Online payments company Optimal Payments have agreed a deal with the global bitcoin payment service provider BitPay, enabling customers to use bitcoin to top up their NETELLER accounts.

Bitcoin fans will be pleased to know that NETELLER will be accepting the digital currency after parent company Optimal Payments agreed a deal with the global bitcoin payment service provider BitPay.

It’s quite the reversal for NETELLER. In the summer they changed their conditions of services, making it crystal clear that ‘virtual currency’ would not be allowed to take their shoes off and walk onto their white carpet.

The new deposit option is already available on the NETELLER site. The word ‘FREE’ standing out like a middle finger, on a hand containing nothing but percentage fee sore thumbs.

Struggling casino operator Caesars Entertainment was raked over the coals by Nevada gaming regulators on Thursday.

The Nevada Gaming Commission was holding what ordinarily would have been a routine licensing renewal hearing, a situation greatly complicated by the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in January of Caesars’ main unit Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. (CEOC).

Caesars general counsel Tim Donovan (pictured) called CEOC’s bankruptcy “unfortunate,” prompting NGC Chairman Tony Alamo to suggest “embarrassing” was a better adjective. Commissioner Randolph Townsend humbly suggested Caesars focus on its core casino business and “not build any more Ferris wheels for a while,” referring to the High Roller observation wheel in Las Vegas, which is currently attracting only half its projected ridership.

A significant chunk of the hearing was devoted to the 63 former Caesars employees whose pension payments were cut off following CEOC’s bankruptcy. Donovan claimed that the terms of the bankruptcy filing left Caesars no ability to pay these people and thus Caesars was “not the villain here.”

Lee Davy breaks down this week’s poker news including a look at the European Poker Tour in Malta, the Global Poker Masters, the European Poker Awards, a Twitch security breach, and the news that 888 will be the headline sponsor for the World Series of Poker, and World Series of Poker Europe festivals, in Las Vegas and Berlin.

It’s not often that people are interested in a country that takes great delight in eating the cast of Watership Down, but that’s exactly the case, as the eyes of the poker world bore deep into the heart of Malta this week.

The European Poker Tour (EPT) decided to set up camp. The Global Poker Index (GPI) pulled up a sleeping bag. Thousands of poker players turned up with marshmallows in hand. Plenty of cold feet, but a lot of warm hearts.

It was the largest EPT festival ever held. 69 events in total, and partnerships with the aforementioned GPI, and the Italian Poker Tour (IPT), creating memories that will stick to the craniums of so many people.

The developer behind MGM Resorts’ popular myVEGAS social casino app has inked a promotional tie-up with former basketball great Shaquille O’Neal.

On Thursday, Playstudios CEO Andrew Pascal announced the release of two new social casino titles developed in partnership with O’Neal. CaddyShaq is a slots-based game featuring the occasional detour into a game of golf at the Shaqusta Country Club, where (just like the movie) Bucky the Gopher is hell bent on messing with your balls.

The second title is ShaqJack, a blackjack variant featuring basketball-themed layouts in lieu of the traditional green-felt table. Both games are currently available on Facebook, as well as on Google Play, iOS and Amazon.

As with myVEGAS, players earn online points that can be redeemed for non-gaming amenities at MGM properties, Royal Caribbean International and other Playstudios partners. Players can also win autographed CaddyShaq t-shirts and basketball jerseys, floor seats at a Sacramento Kings game and even a chance to go one-on-one with the big man himself at his home court. (Your best bet to beat him? Stick to free throws.)

Lee Davy talks about his feelings after failing to win the Media Personality of the Year award at the European Poker Awards.

Is it just me, or was there a stark difference between the razzmatazz of the American Poker Awards (APA), and the European Poker Awards (EPA)?

One felt like the Oscars, the other one felt like the Golden Globes.

I will let you do the math.

Phil Hellmuth appears on Fox Sports Live as a pundit on the poker-playing prowess of the NBA’s finest, and hints on Twitter about a forthcoming reality TV show.

@phil_hellmuth Please help prevent an Internet #poker prohibition and #OpposeHR707 by contacting Congress http://t.co/Diu89iKu5f

— PokerPlayersAlliance (@ppapoker) March 24, 2015

It’s not difficult to figure out why the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) would seek assistance from Phil Hellmuth when it comes to fighting against Internet poker prohibition in the United States.

A flurry of pro-casino activity has erupted in several southern US states, although much of it is expected to fail, at least initially.

In Florida, the state House of Representatives Regulatory Affairs Committee began discussion of HB 1233, Majority Leader Dana Young’s sweeping gambling overhaul proposal. The bill, which would allow construction of two integrated resort casinos, was discussed for four hours on Thursday but committee members declined to put the bill to a vote.

Committee chairman Jose Felix Diaz said the group wouldn’t discuss the bill again for another two weeks, which will leave just two weeks left in the current legislative session. Young claimed not to be bothered, telling the Tampa Bay Times that gaming bills “never come up until the last couple days of session.” (Perhaps that’s why they never pass.)

Meanwhile, a state Senate committee continues to negotiate with the Seminole Tribe over a renewal of its tribal gaming compact, a portion of which expires this year. State economists have projected Florida could lose out on $822m over the next five years if it fails to renew the tribe’s monopoly on blackjack and other house-banked card games. The tribe has another 15 years left on its slots monopoly outside Miami-Dade and Broward counties, where the two proposed integrated resorts would be located.

Cambodia’s casino market is set to welcome three new additions in the southwest province of Takeo.

On Wednesday, Ministry of Economy and Finance official Ros Phearun confirmed that three new gaming joints would open in Takeo’s Kiri Vong district in Phong Den village. The Phnom Penh Post quoted Phearun saying two of the casinos had already completed construction and were awaiting licenses, while the third had yet to begin construction. Phearun declined to specify the identities of the casino operators, saying only that they were locally owned.

The two completed casinos are hoping to open their doors in April before the Khmer New Year celebrations kick off mid-month. The establishments will rely on a steady stream of gamblers from neighboring Vietnam, which already supplies most of the patrons to Takeo’s two existing casinos. Cambodian residents are legally prohibited from entering its country’s casinos although the government has publicly mused about relaxing this restriction.

The additions will bring Cambodia’s casino complement to 62, most of which are small-scale affairs situated in towns along the borders of Vietnam and Thailand. The only exception is NagaCorp’s NagaWorld, which is located in the heart of Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh.