania slots revenue fell for the second straight year; Paul Phua lost his bid to play poker while awaiting his sports betting trial and Income Access’ Allan Petrilli and Max Value Software’s Steve McLoughlin discussed affiliate marketing in America.

EUROPE

Germany convicted a player for gambling online; Unibet acquired Bingo.com and got spanked by the UK’s ad watchdog; Ladbrokes exited more European grey markets and secured a Rugby League sponsorship; Paf bought into the Italian market by acquiring Winga; Russia banned problem gamblers from driving; Romania amended its online gambling laws; PokerStars did an abrupt U-turn on its rake changes and vowed that its Spanish online casino would return shortly; Shane Warne bid 888Poker buh-bye and 53Outs’ Sinead Quigley Maher wondered if pros were allowed to have personal opinions; a European Union court said OPAP’s VLT deal was legit; Carl Hendy explained why SEO in online gambling needs to improve while Bastian Grimm explained the pros and cons of black hat SEO; the Keiser Report’s Max Keiser explained why online gambling sites should embrace Bitcoin; Robbie Davies explained how to be an igaming conference hero and Rebecca Liggero previewed the January conferences at which you can test out those theories.

ASIA

Crown Resorts’ Sri Lanka casino plans appear doomed after a change in the country’s leadership; Melco Crown Entertainment delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange; Chinese authorities broke up a cross-border online gambling ring in Shandong; Macau could lose up to 50 VIP gaming rooms in 2015 and the city’s revenue slump took $7b out of the pockets of Galaxy Entertainment’s chairman; PokerStars signed their first pros from India and Japan; Paradise Co Ltd reported revenue rising in 2014; Nepal lawmakers pressured their tourism ministry to reopen shuttered casinos and Las Vegas Sands’ alleged efforts to dig up dirt on Macau officials will get an airing in former Sands China CEO Steve Jacobs’ wrongful termination suit.

This week’s official launch of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp’s PlayOLG.ca online gambling site has politicians in Alberta pondering their own online future. Jody Korchinski, spokesperson for the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC), said this week that online gambling is “actively under review” at the provincial gaming monopoly.

Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only two remaining provinces (besides the thinly populated Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories) yet to embrace provincially run online gambling.

Korchinski told MetroNews the AGLC was “certainly aware that technology is changing” and that there are “expectations from consumers that [online gambling] be available for Alberta players.” Despite these expectations, Korchinski said “no final decisions have been made” as to when Albertans might see a homegrown online gambling option.

Whenever Alberta gets underway, let’s hope they avoid the serious security glitches that plagued the online gambling launch of PlayNow.com in neighboring British Columbia back in 2010. PlayOLG has had some comparatively minor glitches, particularly in the registration process. Some users reportedly got “not in Ontario” notifications, despite logging on from IP addresses within Ontario. Others complained about waiting up to an hour to speak with a human via live chat. OLG issued a statement to CityNews saying that demand was “very high” and that it “appreciate[s] everyone’s patience at this time.”

Meanwhile, the provincial Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is worried that PlayOLG will create more problem gamblers. Robert Murray, manager of education and community resources at the Problem Gambling Institute of Ontario, CAMH, told the Toronto Star that PlayOLG will draw in players who might have held off gambling online with internationally licensed online gambling operators. Murray says “for a segment of the population the convenience of gambling remotely is going to be attractive especially since it is government sponsored.”

Murray’s concerns aren’t supported by the data, at least, not long term. Studies have shown that problem gambling rates typically undergo a surge as a result of new gambling options, but that these spikes are short-lived and numbers fall back to previous levels as the novelty wears off. Other studies have shown that problem gambling rates have remained constant despite significant increases in both the availability and variety of gambling options.